Morning rush hour in downtown Kigali
Rush hour is dominated by foot traffic and most traffic jams are caused by accidental encounters and running into old friends.
Taxis are easily identified by the green helmets and vests worn by the drivers.
Rwanda is half the size of Nova Scotia but has over eight million residents. Kigali, the capital is a city of over a million but feels like a series of small towns pushed together.
This roadside motorcycle repair business typifies the entrepreneurial culture of Rwanda.
Bicycles are often used to transport objects too heavy to strap to your back or head. In this image, young men are carrying water (in recycled petrol cans) home from the community faucet.
Just before dawn, the roads are teeming with people walking to market to buy and/or sell goods. A brisk business of every conceivable object or service is evident on sidewalks and roadsides all over this country.
Transporting bananas to market.
A mixed farm in Northern Rwanda consisting of sugar cane, bananas, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, goats and chickens.
This young woman has no access toelectricity or clean water; and owns almost nothing. She has a vividly brutal past. A Rwandan, she has a personalexperience of torture and mass murder. Amazingly, she moves forward with asense of style and fun. Shoeless and covered in a patina of dust, she wears herbest Calvin Klein and a colorful scarf about her neck. She flirts with the camera and stepsinto her life’s adventure.
Kigali schoolboys clown for the camera.
Juan shares his music with Sophie and her friends.
Juan and Chris followed by some curious kids outside the market.
Sam and Juan compose a shot with young women watching in the background.
Juan and Sam shoot the opening scene to Rwanda Rushya from atop the Solace Ministries Chapel.
Sam, Juan, Jillian and Chris with Abdul, one of our drivers and a survivor of the 1994 genocide.
These men dressed in pink (the colour of shame) are genocidaires: perpetrators of mass murder.
The man standing, a convicted genocidaire, is proclaiming his innocence to a group of his neighbours in a Gacaca, which is a local hearing similar to a South African truth and reconciliation trial. The woman seated to the left (barely visible) is the sole survivor in her family and served as a witness to the tribunal seated at the table. the townspeople did not believe the accused and recommended his continuing incarceration.
This genocide memorial at Murambi is the grave site of 30,000 victims of the genocide. In April, 1994 it was the site of a new technical college which was slated to open in September of that year. it is a place of unbelievable horror, with 1000 exhumed victims on display as a reminder of the slaughter that took place here 14 years ago.
This is the scene inside the memorial at Murambi.
Nothing can evoke the emotions triggered by these partially preserved victims. I had the overwhelming sensation that they were not completely dead.
It is hard to believe that this baby (and thousands of others) was killed by a neighbour.
These are the clothes taken from the victims after they were slaughtered, as the genocidaires looted the bodies and then threw them into pits by the thousands.
A young man sings at Amoroho Stadium on his lunch hour, playing a home made guitar.
My driver and translator Augustin, introduces me to the poorest people of Rwanda: les plus pauvres.
Augustin is a survivor of the genocide and like many of his compatriots, has dedicated his time and energy to rebuilding the heart and soul of his country. He gives half of his income to people who are less fortunate than him. The building in the background is a hostel and re-education facility for survivors. It is financed and managed by Augustin and his wife. He is one of the most remarkable people I have had the pleasure to meet. He is also a devoted husband and the father of four beautiful young children. He is an exemplar of Rwanda's hope and its future.
Watching Chelsea beat Manchester in the FA Shield at the STS Karisimbi Guesthouse.
Jillian, Justin, Beth and Joni capturing images of a traditional dance at STS Karisimbi.
These drummers were trained at the Karisimbi Guesthouse.
African multi-tasking: A woman sings and drums with a baby on her back.
Traditional dancer with symbolic spear and shield.
The youngest dancer in the troupe.
Jillian is given some assistance getting in costume as she prepares to join the dancers.
Justin joins the band.
Traditional Rwandan dancer.
Gabo Wilson, Director of SURF Rwanda, talks on the phone at the Khazana Restaurant in Kigali. Chris, Jocelyn and the rest of the crew were there to unwind after several difficult days of shooting in the field. SURF provides support to the widows and orphans of the 1994 genocide.
Fanshawe College's Millennium Challenges Team in front of Solace Ministries Guesthouse in Kigali.
