Rwanda

[elsa hoffmann]

I visited Rwanda in 2011 with a friend. Total abortion regarding the travel companion.
My friend's son lived in Rwanda at the time, so she invited me with. The three of us set out by renting an old Corolla from a local - which caused more problems that anything else. 3 flat tires in an hour... 

I include the tire fixing  - so you can see how they fix and test leaks - right in the river next to the street. The shop is on a pavement. No building.

The genocide is still fresh in everyone's memory - and there are several memorials for the victims. Millions were slaughtered. It is extremely emotional to see.

Image of the inside of one memorial church included. Clothes of the dead all over. Most of them also have the bones, sculls and all in the church.

Rwanda is a very poor country - and every inch is farmed. A sign of poverty

English is hardly spoken - as you can see from the menu. That is actually half a rabbit in peanut sauce. If you order steak, you get a 2 x 2 inch portion meat and 6 VERY LARGE potatoes to fill you up. The locals hardly get meat. Its just vegetables - and the woman does the farming. The men probably the farting.

Armed guards are visible about every 500 metres. And you cross a "border" when leaving one town for the next. Every last Saturday of the month, you have to clean the street in front of your house/shop. No one is allowed to travel. The place is very clean. And safe. You rape someone - you are hanged in the centre of town. You steal something - your neighbours hand you over the the Police. The system works.

And there is a Brazillian of babies and children.



I will split the thread for the Gorilla part of the trip - which was done in the DRC.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

'Rwanda' - just the name makes me shiver all over. Not a country I'm likely ever to visit.

Thanks for your impressions and photos. Travels by proxy sometimes work quite well 

[elsa hoffmann]

This is true - I travel by Proxy also.
Sometimes so much I think there is nothing left for me to photograph.

[knb]

Disturbing and tell tale story. I like the pictures a lot, the preceding events not so much.

[Jørgen Ramskov]

Really appreciate your story and images. Not a place on my list of places to see.

[Akira]

Thanks for sharing invaluable images from the troubled place, Elsa.

The men are farting?  I think most of them fell victim of genocide.  Even more trembling is the fact that millions of people were killed by tens of thousand of people, and there is obviously no jail space to lock the criminals up.  If someone steals, his/her hands will be cut off as punishment.

Its emotionally hamstrung to think about what happened, and feel so painful to think about the victims...

[elsa hoffmann]

Thanks again to all for looking at my photos and reading. But the truth is also - if we dont see these places - and photograph it - no one would ever know.