Also In This Issue

Health Worker Migration: Disease or Symptom?

Greater than the Sum

In-Country Supply Chains

Leadership and Management

Health System’s Levers

The Road Not Taken

The Making of Anatomy of a Pandemic: A PBS Documentary

Rwanda’s Living Legacy of Violence and Healing

Story and Photos by Jonathan Torgovnik *

 A WORD FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHER

April 7, 2009, marked the 15th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. On this date in 1994, Rwandan Armed Forces and Hutu militia began one of the most intensive killing campaigns in human history with the mass slaughter of more than 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis and moderate Hutus. First forced to witness the annihilation of their families, many women were then subjected to unconscionable forms of sexual violence – gang rape, rape with sharpened objects, sexual mutilation. In the aftermath of the destruction, many female survivors learned that they had been impregnated by their captors, contracted HIV/AIDS, or both.

I first traveled to Rwanda in February 2006 on assignment for Newsweek magazine with then-health editor Geoffrey Cowley, to work on a story about HIV/AIDS on the 25th anniversary of the disease’s identification. It was then that I met Odette, a woman who had been brutally raped multiple times during the genocide. She described how her entire family had been killed and recounted the abuse she experienced, in detail. The ordeal resulted in a pregnancy – a baby boy – and HIV/AIDS. It was the most powerful and saddest interview I had ever witnessed. Odette’s horrific story led me to return to Rwanda to document her story and those of others like her.

Local nongovernmental organizations estimate 20,000 children were born from rapes committed during the genocide. Over the last three years, I returned to Rwanda several times, uncovering more details of the heinous crimes committed against the mothers of these children. The photographs and stories I collected comprise the book and exhibition, Intended Consequences: Rwandan Children Born of Rape.

Even though I knew what their stories might contain, it was impossible to prepare myself for what I was going to hear. Most of the women had not revealed their experiences to their children and communities; yet each woman shared the most intimate details of her suffering and the daily challenges that continue as a direct result of the brutality. They knew why I was there, and they wanted to tell their stories to the world. It is hard for me to understand how a mother can say, “I do not love my child.” In one of the interviews, the mother put her hand on me and said, “I know what you are asking me. I understand your question very well. I know it is terrible saying this as a mother, but this is what I feel now. Maybe, one day it will change.”

On the other hand, several mothers told me that their children are their hope, that without them they would not feel the will to survive. All of the women I photographed and interviewed demonstrated that they cared for their children. They had accepted the responsibility of motherhood despite the violent circumstances in which their children were conceived and, in many cases, despite knowing that the fathers of their children were responsible for killing their families. The mothers in this project have lived through the most severe torture any human can endure, and in the aftermath they continue to struggle against multiple levels of trauma. I admire their resilience and courage. They are undoubtedly the strongest human beings I have ever encountered.

View the Exhibition

 

On Sept. 2, 1998, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda made history by issuing the first conviction for genocide in an international court, as well as the first conviction for sexual violence in a civil war. It also was the first time that an international court held that rape is an act of genocide when it is committed to destroying a target ethnic group.

Considering that rape was not included in the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention, this case was a landmark decision, and an overdue revision to international law. For the first time, it was recognized that genocide could be accomplished through rape. Rwandans have continued making significant strides in healing the genocidal rape and devastation that nearly destroyed them. In 2003, the constitution was rewritten so that 30 percent of parliamentary and cabinet seats are reserved for women. In September 2008, Rwanda's parliament became the first in the world where women hold 56 percent of the seats. Although they are healing, Rwanda’s wounds are still very open and fresh, and the daily reality of the female survivors of genocidal rape is complicated as many women bore a child of rape, contracted HIV, or both. These women continue to suffer in silence 15 years post-genocide.

When I asked them how they viewed their future and that of their children, a question with which I closed all of the interviews, they would often look at me and say, “I don’t even know what’s going to happen to me tomorrow.” When pushed further and asked what future they would envision if they had the means, nearly every mother talked about education for her children and how vital it is that these children, in particular, acquire the skills to provide for themselves should their mothers not survive. More than half of the women I met are HIV positive. I was deeply moved by this repeated appeal and affected by the incredible challenges these women and children face daily.

For the first time in my career, I felt compelled to do something beyond documenting stories. Inspired to act, I co-founded a nonprofit organization, Foundation Rwanda, to improve the lives of children born of rape committed during the genocide. Foundation Rwanda provides funding for secondary school education for these children and links their mothers to existing psychological and medical services. It also helps raise awareness about the consequences of genocide and sexual violence through photography and new media. Many of the same Hutu militiamen who killed, raped and maimed in Rwanda, escaped to Congo and neighboring countries. These militiamen are continuing the cycle of violence and raping young girls and women on a massive scale in Congo today.

Many of the women we spoke to took more than a decade to start the healing process and tell their stories. For some, these interviews were the very first time they spoke about what had happened to them. Unfortunately, victims of sexual violence in Congo, Darfur and around the world are facing challenges similar to the women in Rwanda. My greatest hope is that, in reading these stories and seeing the images of the women and children in this book, people will be inspired to act and work toward ensuring that similar acts of violence never happen again and that these families can have a brighter future. 

To learn more about or donate to Foundation Rwanda, go to www.foundationrwanda.org.

Purchase Intended Consequences: Rwandan Children Born of Rape the book, or listen to the podcast.

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Jonathan Torgovnik is an award-winning photographer, whose work has been featured in publications such as Newsweek, The Sunday Times Magazine, Smithsonian and Paris Match, as well as in exhibitions around the U.S. and Europe. *Carl Auerbach, PhD, Denise Sandole, MS, contributed to this article.