Life After Genocide

“Life After Genocide- Rwanda”

Having worked in Srebrenica, Bosnia Herzegovina over the past few years on a project about “Life after Genocide”, I have now visited and extended my project to Rwanda.

As April 7th 2014 marked the 20th commemoration of the genocide in Rwanda. 1000000 people were brutally murdered in 100 days mostly with machete, spears, knives and rape... It seems unlikely, but people do talk about forgiveness and reconciliation all the time. It is part of what it means to be from Rwanda. At least, that is what they want to tell me… Again, I am focusing on what life is like today and what it may bring to the people in Rwanda.

Following the work on my project on "Life after Genocide" that I have been photographing in Srebrenica, Bosnia I have now worked in Rwanda. The project deals with some people and their life today based on their experiences 20 years ago.

This is a "Work in Progress" project which will conclude in a book next year in order to mark the 20th comemoration in Bosnia.

The 3 images I am submitting are of two people surviving and one person who killed "hundreds" during the genocide in Rwanda.

Captions and titles (Info also on the meta data on each of the 3 image files):

skeie_kristian_003: is a photograph of Révérien Rurangwa a survivor of the genocide in Rwanda and now lives in Switzerland. He has lived here for a long time and has a Swiss passport. He tells me that, his place, his home, is here, in Switzerland. Not so strange maybe. On April 20th 1994, 43 members of his closest family was brutally murdered in the Rwandan genocide. Just luck, perhaps, saved him from dying. More to come on his story. And, you can read his entire story in his book that he published in 2006. It is available in French, English, Polish and Swedish.

skeie_kristian_004: Hundreds of thousands of men participated in the killings during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Raphaël says that "he did what he was told to do". The tools were a machette and a club. He has spent 12 years and 6 months in prison for what he did. Today, he works as a peasent near Kibuye in the area near Bisesero.

skeie_kristian_005: Marie-Jeanne has a problem with her neighbourse. Several times has she been burgled in her modest small house. Here she shows how she is strengthening her windows. In 1994, she was maried to a Hutu man. He wanted to kill her as well as his children as they were not "pure". As Marie-Jeanne did not divorce oficially right away, she can not claim compensation which again means that she is living in very basic conditions. No electricity, dirt floor, two rooms...and that is it. She has health problems and are concerned about the future for her and her young twin daughters.

A selection of these photographs have been chosen to be part of the exhibition “L’Homme dans le monde” with Photo Reporters/ Impressum and the Reporters Sans Frontières in Zurich (Photobastei 24 July- 4th August) and Geneva (Confrontations photo de Gex 3-5 October).

It would be amazing to be able to show these images in Lugano! I look forward tio be hearing from you.

Best Regards,

Kristian

Photographer Kristian Skeie
+41 (0)79 609 75 37
kskeie@gmail.com

Swiss Press Photographers/ Impressum & Union Suisse des Photographes Professioneles (USPP)

http://ks-imaging.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/photographerkristianskeie