Blue
Karaba Coffee Cooperative
Huye Province, Rwanda
Blue is a complicated color because it can represent such a wide array of things: Despair, depression, royalty, a limitless sky, an endless horizon, grand prize, first place. Sometimes it is difficult to know what you are seeing. How shall we feel about this child? Is she an orphan, raising herself? Is she hungry? Will she ever go to school? Does she have AIDS?
Perhaps she lives with both parents. Perhaps they are poor but happy and healthy. Perhaps she will start primary school next year, and will grow up to be a teacher, or a member of the parliament.
Or perhaps…
Joy
Karaba Coffee Cooperative
Huye Province, Rwanda
These are the children of Karaba, one of the larger coffee cooperatives in the Southern Province of Rwanda. Despite hard circumstances, these children are still able to laugh and play. They are content with what they have, though for many, a plastic water bottle is the most valued possession. Many of them will grow up to be farmers, mothers and fathers. It is unlikely that any of them will have the chance to go to school, or to learn to read.
Art
Maraba Coffee Cooperative
Huye Province, Rwanda
Art is often the most visible manifestation of a culture. French Arcihtecture. Italian Paintings. British Literature. Texas BBQ—all art forms that give us an appreciation for those cultures. Unfortunately, when suffering and tragedy strikes, art is usually the first luxury to go. Though the arts in Rwanda have not fully recovered from a period characterized by genocide, somehow it can still be found—perhaps in fields and faces.
Eyes
Karaba Coffee Cooperative
Huye Province, Rwanda
These are the children of Karaba. What do their eyes tell you? I see a quiet, steady confidence. I see a playful curiosity. I see a hope for the future of Rwanda.
Barrier
Lake Tanganyika
Bujumbura, Burundi
In this picture, taken at Lake Tanganyika in Burundi, barbed wire coils separate the public beach from the private beach. This represents the dangerous barrier that lies between the haves and have-nots. Through education and hard work, some are able to crawl through the coils to the other side, but many will never have the chance.
Open Hands
Karaba Coffee Cooperative
Huye Province, Rwanda
In Rwanda, the open hand can mean several things. There is so much need-- so many that have been unable to recover from the horrors of the genocide-- and must open their hand to ask for help. There are others with open hands who, though they have little, reach out to give to others in need.
Reconciliation
Maraba Coffee Cooperative
Huye Province, Rwanda
Day after day, these women sort through the coffee beans, ensuring that only the best quality beans are selected for further processing. Often the women working at the coffee washing stations are genocide widows. Some are widows because their husbands were killed during the genocide. Some are widows because their husbands are in prison for doing the killing. Tremendous reconciliation is taking place as these women are helping each other through the trials of being a widow.
