Archive for December, 2011
living with HIV – the first 13 minutes of each day
I spent a week living with a family in a rural village called Rubimba in Eastern Rwanda at the end of November. It has been 2 years since I first met and photographed Princess and her family. Living without running water and battling against HIV, Princess, her younger sister and her mother all rely on antiviral drugs to stay strong in their battle. This set of photographs were made during an early hour of one morning within a 13 minute time frame, shortly after they woke up to face yet another day. These photographs were made in hopes to help eradicate the stigma that surrounds people living with HIV and continue to explore the deeper effect poverty has on the people suffering from the virus. These medications are strong and patients required a nutritional diet to be able to cope with the side effects. Over 60% of the population living in Rwanda earns less than 1$ a day. It is extremely challenging to have enough to eat; let alone having a nutritious meal.
what have I been up to …
It’s been a while since my last Blog post and it is time for a little update. I’ve been in Rwanda now for over two weeks, the first week was spent teaching a photography workshop at a Youth Peace Camp with A Peace Of Life . The last week I was visiting a rural village called Rubimba in the Eastern province, spending some quality time with my former students and their families.
When I first came here in 2009, there wasn’t electricity nor running water. Things are changing rapidly in this little landlocked country. As of November this year, the village is on the grid and there’s even a cell phone tower ! My girlfriend Kate generously donated her laptop to the students and now, they are able to connect to the internet using a USB modem. I spent the week teaching them how to resize and prepare images for the internet and we can now expect to see some regular updates on their project. This is a serious step towards our goal of reaching the global communities with their stories. Please support us by clicking LIKE on the Gafotozi Facebook page.
