It’s Friday Fun Photo. Market day in Rwanda. Enjoy!
About the photographer: Anthony, another one of our gafotozi, explored his photo essay on “village life” with a trip to market. He is a top student at school and wants to become an architect. He is also deeply spiritual: “It is God who protects us in our bad conditions…is with us all the time…even though the problems are there, we pray.”
A little of Anthony’s story: Anthony fled with his mom and sister to Tanzania during the genocide. But in the refugee camp, he and his sister were abandoned by their mom. They eventually managed to return home and rejoin their dad who had remarried. They still don’t know what happened to their mom. Tragedy struck again, when their dad and step mom became sick and tested positive for HIV. His dad died a few months later but his step mom is alive today because of ARV treatment. Stigma was one of the hardest things to overcome: “At beginning, it was hard, people wondering, when they saw someone sick they would stay away. But now it is seen as a common problem.”
A Peace of Life 