Join us for the launch of the book and photo exhibit, “And I Live On: The Enduring Stories of Rwanda’s Survivors.”
Details
Presented in collaboration with the Hart House Social Justice Committee, the Multi-Faith Centre, Human Rights Watch and the International Human Rights Program at the Faculty of Law.
2019 marks the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. During the 100 days that ravaged Rwanda between April and July 1994, an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 women and girls were raped. No one was spared. Grandmothers were assaulted in the presence of their grandchildren; girls witnessed the massacre of their families before being abducted.
Too often, the stories told of genocide end with that horrific violence forever framing its survivors as victims. The pictures here tell a different story. Across a 10-year span, Canadian human rights advocate Samer Muscati has photographed the journeys of the survivors who have endured in the face of trauma, loss, illness, and poverty. Underpinning their resilience is the medical, psychosocial and economic assistance that they have received — a testament to the importance of international and domestic support to survivors during and after a conflict.
The exhibition is curated by Sarah Milroy, chief curator at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. It is supported by IMPACT, a Dutch organization dedicated to preventing and addressing conflict-related sexual violence and human trafficking; Solace Ministries, a Rwandan organization that provides support and services to widows and orphans of the genocide; the University of Toronto’s Hart House and International Human Rights Program at the Faculty of Law; and Human Rights Watch Canada. The photographs are from the 2019 book, And I Live On: The Resilience of Rwandan Genocide Survivors of Sexual Violence.
