Nine women from a select underprivileged social groups from Kigali and Huye, last week, told their life stories in photo exhibition. The event, in Kigali, was organised by Faces of Life, an NGO specialised in filmmaking. Running under the theme, ‘Giving Voices to Women,’ the event sought to bring together underprivileged women, including commercial sex workers, the disabled and vendors, with a view to train them in photography and videography to document their plight. The beneficiaries were selected from different community groups in Gasabo, Kicukiro in Kigali and Tumba in Huye District. The photographs on exhibition depicted the areas of disability, prostitution and street life and culture. Veridiana Mukakinani, a tailor from Kicukiro, showcased a photo of women going to visit a mother of a new-born with some presents, a Rwandan tradition called Guhemba. “I did this to show the love in our community and to show our culture. Coming together for this project helped us relate more,” she said. Janviere Mungarina, a vendor from Gisozi, had a photograph showing a disabled child playing with another child as a sign of acceptance and mutual co-existence. “We were mere vendors without a chance to practise photography much as some of us loved it. Kemit offered to teach us and now we can express ourselves,” she said. Speaking to The New Times, Francois Woukoache, the founder of Kemit and a film producer, said it was an extraordinary feat as at the beginning nobody believed in the women, saying they lacked skills, and did not even understand what they were doing. “We have to have faith in humanity, be it vulnerable or not, every human being has the potential; it is just a matter of whether those people are being given the opportunity. These women got the opportunity and they created something formidable,” he said. Woukoache’s sentiments were echoed by Aimable Ndakengerwa Gasana, the director of labour at the City of Kigali. He said the exhibition was a step forward in the campaign to create a self-employed populace, adding that the city had a plan to move hawkers from the streets. “You will show others a good example and teach them some of your skills,” he told the group. Gasana pledged that the City Council would offer them support by giving the women an area to operate from. Similar exhibitions will be held in other parts of the country, where the women will discuss the messages portrayed in the photos with the population. The project is sponsored by the Commonwealth Foundation and will benefit 120 women during its three-year tenure.
