Made of natural woven fibres the Agaseke basket is a wonderful Rwandan symbol. Traditionally gifts were given to a lady at the time of her marriage; they would contain household food items assuring a basic starting supply for the couple. Tourism gave Rwandan weavers the opportunity to make mini-versions for travellers to take home a momento of the country and a reminder of progress and recovery in the people of this amazing country. Read More
Frida: chosen to die, destined to live. By Frida Gashumba, with Sandy Waldron. Sovereign World, 2007, 169pp.
After years of fearful living and daily discrimination, because they are Tutsi, Frida, at age 14, is thrown unconscious with all other members of her family into a shallow grave near their home in rural Rwanda. But Frida, and only Frida, survives.
The graphic story, which comes from the writer’s clear and vivid memories, makes up the first half of the book; I felt I was right there with her through those frightening and challenging times. Read More
This was the situation in Rwanda – people believed certain things but…
In 2012 I visited some of the Rwandans Dave had filmed. They gathered close as I opened my laptop and played some of the stories he had created from the footage and I explained how we were using it. I showed them parts of Vanishing Point, the secondary school curriculum. Their response was gasps of amazement, smiling faces and then tears of joy. One group said “We have had 100 people come and take our story, but you are the first to return to say ‘thank you’ and to tell us how you are using the information.” Read More
What is it like to live in Rwanda and engage with traumatised persons who are searching for answers to the question, “How do we make sense of this mess and start to recover and rediscover a purpose for living?” Read More
I was born in Adelaide, South Australia. As a lad I spent the best three years of my life in a Javanese village. In the morning I did correspondence studies, in the afternoon I went barefoot and did what village boys did. I learnt the practical wisdom of peasant life and knew that the color of the skin is an insignificant difference between East and West. Read More
In 2007 David Fullerton accompanied me on a visit to Rwanda to film the stories of people in recovery. Over two weeks, with support from donors and some logistics from World Vision, and the guidance of three young interpreters, we filmed 28 amazing hours of story, culture and background material.
When Dave shared the footage with his partner Sally Morgan, she fell in love with Rwanda and the people we’d filmed. Using funds we raised from donors and philanthropists, Dave proceeded to create 21 short video stories introducing aspects of what Rwandan women and men had experienced. Read More
A new website is conceived. A country is re-born. A book comes to birth.
New beginnings almost always require forgiveness – to forgive means letting go of something that has inhibited or hindered me. So forgiveness gives us the chance of living in a new way or adding new dimensions to life. Read More
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