Géraldine, aged 36, widow since the genocide, cuts corn cobs in order to roast them, on a plot of land next to their family home in the sector of Gatenga, in Kigali. She is the mother of five children. Four were born from the couple she formed with her husband, died in 1994. When she gave birth to Vivita, four years ago, from a non lasting relationship, her husband’s family decided to take away her first children from her. Since then, they secretly come to see their mother, concealing this from their paternal family.
Here she is with Vivita and two of her nephews, with whom she lives under her mother’s roof, Immaculate Mukakabera, aged 68, also widow since the genocide. One of Geraldine’s brothers has survived, five of her brothers and sisters were killed. Immaculate has adopted ten orphans, all relatives from her family or friends. The youngest was then four years old. Her twelve children have since then given birth to six grand children, one of them Vivita. Nineteen people live in Immaculate Mukakabera’s house.
June 2005 – Kigali - Rwanda.
© Pierre-Yves GINET