INTENDED CONSEQUENCES: RWANDAN CHILDREN BORN OF RAPE
Photographs and Interviews by Jonathan Torgovnik, Aperture
During the 1994 genocide, Rwandan women were subjected to sexual violence on a massive scale, perpetrated by members of the infamous Hutu militia groups known as the Interahamwe. Among the survivors, those who are most isolated are the women who have borne children as a result of being raped.
An estimated 20,000 children were born from rapes committed during the genocide in Rwanda, and many of their mothers contracted HIV from these brutal encounters. They have largely been shunned by their communities and their few surviving relatives due to the stigma of rape and "having a child of a militia", compounding to their already unimaginable emotional distress.
Many of the women that were interviewed and photographed have waited more than a decade to start healing themselves by telling their stories. "I cannot really tell you how many men came to rape me," says Verena Uwingabira, now 34 and HIV-positive. "I can't count them. All I know was that four months later I was pregnant. I felt so bad, I tried committing suicide twice after I was pregnant. Now I live with HIV and AIDS."
These women have lived through unimaginable suffering, yet the future of Rwanda is largely in their hands. With a population that is 70 percent female, the country is now dependent on the women who survived the genocide to heal and rebuild the country. Every survivor's experience is unique, and the collective story they tell is no less important today than it was in 1994.