• Introduction
• Gallery
• The photographer's experience

Introduction

Rwanda emerged from a period of mass displacement, war and genocide to face an AIDS epidemic that further threatens the survival of the country's population of 8.1 million. Contributory factors have been sexual violence during the 1994 genocide, former refugee camps and resettlement programmes as well as a general acceptance of misfortune and fatalism. This has led to a culture of silence. A government-backed initiative is now underway to offer voluntary testing and counselling.

Concern commissioned new photography by Stuart Freedman in Rwanda to show this voluntary testing programme.