“The kindness of the Irish people saved Sylvie’s life – like it once saved mine"

Mussa is a professional photographer and visual storyteller based in Kigali, Rwanda. He recently visited the Central African Republic to capture and document some of Concern’s work in local communities. It was in a Concern-supported clinic that he met Dominique and her granddaughter Sylvie (their names have been changed). Little Sylvie was being treated for malnutrition at the clinic.

His stunning photography shows the impact that your donation has on children like Sylvie, who you are supporting by providing fortified porridge, emergency therapeutic food and life-saving nutrition. However, meeting Sylvie brought back memories of Mussa’s own childhood. 

Mussa was only three years old when the genocide in his home of Rwanda began. His family were forced to flee as violence came to their village, with Mussa’s parents packing what they could and fleeing with Mussa and his three siblings to the border. The family managed to cross into Democratic Republic of Congo, but tragically, they were unable to escape the violence. Mussa’s brother was shot dead protecting their sister, and little Mussa soon became separated from his parents.

He told the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust: “We were amid a flock of people who were all headed in the same direction. I was holding on Mama’s kitenge (a fabric, often worn by women) for dear life. She had made it clear that she didn’t have enough hands to hold on the pots and everything she was carrying on her head plus my hand. I was to hold on to her as she made her way through the mass of people. Then someone said to make way and for the briefest moment I did, and everything changed. I lost my family and my hopes for a life with them.”

Mussa was eventually taken to a hospital, where he was treated for cholera, and later went to an orphanage, where he was taken care of and eventually was introduced to photography through the project Through the Eyes of Children. Mussa went through unimaginable hardship as a small child, losing his entire family in the Rwandan genocide, but three decades on, he can see his own story in the eyes of children like Sylvie as he, too, was given life-saving support by NGOs including Concern Worldwide.

In 1994, Concern mounted its largest ever regional humanitarian response across Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and DRC, to help the people of Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide. Mussa was one of the children your donations supported at that time.

Mussa said: “As I walked around the Mboto Health Centre, in the Central African Republic (CAR), I [felt] Ireland in my heart and [saw] it reflected in the life-saving work Concern does all around me. In a little girl called Sylvie, weak with malnutrition, I see echoes of my past.

“Today, I’m a photographer working with Concern, but 30 years ago, after losing my family in the Rwandan genocide, it was my life they were saving. Concern gave me food, shelter and care when I had nothing. When I had no one. 

"If you ever wanted proof that your compassion saves lives, you’re holding it in your hands right now.”

He added: “The kindness and determination of the Irish people saved Sylvie’s life – like it once saved mine. It gives me hope for children in CAR.” 

It’s the support of donors like you that allows Concern to continue our life-saving work in the world’s most vulnerable countries. Your generosity made a change to Mussa’s life, and continues to make a change in the lives of children like Sylvie - we cannot thank you enough.