Sex worker Madeleine Mushimyimana, 27, sat in the subdued light of a small house in the town of Gisenyi, located in the Northern Province of Rwanda. As curious neighbourhood children peered in through the doorway, she told her story.
Ms. Mushimyimana was diagnosed with HIV 18 months ago but continues to work in the sex trade. Occasionally, she uses condoms provided by a local health clinic but not always. She sees prostitution as the only means she has to support herself and her child, and she fears what will happen to her child when she is gone. The stigma that comes with being a prostitute and being HIV positive had made her an outcast in her own community. There are dozens of sex workers in the small town.
Late last year, seven photojournalists with the Toronto-based social photography group PhotoSensitive in conjunction with Carleton University's Rwanda Initiative travelled to Rwanda to document that country's struggle with HIV/AIDS. The project, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency, focused on a variety of issues surrounding HIV/AIDS and its impact on the small African nation.
For two weeks, each photographer turned his lens on the disease and the people it has affected, examining issues ranging from public-education initiatives designed to teach people how to use condoms to the children left orphaned by the ravages of HIV/AIDS.
According to the UN, Rwanda has approximately 200, 000 people living with HIV/AIDS. Its population is less than nine million.
The exhibit of photographs called Living With opens today at Toronto's Brookfield Place. It will tour university campuses this fall, including Carleton University where it will be on display Oct. 16 to 30. Kevin Van Paassen
For more information, see http://www.photosensitive.com
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First impressions
Globe and Mail staff photographer Kevin Van Paassen recalls the powerful impact of his time in Rwanda where he and six other photojournalists documented the country's struggle against AIDS and HIV.
"There didn't seem to be any person that we met or place that we went that hadn't been touched in some way by this pandemic.
"Whether it was the grandmothers now forced to raise their grandchildren left orphaned by the disease or the women who contracted HIV after being raped during the genocide. It is such a huge problem that until you're standing right next to it you find it difficult to grasp its enormity.
"I think we all felt very fortunate to work on this project and, as we met and photographed some of the people who are affected by HIV/AIDS in all kinds of various ways, I think we were all inspired by their stories."
The six other photographers who travelled to Rwanda were Peter Bregg, Yuri Dojc, Tony Hauser, Steve Simon, Andrew Stawicki and Lauren Vopni.