Rwanda is sadly still known for the horrific events of the 1994 genocide where around 800,000 people lost their lives in 100 days of bloodshed. But on his recent visit there, British actor and Tearfund Ambassador David Gyasi found a different story. He saw a beacon of hope and reconciliation in an unstable region.
David first fell in love with the east African country while filming Shooting Dogs, a film about the genocide. His return to Rwanda couldn’t be more different. David came to see first-hand the work we’re doing through our partners to empower people to lift themselves out of poverty.
An example to the world
‘What I love about Rwanda is the people’s attitude to life and how they are determined to move forward,’ David says. ‘What seemed like an unrealistic dream a few years ago is coming true. The huge improvement in the infrastructure, how clean the country is and – above all – the positive attitude of people was a delight.’
David met with a group called Urukundo who turned their futures around by launching a business together. Urukundo means ‘love’ in Kinyarwanda. They started out as a Tearfund-supported self-help group and are now a nationally-recognised sewing cooperative. They even made David a bomber jacket whilst he was there, which you can see in the photo below.