The Children of Bad Memories

On a recent assignment for The Sunday Times Magazine, Nichole Sobecki photographed Rwanda’s lost generation, children whose Tutsi mothers were raped by Hutu militia.

In those bloody 100 days between April and July 1994, ten percent of Rwanda’s population was killed and at least 250,000 women were raped. Of those who became pregnant, many aborted their babies or even killed them at birth, but the Survivors Fund — a British charity working in Rwanda — believes there are about 20,000 children of rape alive today. In Rwanda they are known as ‘les enfants mauvais souvenirs’, the children of bad memories. People blame them when the rains don’t come or when rivers flood, and they have grown up knowing that, for their mothers, they are reminders of the worst day in their lives. Now in their early 20s, this group of young adults are trying to find their way in the world, but it is not easy.

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