Photographer Jonathan Torgovnik traveled to Rwanda to shoot a Newsweek story on AIDS in Feb. 2006. There, he met Margaret, a Tutsi who was raped and beaten during the 1994 genocide — and not only contracted HIV from it, but also bore a child of one of her rapists. She’s not alone. There were 20,000 children born from rapes during the genocide, many of whom are HIV-positive. Jonathan returned to Rwanda to tell their stories. He interviewed 50 families for his short film Intended Consequences. Soon after, he formed a non-profit called Foundation Rwanda to help the kids and the moms affected by the genocide rapes.
We invited Jonathan into the office for a screening of Intended Consequences and a short Q&A.
“I returned to New York after the story, but something stayed with me, I couldn’t stop thinking about Margaret,” he told us. “These women are the strongest people I’ve ever met.”
We’re in awe of them. And of Jonathan’s commitment to the project. Since you couldn’t join us in the office to hear his personal take on the project, we recommend you watch his interview with MediaStorm (it’s under “An Unspoken Language”).
