April 12, 20245:26 PM ET
Rwanda has experienced considerable economic growth in the 30 years since the genocide. But some critics say it’s come at the cost of certain freedoms.
April 12, 20245:13 PM ET
Enlarge this imageAlbert Rudatsimburwa, a freelancer journalist reporting in the East African region poses for a portrait in his home.
Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
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Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
Albert Rudatsimburwa, a freelancer journalist reporting in the East African region poses for a portrait in his home.
Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
It has been three decades since the East African country of Rwanda experienced a genocide that changed the country and shocked the world. We look at the state of their society today.
April 12, 20244:50 PM ET
Enlarge this imageJoel Breman trains scientists in malaria diagnosis in Côte d’Ivoire, 1986. Breman died this month at age 87.
Courtesy of the Breman family.
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Courtesy of the Breman family.
Joel Breman trains scientists in malaria diagnosis in Côte d’Ivoire, 1986. Breman died this month at age 87.
Courtesy of the Breman family.
Joel Breman, a leader in efforts to control smallpox, Ebola, malaria and several other infectious diseases, died this month in Chevy Chase, Maryland, at the age of 87.
Peter Piot, a fellow disease investigator, remembers the exact date that he met Breman. It was October 18, 1976, and Piot, then a young physician and microbiologist, had come to the city of Kinshasa in central Africa (in current-day Democratic Republic of the Congo) to investigate a terrifying, deadly, nameless new disease. Breman, already 40 years old and with several epidemic investigations under his belt, was there w..
April 11, 20245:17 PM ET
Loud Sound Studios is home to two of Rwanda’s up-and-coming hip-hop acts: Pro-Zed and Kenny K-Shot.
April 11, 20245:17 PM ET
Akagera National Park in eastern Rwanda was hard hit by the violence of the country’s genocide. For a time, the park floundered — but it’s now flourishing.
April 11, 20241:36 PM ET
Atlantic journalist Stephanie McCrummen says foreign interests are acquiring territory in Northern Tanzania, effectively displacing indigenous cattle-herders from their traditional grazing lands.
April 11, 20248:54 AM ET
Enlarge this imageA worker separates bags of donated blood at a campaign organized by the Rotary Blood Bank in New Delhi, India.
Money Sharma/AFP via Getty Images
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A worker separates bags of donated blood at a campaign organized by the Rotary Blood Bank in New Delhi, India.
Money Sharma/AFP via Getty Images
When Caroline Wangamati was touring a rural Kenyan hospital in 2018, the doctors shared that two young mothers would likely be dead within hours.
Their hemoglobin levels were catastrophically low — a sign of life-threatening anemia. The typical response would be a blood transfusion, but the local blood bank was empty.
So Wangamati, the first lady of Bungoma County at the time, frantically called the regional blood center — 85 miles away — to have them send some units.
The delivery arrived a few hours later. “I was very proud of myself,” Wangamati tells NPR. “After t..
April 11, 20245:03 AM ET
Enlarge this imageMany members of Rachel Mukantabana’s family were killed in the 1994 genocide.
Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
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Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
Many members of Rachel Mukantabana’s family were killed in the 1994 genocide.
Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
NYAMATA, Rwanda — Rachel Mukantabana was a teenager when the devastating genocide in Rwanda unfolded.
“I was 15 years old and I knew exactly what was happening,” she told NPR. “Even a five-year-old knew what was about to happen.”
Two days into the 100-day genocide, Mukantabana and her family fled their homes. They first went to a church, and then a school, before ultimately hiding in a large swamp — hoping that no one would be able to reach them in the water.
This week, Rwanda marks the 30th anniversary of the genocide in which nearly one million people, most of them ethnic Tutsis, were killed.
Africa Bill Clinton and other leaders join Rwandans in marki..
April 10, 20246:36 PM ET
Paul Rusesabagina, whose life inspired the movie Hotel Rwanda, and his daughter, Anaise Kanimba, have been vocal critics of Rwanda’s current president, Paul Kagame.
April 10, 20245:55 PM ET
Basketball is gaining popularity in Rwanda. We chat with a few players and fans to learn why.