– Kigali
Rwanda’s cleanliness is that major impression that captures one’s eye whenever they set foot into the land of a thousand hills, but barely does it hit one on how the country got there. Eric Murinzi embarked onto a mission which unveils the faces behind the streets’ cleanliness.
As early as 2019, when he battled depression, Murinzi who nolonger had a job decided to move around the streets in Kigali, where his eye caught the attention of some of the Street Cleaners.
Kigali Street Cleaners
Mostly comprised of women, armed each with a broom, these labored diligently towards sweeping the streets. Murinzi’s initial approach was through conversation, and as he imagined doccumenting them, he further learnt of how they had more to what meets the eye- the stories they each carried.
After winning their trust, Murinzi gradually captured each of them as they worked, and further had a chance of following them up to their homes too as he learnt more.
With most holding painful stories of how they had been hit by the pandemic and lost jobs, others are widows, Single mothers whose husbands were in prisons, while others had suffered Gender-Based-Violence which not only left them trapped, to fend themselves.
This Podcast brings to you Murinzi sits down with Andrew Israel Kazibwe, as he unveiled the ‘Bonds and Brooms’ Exhibition project to highlight these unsung heroines.
We tap into his initial inspiration, approach to learning of the street cleaners, stories he heard as told, and how this project inturn is a healing to Murinzi.
(Images by Eric Murinzi)
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