Excellent word comes from ABC News, if it holds. A report about Frederick, the Imbabazi
Orphanage artist and photographer, is scheduled for Thanksgiving on “PrimeTime Thursday” (10 p.m. ET, 9 p.m. CT). His
hands were amputated during the Rwanda genocide of 1994 and have since been replaced by
prosthetics with help from supporters of the Rwanda Project:
Through the Eyes of Children.
Frederick’s story was
originally supposed to run Aug. 14 on ABC’s “World News
Tonight” but didn’t: That turned out to be the night of the big
Northeast blackout. This time the piece will have an added mention about project founder David Jiranek, who died accidentally on Aug.
17.
I’ve written about the Rwanda Project many times before as “an arts project of the most
stirring kind.” (Definitely click on the flash introduction.)Frederick is one of 13 children
who were part of it. See for yourself who Frederick is. Go to the group photo “Meet the Children” and run your mouse over his
face in the upper lefthand corner (he’s the one in the yellow shirt).
Meantime, as I’ve written before, you can listen to an NPR interview of orphanage founder
Rosalind Carr, who is 90 and still going strong. “She’s everybody’s feisty grandmother who can
entertain you for hours, sitting at her knee, listening to her fabulous stories,” David Jiranek said
not long before he died. “She has perfectly coiffed gray hair, is a magician with gardens and
plants, has tea every day at 4, and then slugs [it out] with the government, landlords, etc. fighting
for her kids.”
As I’ve also written before, how about buying a print of one of “The Rwanda Project” artists?
Hell, buy more than one. It’s a tax-deductible donation. Here’s how to help. If you can’t afford the price of a print
($100), just enjoy the photos on the site and forward the URL to friends.
POSTSCRIPT: Late word comes that there will be no mention of David Jiranek,
founder of the Rwanda Project, in the “Primetime” piece. No matter, even if it’s possible that of all
the stories connected with the Imbabazi Orphanage, Jiranek’s might actually be the most
fascinating. He was too modest ever to have believed that and, had he lived, he never would have
allowed anybody else to believe it. But those who knew him will appreciate what I
mean.
