'Through the Eyes of Children: The Rwanda Project'

PHOTOGRAPHS COPYRIGHT THE RWANDA PROJECT "Gadi at the Market" by Jacqueline, 8 Nancy Mezey doesn't see loss and suffering in the striking photographs currently on exhibit in the library at Monmouth University in West Long Branch.

"This is one of wonderful things about having children take the photos," she said of the images taken by children orphaned by the genocide in Rwanda.

"They don't look at the past at all, they just look forward. They are Rwanda as a child sees it," said Mezey, assistant professor of sociology in the Department of Political Science at the university.

"This [genocide] happened 12 years ago and yet children are able to survive and look forward. They can see a positive life in front of them."

"Through The Eyes of Children: The Rwanda Project" opened this week in the Monmouth University Library, where it will be on exhibit through Nov. 8.

The exhibit is free and open to the public during library hours: Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to midnight; Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to midnight.

"Woman Smiling" by Musa, 14 Conceived by amateur photographer David Jiranek, the exhibit provides a unique look at Rwanda and the lives of the children affected by the 1994 genocide, which claimed the lives of nearly 1 million people.

The photographs were taken by children of the Imbabazi Orphanage between the ages of 8 and 17 who were given disposable or digital cameras to take pictures of themselves, explore their community and to try to find beauty as their country struggles to rebuild.

With simple instructions in the basics of photography and composition, the children created images that have won awards in international competitions.

Thirty of the images taken between 2001 and 2005 are on display.

Funds are raised through donations of $100 for which the donor receives a photograph of their choice.

The project has already raised enough funds to send all of the children in the orphanage to secondary school, Mezey said.

"Market" by Bakunzi, 18 "What really touches me is that it [the exhibit] gets to the beauty of the culture in Rwanda that the media forgets to tell us about," said Mezey, a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa for three years.

"You get to see a view of the country most don't think about. When we think of Africa we tend to think of famine, disease or war. There's so much richness to Africa, and children are one of the best ways to see that."

To learn more about the Rwanda Project, contact Mezey at nmezey@monmouth.edu or visit www.rwandaproject.org.

"Yellow Soccer" by Elizabeth