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SURF celebrates awards raising the plight of survivors
London – 7th November 2007
Survivors Fund (SURF), the international charity representing and supporting survivors of the Rwandan genocide, today celebrated two awards that have been dedicated to survivors of the genocide.
SURF’s Co-Chair, Liliane Umubyeyi, was named as Campaigner of the Year by Cosmopolitan Magazine at its Ultimate Woman of the Year Awards 2007. Now 29, Liliane’s entire family were massacred in the genocide in 1994, in which one million Rwandans were killed in just 100 days. Since settling in the UK she has worked with SURF, first as a trustee, and now as Co-Chair, helping survivors both in the UK and Rwanda to rebuild their lives.
Commenting on the award, and her work with SURF to give a voice to survivors like herself, Liliane said:
“I feel a responsibility to help the survivors. We need to tell these stories in the future. There are so many people who are traumatised and suffering. The only thing we can do is to talk about it so people do not feel alone anymore.”
Liliane’s award was announced on the same day, that photographer Jonathan Torgovnik was named the winner of the National Portrait Gallery’s Photographic Portrait Prize for his work “Joseline Ingabire With Her Daughter Leah Batamuliza, Rwanda.” The portrait is one in a series entitled “Intended Consequences: Mothers of Genocide, Children of Rape”, which tells the story of women survivors of the genocide, raped during the genocide.
SURF played an instrumental role in facilitating meetings between Jonathan and the women, a number who are also infected with HIV and AIDS, and are beneficiaries on SURF’s antiretroviral treatment programme. SURF helps 3,200 infected women, and is continuing to lobby for additional funding to support an additional 11, 400 similarly affected women who are currently unable to access treatment.
Mary Kayitesi Blewitt, Founder and Director of SURF, commented on the awards:
“The awards to both Liliane and Jonathan could not be more deserved. Both have undertaken to utilise their skills and talents to raise awareness of the plight of survivors in Rwanda, though in very different ways. Liliane, through the empathy that she shows for survivors due to her experience as a survivor herself, has been instrumental in speaking out for survivors - and serving as a example to us all that however seemingly insurmountable the obstacles we face in life, with courage and effort they can be overcome. Jonathan, through his photographic expertise, is raising awareness of these women survivors; his remarkable images, ensuring that the world does not forget the plight of these women and their children only thirteen years on from the horrific atrocities they endured.”
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SURF celebrates awards raising the plight of survivors