A Photographer’s Journey with African Road
I’m Katie, you may notice from my accent that I’m not from round here. I live in London, England and as Kelly’s already mentioned I work as a photographer and in communications. Over the last 4 years I have had the privilege of working with African Road, I was a...
A Cynic’s Endorsement for African Road
This post was adapted from a talk Craig Spinks gave at the African Road Gala in 2016. I want to tell you the story of how I fell in love with African Road. But it’ll help if you first hear a bit of my backstory. I’m a videographer. I started making videos at around...
The Story of Loveness
I met Loveness, a member of New Hope for Girls Organization, in July 2016. Consoler -- NHGO's founder and mom to 32 rescued girls -- asked me how old I thought Loveness was. I looked at her small frame and guessed 6 or 7 years old. In fact, Loveness was 12. She had...
The Parable of the Lost Memory Card — A Story from Burundi
This post was written by photographer Katie Garner who is working on photo assignment with African Road in East Africa this month. Over the course of 2 days, we visited 3 Batwa villages. The Batwa, as you may be aware, are indigenous to East Africa and make up approx...
Capturing partnerships — the view from behind the lens
Sitting around a table stretching 24 feet are 32 girls between about the ages of six and twenty. Each has a story of great suffering, but you wouldn’t know that from the tone of this gathering. They are laughing, playing games, and interacting like sisters. It’s...
English girl in East Africa
It’s good to be back. You may remember me, Katie Garner, from such chronicles as ‘How to eat your way around New York’ in 2010, or ‘How not to navigate the Congo’ in 2012, or ‘Various shades of coffee shop’ in Portland, Oregon 2015. Now, I’m back with East Africa...
A message from Parfaite, African Road VICOBA graduate
"Hello, my name is Parfaite Nimbona, and I am a single mom and a member of Pilgrims VICOBA group in Burundi. Over the last five years I have tried multiple small businesses (selling clothes, women’s products…) but because they all seemed to fail in the first year, I...
Bakery Training at Togetherness Cooperative
As a donor and volunteer for African Road, it doesn't get much better than this: Pulling up to the Togetherness Cooperative in person for the first time, feeling the breeze, seeing the view, smelling the farm, and knowing it really is real. On Tuesday, I was delighted...
One year later, VICOBA still bringing change in Tanzania
Sunny skies, big smiles, and flourishing businesses – that's what greeted African Road VICOBA trainer David Clemy on his recent trip to Tanzania. Last year, 63 women and girls in Tanzania participated in VICOBA small business training. The participants are members of...
Aaaaaand we’re off! Women’s bakery training begins in Rwanda
Aaaaaand we’re off! 21 women and young people have begun training to start a bakery business in Rwanda. The bakery business will create jobs for women, provide nutritionally enhanced bread – a commodity that is in high demand but short supply in Rwanda – and impart...