Rubona, Ruanda, 2019
Vanessa was 5 years old when in 1994, during the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda, more than one million people were killed in the space of just a few months. Like hundreds of thousands of people, she, too, had to flee the brutal violence. Her mother tied the shirtsleeves of Vanessa and two of her siblings together so they would not lose each other amidst the masses of people who were on the move.
Vanessa has not seen her parents again since that time. Together with her siblings she registered for a Save the Children family reunification programme in 1995.
Thousands of children were reunited with their relatives after polaroids had been put on display and extensive searches had been made.
Vanessa still does not know if her parents are alive.