In Celebration and Memoriam of a Life Well-Lived: Rosamond Halsey Carr, 1912-2006

It is with both sadness for her loss and deep joy for her life that we mark the passing of Rosamond "Roz" Carr, internationally renowned humanitarian (she was featured in several major movies and books) and a long time, past project partner of Children's Hunger Relief Fund. She was 94.

If the success of a life is measured by Love, then Rosamond Halsey Carr lived a very successful life.

Roz Carr first came to Africa in 1949, eventually settling at Mugongo, a flower plantation in the Mutura district of northwestern Rwanda. Thus began her enduring love affair with the nation and its people. Reluctantly agreeing to evacuate in the midst of the anarchy and terror of the 1994 genocide, Ms. Carr returned to Rwanda some three months later after witnessing the news reports of orphaned children living in squalid refugee camps. She was 82 years old at the time.

"I thought, 'That camp is only 10 kilometers away from me. I could walk there and bring these babies back and take care of them... And as I'd not had children of my own, and always wanted to, it was a wonderful opportunity for me."

"It was suggested to me in none too delicate a fashion that I was a bit old to be attempting such a perilous journey with such an uncertain outcome. Without putting too fine a point on it, the consensus was that I had lost my mind entirely."

Finding her beloved Mugongo looted, vandalized and covered in human waste, Ms. Carr began the painful process of rebuilding. Her primary purpose was to provide a home for the many devastated children who had nowhere else to go. She converted the old flower-drying house into sleeping quarters, and the first small group of refugees arrived soon thereafter.

She called the children's home "Imbabazi", which means "a place where you will receive all the love and care a mother would give."

"I can only surmise that God didn't feel I was ready to have children until I was 82 years old. Then he sent me 40 all at once."

Over the next twelve years, Ms. Carr took in hundreds of orphaned and abandoned Rwandan children, most of whom had experienced unspeakable atrocities. Most had seen their families brutally murdered. At Imbabazi, they were indeed given "the love and care a mother would give" - and thus found healing and hope.

"The children danced and sang a song in Kinyarwanda that was unfamiliar to me. Biriko translated it as follows: 'We are the young ones of Rosa [Roz]. We are growing up, but nothing bad will happen to us.' I hope and pray that this is true."

The legacy of Roz Carr will continue through the hundreds of children she has loved and cared for, and through the orphaned and abandoned children who continue to find their way to the doors of Imbabazi. We celebrate her life, her work, and the example she has been to us of the transforming power of love, and the difference one person can make, no matter how old they are.

Every evening just before dusk, I say good night to the children and make my way slowly along the narrow path that leads to the house. The sounds of singing and laughter still ring in the cool evening air. Workers and friends call out, "Kwa heri, Madami." The dogs race ahead as I stop to survey the gardens and marvel at the dazzling sunset casting a golden glow on Lake Kivu in the distance. The crested cranes have come to roost on their leafy perches atop the dracaena trees. I turn toward the jagged peaks of Mikeno and the snowcapped dome of Karisimbi appearing as stark silhouettes against the falling darkness, and I know I am truly blessed.

I am weary as I mount the flagstone steps to my cottage. Mikingo has lighted the oil lamps, and I settle into a chair beside a warm, crackling fire. My day is done."

Children's Hunger Relief Fund was so privileged to support Ms. Carr's work at Imbabazi and will deeply miss her powerful life force and presence. We thank her for her countless years of support for those less fortunate and know that her legacy lives on - through the many children she has loved, and through the ongoing work at Imbabazi.

* Quotations are from Land of a Thousand Hills - My Life in Rwanda, by Rosamond Halsey Carr.