Last Wednesday, the village celebrated Hero’s Day, a Rwandan holiday commemorating all their sung and unsung heroes. To celebrate the event, each family set of four played games, discuss, and created artwork reflecting their given core value. Because there are only seven core values( role model, commitment, integrity, support, respect, interest of child and learning community) and eight family sets, those in charge assigned ‘Determination’ as our core value. Adhering to Grace, Divine design not coincidence brought me face to face to determination. And skillfully determination exposed my issues with it, through the simple game of tug of war.

For several weeks now, I have been on mission to photograph the biweekly, outdoor market in Rubona, a small rural town. However, for each trip there, I failed to even pull my camera from my bag; inhibited by worries and self-consciousnesses. Even through my travels in Asia, I struggled with this very same issue. On the surface, the problem seemed to reflect a lack of courage , on my part. But, the question is why I lacked this courage? Often , we hear these remarkable stories of photojournalists traveling to far distances, living in unusual cultures, and even risking their lives to capture the story. But the biggest toll to photography, for me at least, is the depth that it demands.

Several weeks ago, Kim Jong-il, leader of North Korea, passed away. Although no death calls for celebration, I hope this one will lead to great changes in North Korea. While living in South Korea, I pursued a photo essay on young North Korean Defectors. Most of them are enrolled in college, struggling to advance in a competitive society.

I have decided to post this photo essay along with the article to highlight what I discovered. One last note, I have to say this project was tough and slow to complete. Many north Korean defectors to the south fear retribution if their identities and movements become “public record,” they choose to remain anonymous. Therefore, coverage of this important story has been to-date, slow and incremental.

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Last week, the entire village came together to clean and  prepare the homes and rooms of incoming students. Let me back up a minute to explain things a bit. I am one of the nine volunteer fellows, this year. Each of us , will have family of 16 new students, one mama and an older sister/brother (counselor).  For the cleaning day, we cleaned their rooms, laid out their beds, and hung mosquito  nets;all tedious work. So your probably wondering what’s the point to this entry.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Kasandra Antoine