Rwanda & Liberia

Journalist Duplexe Joeploe protests the imprisonment of editor Rodney Sieh at a rally held at the Press Union of Liberia in Monrovia, Liberia Monday Sep 23, 2013. Joeploe is a reporter for Liberia radio station King's FM. (AP Photo/Mark Darrough)

Moviegoers watch Iron Man 3 in 3D at Kigali's new Century Cinema, Rwanda’s first modern movie theater. The theatre also offers the 5D experience, the first to do so in Africa. (Mark Darrough/Associated Press)

Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor's wife Victoria Taylor prays for her husband's upcoming appeal judgement during a prayer service held at the Dominion Christian Church in Monrovia, Liberia Saturday Sep 21, 2013. The International Criminal Court

Students protest after nearly 25,000 applicants failed Liberia's university entrance exam, Monrovia, Aug. 28, 2013 (AP photo by Mark Darrough).

Some of nearly 25,000 high school students who recently failed the University of Liberia's entrance exam demonstrate on campus with the Student Integration Movement at the University of Liberia. (Mark Darrough/AP)

A cyclist catches a lift on the road north of Musanze leading to the Ugandan border.

Hills to the east of the Virunga volcanoes in northern Rwanda.

A funeral procession for a good friend, Emmanuel Manirakiza, who drowned in a Kigali pool while visiting friends during a break from the prestigious African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg.

The funeral for Emmanuel Manirakiza began at a home in Kigali, Rwanda. The crowd then walked together on a dirt road to a cemetery in the countryside just outside of the city.

A girl stomps on grain in a village in eastern Liberia.

The bush town of Ganta, Liberia, near the country’s border with Guinea in West Africa.

A boy jumps for a monkey apple in Liberia.

Rwanda Defense troops on patrol near the summit of the 14,787-foot Mount Karisimbi volcano near the country’s border with the DRC, home to the world’s last two remaining populations of mountain gorillas.

A Volcanoes National Park ranger near the summit of Mt. Sabyinyo volcano.

A boy carries grass to thatch his family’s roof in Kinigi, Rwanda.

Traditional Intore dancers in Kinigi, Rwanda.

A small sailboat off the coast of Monrovia, Liberia

A traditional Intore dancer, Kigali, Rwanda.

A traditional Intore dancer near Kinigi, Rwanda.

A soccer ball made from trash in Gisenyi, Rwanda.

A local soccer game in Monrovia, Liberia.

A surfer’s haven in Robertsport, Liberia.

A village near Akagera Game Park in eastern Rwanda.

A member of President Paul Kagame’s cabinet, Kigali, Rwanda.

A man sings and plays the inanga, Rwanda’s traditional guitar-like instrument.

A path cuts through a tea plantation in northern Rwanda.

A Volcanoes National Park guide during the ascent of Mt. Karisimbi.

Umuganda, which takes place the last Saturday every month, means “community cleanup.” Rwanda re-institutionalized the mandatory tradition in 2009 – all able-bodied citizens aged 18 to 65 must partake in their own communities’ projects.

A man speaks during a ceremony held on top a hill covered by thousands of residents after Umuganda – “community cleanup” held in every community across the country the last Saturday every month. All able-bodied citizens aged 18 to 65 must participat

A baby cries in a hut in central Liberia.

I lived in Rwanda from 2009 to 2013 and in Liberia from 2013 to 2014. My journalism education began at a bar ini Kigali in 2011, where I first met the Canadian editor of a regional weekly news magazine based just north in Uganda. He handed me worn copies of The New New Journalism and Elements of Style, told me to read them quickly, and gave me my first job in news: as photo editor and culture reporter for The Independent.

The next four years I worked for a variety of publications and NGOs in Rwanda and Liberia, including the Associated Press, United Nations, International Rescue Committee, Carter Center, Nike Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, and RwandAir. During my time as an AP stringer, my. photos were published by BBC, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Fox News, San Francisco Chronicle, and Huffington Post, among others.