A Rwandan Fashion Designer trains refugees to become professional models

In partnership with MIDIMAR-UNHCR, Kamakiza Amedy, a Rwandan Designer, is training Burundian refugees to become professional models in Mahama refugee camp. With training, these refugees have the potential to become professional models who can be self-reliant outside a refugee camp and contribute to the Rwandan economy by marketing made-in-rwanda fashion.

Amedy Kamakiza, the CEO of Kamakiza Amedy Haute Couture, himself was once a refugee in Uganda during the 1994 Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

“I remember what it feels like being lost, wondering what would be tomorrow. I fought and I succeeded. When MIDIMAR and UNHCR reached out to me about the implementation of this project, I couldn’t be happier and it was my honor that I could be a partner of MIDIMAR & UNHCR’s economic inclusion strategy for refugees,” he said.

Burundian refugee models during a photo shooting in Mahama refugee camp © Kamakiza Amedy Haute Couture

Amedy has met with 12 young models from the Mahama refugee camp. 6 boys and 6 girls, who all have a large potential to achieve their life dream of becoming professional models. Through their training, the young refugees are taught modelling and also to sell the product they wear. Amedy has a strong motivation and belief in training these refugees:

“I am hoping to teach those who would like to make a career out of it since it is an industry booming in Rwanda and in East Africa. I believe that the sky is the limit for the young generation. ”

Refugee camps in Rwanda are like any community with people that are capable to use their skills to have their dreams come true. That is what these pictures demonstrate.

“I have the proof that there is life in the camp. Some people think that the refugee camps are a place with no hope no joy but I saw something else, something big which I will share with the world through my and the refugees’ work,” Amedy Kamakiza, CEO of Kamakiza Amedy Haute Couture

Follow Kamakiza Amedy on Instagram