ROZ CARR

An American woman whose love affair with a country and its people spanned more than half a century.

Planter, adventurer, author, and humanitarian, Roz Carr led an extraordinary life. Born in 1912 in South Orange, NJ, she traded in her life as a fashion illustrator and New York City socialite to follow her husband, dashing British hunter and explorer Kenneth Carr, to what was then the Belgian Congo. The marriage did not last, but Roz’s love for the country and its people was kindled. She bought a plantation of her own in the tiny neighboring country of Rwanda and created a remarkable life for herself there – a life filled with romance and adventure, untold hardships and personal loss, political upheaval and civil wars, and a life that was dedicated, in large part, to the Rwandan people.

Roz Carr was the longest-living foreign resident in Rwanda and the last of the foreign plantation owners. She witnessed the decline and fall of colonialism in Africa and the emergence of the new and struggling African states. She sailed up the Congo River and camped in Pygmy villages. She survived civil wars, revolutions, and one of the greatest human tragedies of our time, the Rwanda genocide of 1994.

In the aftermath of the genocide, at the age of 82, Roz founded an orphanage on her flower plantation in the foothills of the Virunga volcanoes. The orphanage is called Imbabazi, which means “a place where you will receive all the love and care a mother would give.” Since it opened its doors in December of 1994, Roz and her staff have cared for more than 400 lost or orphaned children. The Imbabazi is currently home to 110 children and remains a haven of love and safety and a symbol of hope for all.

Rosamond Carr died on September 29, 2006. She was 94 years old. Her memoir, Land of a Thousand Hills: My Life in Rwanda (Viking 1999), by Rosamond Halsey Carr and Ann Howard Halsey, is available at bookstores everywhere and at amazon.com.

One of the few regrets of her life was that she never had children of her own. Through the Imbabazi orphanage, she became mother to hundreds of Rwandan children.

“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 forty all at once.”
~ Excerpt from Land of a Thousand Hills

“Rwanda is my home, and it is here that I intend to spend the rest of my days. Its beauty is my inspiration. Its struggles have been my struggles. Its grief has been my deepest sorrow. Its people are my strength, and its children are my greatest joy.”
~ Excerpt from Land of a Thousand Hills

Rosamond Carr was awarded the 2001 Hublot Prize in Switzerland for her humanitarian work with the children of Rwanda. She was a grand prize winner of the 2004 Volvo for Life Awards.