Film
After the Rain
Dreaming of a Stronger Roof After Floods Disrupt Her Life
We’ve partnered with disabled filmmakers globally to document how climate change is impacting people with disabilities in their communities. This is Part 2 of our story about Florentine Mukantagwera, a disabled Rwandan woman navigating washed-out roads and a collapsed home one year after devastating floods. “After the Rain” was edited by Megan Canizares.
In 2023, climate-fueled floods swept through Rwanda’s Western and Northern provinces, killing nearly 130 people and displacing thousands. For Florentine Mukantagwera, the disaster is only the latest in a life shaped by the overlapping forces of war, poverty, disability, and climate change. During the 1994 Rwandan genocide, she and her family fled to Congo, returning a decade later to a demolished home — the fragile shelter she still occupies today. As climate disasters grow more frequent, Mukantagwera and other Rwandans with disabilities face heightened risks with little protection. Yet even as storms batter her roof and landslides threaten her safety, she finds strength in her community of neighbors. “I sit here and find them providing me food and porridge,” she says. “There’s a Bible verse saying that, ‘For I was hungry, and you gave me food.’ … You cannot imagine how much that porridge relieved me.”
Watch an audio-described version of the video.
Filmmaker: Francine Uwayisaba
Francine Uwayisaba is a field officer at Rwanda Union of Little People (RULP) and is in charge of the organization’s communications. She writes grants, manages RULP’s social media, and composes articles and weekly updates for the website. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and communication from the University of Rwanda and has been a freelance contributor to the Disability Justice Project since the fall of 2022. She is trained in basic sign language; disability inclusion in HIV interventions; disability, sexuality, and rights; and gender balancing. She also works as an actor in dubbing movies from international languages to Kinyarwanda.
