Rosamond Carr (née Halsey) (August 28, 1912 – September 29, 2006) was an American humanitarian, author and farmer.Martin, Douglas

''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', October 8, 2006. Retrieved April 1, 2014. She was born in

South Orange, New Jersey South Orange is a historic suburban Village (New Jersey), village located in Essex County, New Jersey. It was formally known as the Township of South Orange Village from October 1978 until April 25, 2024. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

. In 1942, she married the British explorer and film maker Kenneth Carr. The Carrs settled in the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

in 1949, and after their divorce Rosamond settled in Mugongo, Rwanda to run a

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

growing

pyrethrum ''Pyrethrum'' was a genus of several Old World plants now classified in either '' Chrysanthemum'' or '' Tanacetum'' which are cultivated as ornamentals for their showy flower heads. Pyrethrum continues to be used as a common name for plants form ...

flowers to produce

pyrethrin The pyrethrins are a class of organic compounds normally derived from ''Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium'' that have potent Insecticide, insecticidal activity by targeting the nervous systems of insects. Pyrethrin naturally occurs in chrysanthemum f ...

, an organic insecticide sought the world over."Land of a Thousand Hills: My Life In Rwanda" Carr was introduced to

Dian Fossey Dian Fossey ( ; January 16, 1932 – ) was an American primatologist and conservationist known for undertaking an extensive study of mountain gorilla groups from 1966 until her murder in 1985. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of ...

in 1967, and the two became close friends and confidantes.Holley, Joe
Rosamond Carr, 94; Founder of Rwandan Orphanage
''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', October 4, 2006. Retrieved April 1, 2014. In 1994, Carr was evacuated from Mugongo by Belgian Marines during the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...

, returning when her security was no longer at risk. She founded the Imbabazi Orphanage on December 17, 1994.Rosamond Halsey Carr & the Imbabazi Orphanage
Rwanda Project, ''Eyes of Children'', rwandaproject.org, December 29, 2011. Retrieved April 1, 2014. With parts of Rwanda still unsafe, after 1997 both Carr and the Imbabazi Orphanage relocated to

Gisenyi Gisenyi, historically rendered as Kisenyi, is the second largest city in Rwanda, located in the Rubavu district in Rwanda's Western Province. Gisenyi is contiguous with Goma as it was formerly also part of now Democratic Republic of the Congo, t ...

, where she continued to look after the day-to-day running of the orphanage and its 120 children. In December 2005, she was able to return to Mugongo, where the orphanage had been reestablished in a new building near her home. In 1999 her autobiography, ''Land of a Thousand Hills: My Life in Rwanda'', co-written with her niece Ann Howard Halsey, was published. It has since been translated into French and German.Rosamond Halsey Carr, Land of a Thousand Hills: My Life in Rwanda, Viking Penguin Books, 1999. . ''A Mother's Love: Rosamond Carr & a Lifetime in Rwanda'', a documentary project about her life and on which Carr acted as advisor, was produced by Standfast Productions Ltd., directed by Eamonn Gearon and photographed by Noel Donnellon.Carr documentary film trailer
''A Mother's Love: Rosamond Carr & a Lifetime in Rwanda'', Standfast Productions Ltd., standfastproductions.com, July 2007. Retrieved April 1, 2014. Carr acted in a similar capacity during production of ''

Gorillas in the Mist ''Gorillas in the Mist'' is a 1988 American biographical drama film directed by Michael Apted from a screenplay by Anna Hamilton Phelan and a story by Phelan and Tab Murphy. The film is based on a book of the same name by Dian Fossey and fr ...

'' starring

Sigourney Weaver Susan Alexandra ( ; born October 8, 1949), better known by her stage name Sigourney Weaver, is an American actress. Prolific in film since the late 1970s, she is known for her pioneering portrayals of action heroines in Blockbuster (entertainme ...

and directed by

Michael Apted Michael David Apted (10 February 1941 – 7 January 2021) was an English television and film director and producer. Apted began working in television and directed the ''Up (film series), Up'' documentary series from 1970 to 2019). He later di ...

, with her character in that film played by

Julie Harris Julia Ann Harris (December 2, 1925August 24, 2013) was an American actress. Renowned for her classical and contemporary roles, she earned numerous accolades including five Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play, three Emmy Awards, and a Grammy ...

. Carr died on September 29, 2006, in Gisenyi, Rwanda. She was buried on Sunday, October 1 at Mugongo, her flower farm in the shadow of the

Virunga Volcanoes The Virunga Mountains (also known as Mufumbiro) are a chain of volcanoes in East Africa, in the area where Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Uganda meet. The mountain range is a branch of the Albertine Rift Mountains, ...

. The new orphanage building, where her legacy continues, is next to the farm.

External links

Funeral and Memorial Service

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carr, Rosamond 1912 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American explorers