Good vs. Evil ~ and good always prevails!
Have you ever been in the midst of bartering for machetes and fishing poles at the African market and asked yourself, “What if Besige wins the Ugandan presidential elections and Museveni’s party launches a genocide, murdering my friends when only days ago I was comfortable on a British Airways trans-Atlantic flight – browsing the selection of 6 in-flight feature films and pondering the dilemma of ‘chicken or beef?’”
The possibilities of civil war were as likely as a peaceful outcome: I’m scared to leave and I’m scared to stay. I never thought I would be in such a quandary.
Have you seen ‘Garden State’?
There’s that scene where Natalie Portman’s character tells Zach Braff’s character about how she met her African brother. In the movie, her mom sponsors one of those ‘kids with the flies on their face’, but when he grows up, he travels to America and moves in with them. It’s funny, trust me, even when you’ve grown to love those sad-looking kids with the flies on their faces, it’s still funny. You have to laugh, or you might cry, or worse…you might ignore it. It’s not easy figuring out what to do with the biggest disaster in the world.
It was September 2005 when I ventured to Uganda, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe to produce my great African documentary (that I may, or may not, ever finish) along with five college students. I was semi-prepared for what we observed in Uganda— I had seen the emaciated bodies and pleading faces of these children on the late night commercials, asking Americans to feed and clothe starving children for the price of a cup of coffee. I always turn the channel. However, I wasn’t prepared for the incredible display of joy and the capacity these children had to celebrate despite their suffering.
While filming the conditions of the thousands of Ugandan children living on the streets in the capital of Kampala, our crew fell in love with a particular group of 63 abandoned street kids squatting in a slum house, starving and sick. As we would hit the heat of the day, exhausted, seeking food on their behalf, these children would grab our hands and exclaim, “Jangu tuzine!” (Translated in English as “Come, let’s dance!”) and begin to dance. Pure, untainted joy – something I was sure didn’t exist, especially after the last six years I’ve worked as a movie producer in Los Angeles. I had to help. But how?
You see, Americans have been trying to help Africa for decades and to no avail. The Western world poured trillions into the 3rd World Africa for the last 50 years, and despite awareness raised by rock stars like Bono of the band U2, and white wristbands worn in solidarity by the cast of The OC, the continent of Africa continued to plummet further into poverty, AIDS, and corruption. So why bother?
Because Gandhi says, ‘be the change you want to see in the world?’ That tactic hasn’t worked so far. But after feeding these 63 kids and personally falling in love with them, we bothered. We were inspired. And…I love being inspired. These orphans changed me. I immediately wrote home to my friends in Steamboat, begged them (literally) to send us some money, any amount would do, and we started with $164. A year later, we had a full-fledged non-profit up and running and over the course of 10 years, over a thousand people learned to serve the poor in the slums, in farming, in business, in medical outreaches. It was undeniably amazing.
So I ask you this: If you had an opportunity to empower someone to be a leader in their society, to change their own situation, maybe even turn around the worst disaster in the world: Would you do it? Africa is one bleak future with or without us. However, our little community of Steamboat Springs once rallied around an amazing African village that was once hurting by simply providing education, clothing, and medical attention, and running self-sustaining businesses.
That day, twenty years ago, when I stood in the market back bartering for supplies that would help us defend ourselves and feed us in the event of a food shortage, is always present in my mind. I am still haunted by the thoughts of fear that scrolled through my head in an endless loop. There hasn’t been an election in Uganda without a war and by absolute providence, Uganda and the orphans witnessed the unprecedented – a peaceful election. However, it was not without bloodshed.
There’s another side to this story, the children sacrificed before and during all government elections. I didn’t know it at the time. God knew I couldn’t handle the truth. But now I know and now is the time to do something great again —together—for a purpose! Good will prevail.
Sacrifice, a really true story
~ Coming Soon!
