Film exposes brutal treatment of children in African country

SHEDDING LIGHT-Students from Agoura High School are raising their voices in opposition to the atrocities occurring in Uganda. To educate audiences a world away in the comfortable suburbs of California, the teens are showing a film that exposes some of the inhumanity. The documentary, sponsored by Invisible Children Inc., will be screened at 6 p.m. Sun., April 23 at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village. Children as young as 5 fear for their lives in northern Uganda, a region of Africa ravaged by a brutal long-standing war. They are being kidnapped from their homes to fight in a war that the United Nations has characterized as "one of extreme brutality and callousness." But local youth are taking action to raise awareness of the situation.

To help galvanize opposition to the inhumanity in the region, the nonprofit Invisible Children Inc. will screen a documentary on Sun., April 23 at 6 p.m. at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village. The screening will be free of charge.

The documentary was created by Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole, who traveled to the Sudan to make a documentary. The three ended up in northern Uganda, where their cameras captured the stories of "night commuters," children forced to flee their homes in the middle of the night in fear of rebel forces who would induct them as soldiers.

The young filmmakers were appalled at the situation, and decided to screen their film-free of cost-at churches, schools, colleges and coffee shops throughout the country to raise awareness of the plight of what many see as forgotten children.

Elizabeth Finders, a senior at Agoura High, is among those who want action. "I was first exposed to the film at Agoura High School and was immediately inspired to act," Finders said. The film is motivating action across the country.

Finders said 130 cities are participating in the Global Night Commute, which urges those who view the film to walk or take public transportation on April 29 "to symbolize what the kids have to do every night in northern Uganda and to put pressure on the government to do something to end the war."

Finders, the daughter of Las Virgenes Unified School District board member Terilyn Finders, will

host a June fundraiser at her Agoura Hills' home to help support the cause. The film will be screened again, and community art projects will be auctioned to raise money to continue the awareness campaign across the United States.

"The public screening at Calvary Community Church will enable many to become more involved in the cause, and since knowledge is the greatest tool, we are hoping this will work in Invisible Children Inc.'s favor," Elizabeth Finders said.

Julie Nungester, who grew up in Agoura Hills and attended Westlake High School and Oaks Christian High School, now works for Invisible Children Inc. in San Diego. The ongoing campaign has helped many of the children in northern Uganda, Nungester said.

"An education program has been started," she said. "There are over 200 kids who have been sponsored and who now have mentors to help give them guidance. There is a bracelet campaign that has given jobs to the Ugandans, and 100 percent of the money for the bracelets that are sold in the U.S. goes back to northern Uganda. New ideas and projects are continuing to form." Calvary Community Church is at 5495 Via Rocas in Westlake Village.

For further information, call the church at (818) 991-8040, or visit www.invisiblechildren.com.