Many friends of the Wakou Australian
Aid Association gathered at the Trak Cinema, Adelaide to watch ‘Africa United’;
and a most interesting film it was.
It opened with an 11-year-old Ruandan
AIDS orphan, Dudu, lecturing to his peers on condoms, safe sex and the importance
of football in Africa.
His younger sister, Beatrice, dreams of being a doctor.
He
fancies himself as the ‘manager’ of Fabrice, a skilled football junior from a
relatively affluent background.
The three of them decide to find their way to
the World Cup 2010 in South Africa, but of course things go wrong and right and
wrong again.
They end up in war-torn Congo, escape
from an orphanage with a tough but traumatised child soldier, Foreman George,
and push on to South Africa for the opening match of the World Cup.
Along the way they are rescued and
joined by, Celeste, a tough, young prostitute.
The affluent football junior throws
his mobile phone into Lake Tanganyika to break away from his ambitious mother;
the child soldier throws his gun into a river, rejecting violence as a solution
to tribal conflicts; the young sister who dreams of being a doctor finds a
school that will help her fulfil her dreams.
Along the way we are given glimpses
of life in Africa, the extremes and the contrasts and the triumph of goodwill.
More information here: http://www.africaunitedmovie.com/
The film did not tell us anything
specific about South Sudan, but all of us already knew what this was about.
Andrew’s extended family in South
Sudan live in the village of Nyinameth.
There is no safe water.
After more than 20 years of war there
are no resources to rebuild any kind of infrastructure.
Now that South Sudan has gained
independence many refugees are returning, adding to the need for the most basic
resources.
Clean water is the number 1 priority.
Andrew and the Wakou Association feel
that desperate need very keenly.
We want to help them.
We are helping them.
Feel free to join in!
Oh I mustn’t forget......
- There were people attending who came from as far away as Poland!
- Mary won the raffle!
- The after-the-movie gathering was
wonderful!
