Synopsis: For thirty years, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels led by the rebel leader Joseph Kony, wreaked havoc on thousands of people who lived in northern Uganda. The rebel leaders would attack and kill all in the small villages and then burn their homes. They would capture young girls and boys and force them to become child brides and soldiers. Those who hid from the rebels and miraculously survived, would run through the bush in search of safety in the Internal Displaced Peoples Camps (IDPC). This film documents the real life story of six year old Ronald who witnessed his mother’s murder by the rebels. He was able to escape by running for days in the bush with his aunt and uncle and found refuge in the Lira IDPC camp. The film tells of his journey of his being rescued by Victoria Namusisi who worked in the camp and who found Ronald naked, severely malnourished, and near death. She found out he was an orphan, arranged to bring him to her children’s home near Kampala and slowly brought him back to life. Now twelve years later, Ronald bravely decides to return to the IDPC camp in Lira. During his return journey, Ronald visits Lira remembering the horrors of his mother’s murder by the rebels and of his time in the IDPC camp. He finally meets his extended family who warmly welcomes him back to his village. His family accompanies him on his final journey to his mother’s grave, and at last is able to shed tears for the mother he remembered and loved so long ago.

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I have been working and filming in Uganda since 2008 with Victoria Namusisi, the Director of Bright Kids Uganda Children’s Home. Victoria would tell me stories of the orphaned children she rescued during the brutal Joseph Kony – Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) civil war in northern Uganda and she allowed me to capture on film what their life was like during the Kony war. One of her stories stood out. Victoria repeatedly told me about how she found Ronald inn 2003 who was malnourished and near death. She nursed him back to health. Finally I met Ronald in 2012 and three years later Victoria told me he made a brave decision to confront his past and return to northern Uganda to meet his family and see his mother’s grave. I was given the opportunity to film his return.

Pauline Greenlick has worked in the educational field for over thirty years focusing on special education and inclusive educational practices. Since 2008, she has worked in Uganda working with Bright Kids Uganda Children’s Home, a home for children who have been impacted by civil war, extreme poverty, abandonment, gender violence and disabilities. In 2015 she became the co-founder and treasurer of ASA Social Fund for Hidden Peoples, a non-profit that supports the work in Uganda. Her organization supports those who are “hidden” or marginalized by society which includes albinos, the disabled, acid attack survivors, war victims and street children. ASA provides grants for these people that focus on sustainability and income generating projects. Producing and directing over 15 Uganda documentary films, she has captured the stories of these “hidden” people. The documentaries not only focuses on the lives of these people but how they are overcoming their challenges and what they are doing about it. In addition to her work in Uganda, she has also produced and directed films in the Pittsburgh area working with local organizations filming their events and recording local stories

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