Gulu, Uganda has been my home this summer. Last year was my first time in this war-torn region of Northern Uganda, and I was a bit nervous and unsure of my surroundings. Not this time. I taught a filmmaking workshop along with the wonderful Shola Ajayi, who is a collegue of mine from Film School. We worked with the non-profit organization THARCE-Gulu, to put together this arts empowerment workshop, and really wanted to help create some positive images of Gulu through social media and filmmaking. Our students were between the ages of 20-30 years old and were awesome.  Eliza Dushku and Rick Fox also work with THARCE-Gulu and brought us amazing laptops donated by HP. 

All in all, it was one of the best trips of my life. I can't wait to go back.

Here is one of their projects: http://vimeo.com/26091869

You may have heard about child soldiers...children who were abducted from their homes, forced into a violent life of slavery and fighting. Northern Uganda is one of the places where this happened. And this is where I spent my July. Though the war ended years ago, the aftermath can still be seen in the town of Gulu. It was here that I traveled with a group organized by Judy Dushku, who is a professor of Government at Suffolk University. She is heading up a new non-profit called "THARCE-GULU". This group went to build huts for vulnerable, war-affected people in the community. I went along to document the housebuilding, and also to bring instruments, books, dvds, laptops and cameras in order to start an arts center through THARCE. I lead a one-day 'storytelling' workshop with a group of war-affected students. One day was definitely not enough, and I think that as THARCE Gulu expands and develops, I might go back again.

It was an amazing month. Very life changing! Videos to come soon...