BY MORGAN RENNER

On Monday, September 19, 2011, the members of Unified for UNIFAT were crossing their fingers. They hoped that the auditorium would be a place to inspire shifts in hearts and perhaps change on the plains of Uganda.

“UNIFAT: The Movie” played on the huge screen suspended on a background of thick, lush red curtains. A well-dressed student body of just over 400 sat in individual, cushioned seats. Their elbows draped lazily over wooden armrests, plenty wishing that they could just go home already.

What the film depicted, however, was in sharp contrast to where it was being shown.

The documentary presented a school where there are 90 kids to a classroom. The walls were blank, and thin, splintery tables crowded with children bustling to raise their hands to answer the teacher.  While most Mariemont students had just gladly exited a classroom with a Smartboard, piles of textbooks, and individual desks, the children projected onto the screen were elated to sit in a dark cinder block room with a broken chalk board.

After the movie, Abitimo Rebecca Odongkara, the woman who founded UNIFAT (Upper Nile Institute for Appropriate Technology) humbly took the less comfortable of the two chairs on stage.  She spoke about what she has done, and continues to do, for the children of Uganda.

“I was very moved by what Abitimo said,” says sophomore Mason Berger, “I knew I wanted to join the Unified for UNIFAT club to help out with sponsoring these kids.”

It’s no surprise that many students were touched by witnessing the conditions in Uganda, and hearing Unified for UNIFAT’s leader, Abitimo, speak. Moved to such a state, that they yearned to help.

Amy Leatherwood, the student adviser of the Mariemont chapter of Unified for UNIFAT (or as it’s referred to in short-hand, U4U) says, “We have about 30 students involved (with U4U). Any increase in membership would be fantastic.” Gaining membership, though vital to the club, is an incredibly laid-back process.

“Students can tell me that they are interested whenever they want!” states the Junior U4U class officer, Kelly Kauffmann. “Most students just talk to me at school and ask how they can be involved.”

“Being involved” with anything is sometimes a challenge, with all the homework and extracurricular commitments of student life. Knowing this, the officers of U4U assure possible members that the time needed to make a difference is minimal. “Unified for UNIFAT isn’t really a major time commitment for the average member,” Kauffmann says. “It’s ‘pretty chill,'” she adds.

The club meets at least once a month, “but much more often if we are planning for an event,” Mrs. Leatherwood says. Events include the  iDance and a Game Night that, “features all kinds of fun gaming, tournaments, great prizes, food, and maybe an opportunity to see Mr. Vanags playing Just Dance or Dance Dance Revolution,” says Leatherwood.

It’s through these events that the U4U club is able to raise money to fund children’s education at the school in Uganda.

As Leatherwood points out, it’s not all fun and game nights, though. “Students wanting to get involved need to ‘buy in’ to the responsibility,” Mrs. Leatherwood continues. “The students that we sponsor at UNIFAT are our responsibility. If we fail, they don’t go to school, get clothing, food each day.”

Kauffmann says, “I think about what we are doing for these kids, and it makes me feel like I am doing something good, and that really is the best feeling in the world.”

“I love how there’s a safe place for those children,” Mason Berger says. “Personally, I hope to accomplish a better view of the world in terms of what people are really going through, I hope to help as many of those kids as possible,” she pauses, “and of course get some service hours.”

“ U4U is a student run organization, so the students are pretty much running the show,” Mrs. Leatherwood says. This club, which means so much to so many people in America and Uganda alike relies completely on the students that run it.

“Why young people are good is because they have power,” Abitimo told the crowd during the presentation. “They do not know they have that power.”

U4U Contact Informtion:

Underclassmen Officer: Jane Spooner
Junior Class Officer: Kelly Kauffmann
Senior Class Officer: Ben Gorman
Presidents: Ashley Dockery and Maud Schram
Faculty Adviser: Mrs. Leatherwood