African documentary more than 'flavor of the week,' Aggie filmmaker says

By David Sweeney

March 30, 2007 | In a Ugandan classroom, the children's attention is divided between two oddities: a large, noisy box in the front of the room and a blond woman with a smaller, quieter device in the corner.

Millions of Americans have recited the ABCs with a giant, yellow bird, but these students' first trip to Sesame Street is doubly unique. They've never watched TV and they've never seen a digital camcorder.

And, save for the preceding two weeks, they've never met a white person, says filmmaker Ashley Karras.

"You might as well be green," said Karras of the stares in her direction. Kampala streets are a little daunting, she added, because Ugandans have had such minimal Western exposure.

That was December, when three Utah State students and Professor William Grenney of Engineers Without Borders helped Ugandan volunteers put up Christmas lights -- though not of the decorative, shingle-clinging variety -- at a small school in the town of Masaka.

For two and a half weeks, the multiethnic team installed 20 concrete reservoirs, water pipes, lighting and a television at the school, which, some 75 miles from the capital city of Kampala, is directed by nuns and free to orphaned children.

Workers included USU engineering students John Sapp, Ryan Davies and David Sanders, as well as Karras, a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. With The Uganda Project, her first full-length documentary, Karras takes a step toward her "dream job" as a documentary filmmaker, a career she's aspired to for years.

The hour-long documentary, which was recorded, edited and produced by Karras, premiered Wednesday evening in the Eccles Science and Learning Center. It chronicles 17 days of wiring, digging, dancing and singing, as Ugandans and Utahns teach and learn together.

Before Christmas, Masaka teachers were obliged to complete lesson plans before the retiring sun enshrouded the unlit town in thick African darkness. During the day, students periodically interrupted studies to fetch drinking water from a pond 200 yards from the school, carrying it back to the building -- uphill -- in jerry cans as large as they were.

Bunks stacked to the rafters, one school dormitory houses 150 boys during the academic year, Karras said.

"It's like the size of my garage," she added.

Now the school boasts lights and running water. And, though the electric generator remains costly and runs no more than two hours a day, children can finally watch TV.

"Education is extremely important to them," Karras said, because it offers Ugandans their best chance for better living.

Karras said she plans to enter The Uganda Project in film festivals, hoping the documentary will remind Americans of the simple things they take for granted.

"I don't want you to feel sympathy," she said. "I just want you to realize what you have."

More than a rudimentary travel documentary, The Uganda Project is a story of appreciation and reciprocation.

"I am appreciating," says one Ugandan man, with proverbial eloquence of the work in Masaka.

Another says he biked 80 miles to Masaka, eager to support the construction effort at the school his son attended. After hearing that Americans travel across oceans to help people they've never met, he says, biking a relatively short distance seemed inconsequential.

Faculty adviser Grenney formed Engineers Without Borders two and a half years ago, Karras said Wednesday. The non-profit club is primarily student-run, and conducts ongoing projects in Uganda and Peru with plans for work in Tibet and Mexico.

Karras joined Engineers Without Borders when she found out about the opportunity to film in Uganda. She said the club is wonderful for students because it offers cultural experiences and service opportunities. The Uganda Project counts as the required senior project for Sapp, Davies and Sanders, and also as an internship for Karras.

Though Africa has historically received little media attention, Karras said, the continent has been a local focal point in recent months. Groups such as Utah State's Aggies for Africa, which focuses on the conflict in Darfur, have blossomed this year. God Grew Tired of Us, by John Bul Dau and Mike Sweeney, Utah State journalism department head, was published in January.

"I do have this sense that Africa is kind of the flavor of the week," Karras said.

Still, all work is worthwhile.

Karras said she already has plans for a new documentary, hoping to collaborate with David Ssejinja, a Utah Valley State College student who directs a children's foundation for his native Uganda.

Karras said Ssejinja "sees his people suffering and hopes to help as he was helped," embodying the Ugandan spirit of generosity.

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