A film on Rwanda is traveling across Canada

A couple is traveling across Canada to show off a film they made about Rwanda. The film focuses on the country's path to meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, which they are on target for.

Alex and Meghan Nicholls are showing their film to churches and youth groups across Canada. The Lethbridge Herald profiled the couple when they made a stop in Lethbridge, Ontario.

“A lot of the films I was seeing in school were very gritty and real. They tended to focus on the negative. I really felt to the need to make a film that was real, but hopeful. There’s a huge message of hope,” he continued, adding the gist of the story was the people themselves — how they are adjusting, their personal stories and what sort of programs they are running to address the Millennium Development goals of eradicating extreme poverty; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality among women; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS.

The most touching aspect of the couple’s three-and-a-half-week journey was not only visiting a camp of Congolese refugees who had been there for 10 years to escape their county’s turmoil and have no hope of leaving, but appreciating their positive attitudes towards life.

“They say their lives are good, they aren’t easy, but they’re good,” Alex said.
Meghan was surprised some of their subjects’ message to Canadians was to look at the needs in our own communities and address them first.

“They are seeing the needs in their communities and dealing with them. I was really surprised. If we could bring some of these people with us on the speaking tour, we would have,” Meghan added, noting they met a lot of widows who had set up their own shops in the camps to sell essentials such as rice, sugar and pens.

Now the film is completed, the couple plan on speaking with 5,000 people by the end of their February contract. They have already reached 1,000 people since beginning the tour in October. While they would like to raise awareness about Rwanda, they are more interested in inspiring youths 15-35 to follow their passions and make a difference.

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They are online at www.thejustusprogram.com, plus they have an active Facebook group which can be found under Just Us.