CHICAGO (ELCA) — NBC television stations and affiliates will begin broadcasting “Ready to Forgive: An African Story of Grace” on Dec. 2. The 60-minute documentary about the faith and spirit of the Acholi people of Northern Uganda is a production of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Through 21 years of war, death, rape, torture and child abduction, rebels known as the Lord’s Resistance Army forced two million people into internally displaced person camps. Yet, the Acholi people are united in a belief that the only real solution is reconciliation and forgiveness.
“The program was recorded on location in Northern Uganda,” said Tim Frakes, writer and producer, Tim Frakes Productions, Lombard, Ill. “In this story, the Acholi people offer lessons of forgiveness that we can learn from,” Frakes said. “Most stories from Africa emphasize western nations helping Africans,” he said. “This is an example of Africans helping us.”
The host of the program is Immaculee Ilibagiza, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and author of “Left to Tell: Discovering God amidst the Rwandan Holocaust.”
“The Acholi people of Northern Uganda have been through so much and to be able to capture this amazing story of forgiveness and reconciliation was truly a blessing. Now our task is to bring their story to a wider audience,” said Ava Odom Martin, director for public media, ELCA Communication Services.
“If the Acholi people can forgive the Lord’s Resistance Army for the torture and massacre brought upon their community and get on with their lives, then hopefully someone else may be touched by their action
and find forgiveness for an injustice done to them,” said Martin.
The ELCA is one of 35 member communions of the National Council of Churches of Christ U.S.A. (NCC). The NCC is a founding partner of the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission (IBC), which provides television programming to the affiliates of three major broadcast television networks. NBC’s “Horizons of the Spirit” provides four hours per year for documentaries produced by the IBC faith groups.
Martin said “Ready to Forgive” will be available for broadcast through May 31, 2008. “Please contact your local NBC station for specific dates and times in your area,” she said. The production was made possible in part through a grant from Faith and Values Media, she added.
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Information about the television program, “Ready to Forgive: An African Story of Grace,” is at http://www.elca.org/readytoforgive/ on the ELCA Web site and http://www.frakesproductions.com/ on the
Internet.
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