Former child soldiers to tell their stories in New Zealand

Former child soldiers to tell their stories in New Zealand

Having been used as weapons of terror, former child soldiers abducted into Uganda’s notorious Lord’s Resistance Army are in New Zealand to tell their stories of how Watoto has given them hope and a future.

International aid agency TEAR Fund is known for bringing the Watoto orphan’s choir to New Zealand, but this the first time the Watoto Restore Tour has toured the world. TEAR Fund’s Glen Hill said the Restore Tour is here to perform a stage show called Child Soldier No More.

“This stage extravaganza is unlike anything Watoto has ever done. This show is not full of cute kids singing songs as Kiwis have seen before. In Child Soldier No More, the actors not only share their stories of what they endured at the hands of a tyrant leader through a medium of drama, song, dance and multimedia effects, but more importantly, it is about how the work of Watoto has restored them to wholeness again.”

He said, the aim of the Restore Tour was to raise awareness of what the children of Uganda had faced during a brutal war the war which spanned more than 20 years and to raise funds for Watoto’s Gulu project, which was rehabilitating the victims of this brutal war.

Mr Hill said The Watoto Restore Child soldier No More production will tour the North Island with five shows in the Auckland region, the first on Waiheke Island on March 11. The full schedule can be viewed at www.tearfund.org.nz Mr Hill said some of the content may not be suitable for children under 10.

The Canadian founders of Watoto Gary and Marilyn Skinner will be travelling with the show and are available for interviews.

ENDS

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