August 2013

Two of our young parishioners, Alexandre Marembo and Gilbert Nzoyisaba, visited Washington DC in late spring as part of one of six Red Cross groups from around the US honored for their work on a video titled "Innocence to Evil." Alexandre was the editor and Gilbert did the camera work on this 14 minute film portraying the use of child soldiers in war-torn countries. If you would like to view their film, go to YouTube and in “innocencetoevil” (no spaces) with “gilbert nzoyisaba” as the person posting the YouTube. While the content can be disturbing, it will also enlighten viewers on the reality of a child’s life in war-torn countries.

Several of our Withrow students received monetary awards from the Cincinnati Scholarship Foundation for excellence in academics: Alexandre and Charlotte (Anastasia and Renovat's children); Alex (Minani and Rebeka's son); Gerald (Venancia's son); and Janvier (Simeon and Melanie's grandson). Alex (Minani and Rebeka) has been accepted into DePaul Cristo Rey High School.

St. Boniface presented “Annie” in which several of our students participated at the close of the school year. We were lucky to have someone provide a photo of Pascascia (daughter of Maria and Joseph) who was part of the chorus. She will be starting 7th grade in the fall.

This summer Bob Englert channeled the creative talents of some of our youth through a Computer/Video workshop over the course of several weeks. Gerald, Gilbert, Alexandre, Evelyn, Alex, Charlotte, and Pasquel learned the tricks of video editing, how to conduct and film an interview, and how to provide on-screen translations. The goal of the workshop was to learn the ins and outs of creating a finished documentary.

If you asked any of our children how their summer was going, you’d probably hear “it’s boring—there’s nothing to do.” A reading award program was designed so that one-day pool passes were provided for reading books and providing “reports” which the children thoroughly enjoyed! No more being bored!

- Stephanie Sepate