Connetquot High School graduate and current Peace Corps volunteer Victoria Catherine Rooks was recently joined by students, staff and former faculty members for a video fundraiser in benefit of the Save the Children Fund. 

Ms. Rooks spoke to the attendees about her years of experience working with children and families in the African nation of Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland). She also brought along native arts and crafts, jewelry, T-shirts and posters relating to this land-locked nation north of South Africa in order help raise funds for the Save the Children fund. 

Additionally, a free viewing of the motion picture “Liyana” was shown to the supportive community members who attended the event. The film serves as a documentary, which includes children at orphanages speaking about their stories. Like many children in the nation, they have lost their parents to AIDS-related illnesses and are left in a vulnerable position. The filmmaker works with the children to write their own fairy tale about a girl and her two brothers, drawing from their own experiences, almost as a form of therapy.

“Recently, the movie ‘Liyana’ has been available in select theaters in America,” said Ms. Rooks. “Besides being just a great movie, this film is particularly special to me because it was filmed and created here in Eswatini, by Swazi children with the help of a South African storyteller.”

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