Writer takes up children’s cause

As a teen intent on penning an Indiana Jones-style page-turner, Katie Hardy imagined her writing would take her to exotic locations filled with daring escapades and political intrigue.

Eight years and countless hours of research later, Hardy not only found her topic in haunting stories that are too real for thousands of African children, but she’s gone from nascent novelist to fundraiser and advocate to make sure their stories are heard.

While writing remains in her future, her goal now is to raise awareness by giving a voice to the unimaginable events inflicted on those kids.

When Hardy set out in middle school to investigate a setting for her book, she learned about a group of Ugandan children known as the Night Commuters. The kids, usually 4 to 16 years old, flee their rural villages at night to seek safety in numbers with other orphans in larger metropolitan areas.

“I wanted to write a story about something big, something important. So I picked a random topic, which turned out to be about Sudan,” she explained about the origins of her in-the-works book, which she hopes to turn into a screenplay. “Eight years later it’s still not done; it’s become a part of who I am. The kids have touched my life forever.”

What the Night Commuters are fleeing is almost beyond comprehension, said Hardy, a 21-year-old communications major set to graduate from Lewis-Clark State College-Coeur d’Alene next spring.

But people need to hear their stories, she said, especially where the spotlight can lead to political action. Hardy is willing to tell anyone who will listen, which has included presenting to Rotary clubs and classrooms and holding a bake sale that raised $1,000 for school supplies.

The commuters, orphaned by the civil war that ravaged the southern Sudan territories for decades and by years of genocide in Uganda, are trying to escape being abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army. If they are caught by the rebels, the children are indoctrinated into the army, often through brutal physical attacks.

One UNICEF estimate lists about 12,000 kidnapped since 2002 and as many as 20,000 since the group formed in 1987. Hardy says it’s “the injustice forced on these children that has stuck with me and motivated me.”

The biggest way to help is to tell people about the children, Hardy believes.

“These kids are a part of my destiny. I’m here as a conduit from their hearts to yours,” she often tells crowds at her presentations.

“My goal is to raise awareness or funds, whatever I can.”

Jacob Livingston

Love letters trigger firefighters’ response

Spokane Valley firefighters responded this week to a burning love affair.

Crews found a resident in the 1700 block of North Raymond Road burning a stack of love letters in an outdoor fireplace about 8:40 p.m. Tuesday.

Deputy Fire Marshal Bill Clifford said the flames of love may have gone cold, but the billets-doux were still smoldering when firefighters arrived. Firefighters instructed the man to douse the burning notes.

At that point, the man was “drowning his sorrows,” Clifford said.

It’s OK to start a recreational fire with paper, he said, but “you’re not supposed to use your outside fire to get rid of paper.”

When romance dies, shred the painful reminders, Clifford suggested.

The call was among 222 the Spokane Valley Fire Department received in the reporting week that ended Wednesday night.

Seven structure fires were minor.

One structure fire was averted when a neighbor scared off three boys who were trying to ignite a portable toilet at Bowdish Middle School, 2109 S. Skipworth Road, shortly before 11 p.m. July 16.

Clifford said the boys fled after a neighbor pretended to take photographs. The boys, who may be 9 to 13 years old, left a gasoline can, which investigators are studying.

Clifford asked anyone with information about the incident or whose gasoline can is missing to call (509) 928-1700.

He also asked people to call with information about a small brush fire about 4:40 p.m. Sunday that may have been caused by fireworks.

Witnesses spotted the fire at 6304 E. Seventh Ave. and reported seeing two men in baseball caps, wearing dark-green and light-green shirts, igniting something in a mailbox. They also reported seeing a dark-green or blue car with a loud muffler.

Firefighters found burned paper inside the mailbox.

John Craig