The film “The Constant Gardener” will be shown at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, March 22, in room 1001, Wiekamp Hall, Indiana University South Bend. Immediately following the film, there will be a discussion of human rights with University of Notre Dame human rights law student Kerubo Okioga.

From April 2002, Okioga served as a volunteer advocate and civic education facilitator for the Office of Human Rights, Christ the King Catholic Church, Kibera, Nairobi. The general mandate of the office was to educate and empower its parishioners with knowledge and the ability to stand up for themselves. She conducted training programs focusing on land rights, labor law, democracy and constitutional protections, electoral procedures and family law.

Okioga is a Notre Dame law student and is specializing in international human rights law. She holds a law degree from the Kenya School of Law. She took on a permanent position with the Office of Human Rights in February 2005 as the human rights advocate. Her human rights practice focused on legal aid and conflict resolution, the further development of the civic education program curriculum, advocacy, monitoring and documenting human rights abuses and broader issues of economic, social and cultural rights.

Okioga intends to pursue a career in international human rights law focusing on economic, social and cultural rights specifically in Africa.

“The Constant Gardener” is set in Northern Kenya. Activist Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz) is found brutally murdered. Tessa's companion, a doctor, appears to have fled the scene, and the evidence points to a crime of passion. Members of the British High Commission in Nairobi assume that Tessa's widower, their mild-mannered and unambitious colleague Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes), will leave the matter to them. They could not be more wrong. Haunted by remorse and jarred by rumors of his late wife's infidelities, Quayle embarks on a personal odyssey to uncover and expose the truth: a conspiracy more far-reaching and deadly than he could ever have imagined.

The movie and discussion are sponsored by IU Political Science Club and the American Democracy Project. It is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided. For more information, please contact Political Science Club President Valerie Berezner at 574-323-6255 (vberez@iusb.edu).