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Realizing Her Dreams By Helping Others

By Rege Behe

Pauline Greenlick says she was "a poor widow putting my kids through school," when she met her future husband, Dr. Louis Picard, in 1993.
Little did she know her marriage would not only change her life, but the lives of countless others. Today Greenlick is on the board of directors and serves as treasurer for the Bright Kids USA Foundation, which provides support and programs for a children's home in Entebbe, Uganda. She's made numerous trips to Africa to help the children who arrive at the home looking for help. Greenlick, with the assistance of Leonard Lies of Dormont, has even become a filmmaker, although her first foray into that medium almost was over before it began.
"I deleted, accidentally, all my video," Greenlick says, a smile creasing her face.
Fortunately that's about the only misstep Greenlick, an adjunct professor and supervisor of special education student teachers at Carlow University in Pittsburgh, has made in her attempts focus attention on one of the most impoverished regions in Africa. Not only did Greenlick re-film the 15-minute video, which features women who are victims of vicious, scarring acid attacks, but she also co-produced "Under the Umbrella Tree" with Picard, who teaches at the University of Pittsburgh and is a longtime advocate for the underprivileged in Africa. Lies, a filmmaker who owns Dream Catcher Films in Dormont, directed the film that illuminates the work of Victoria Nalongo Namusisi, the founder of Bright Kids.
"Victoria is doing some wonderful things," Greenlick say, noting how Namusisi keeps the camp running in a country where there are 2.5 million homeless children.

Another woman Greenlick met is on her way to becoming a voice for the conditions in Uganda. In 2011, Hanifa Nakiryowa suffered an acid attack when she went to pick up her children at her estranged husband's home. She lost her nose and the use of her right eye. But unlike many acid attacks victims who suffer because of gender violence, Hanifa has a master's degree in developmental economics and worked for UNICEF in Uganda. When Greenlick met Hanifa, she was struck by her poise and demeanor.
"When you see her and meet her, she's just the most engaging woman," Greenlick says.
Not content to dwell on her misfortune, Hanifa began to work as an advocate for the Acid Survivors Foundation of Uganda and later CERESAV (Center for Rehabilitation of Survivors of Acid and Burns Violence). She applied for and received a grant to take a leadership course at the Educational Leadership Forum of Nova Scotia, and also found a way to get free reconstructive surgery through Face Forward, an organization based in Beverly Hills, California.
"She's the best researcher on the internet," Greenlick says.
In the fall, Hanifa will enroll at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. Greenlick and Picard are bringing her to Pittsburgh in May for a visit and a fundraiser so her children can live with her while she studies at Pitt.
Greenlick and Picard both hope that Hanifa Nakiryowa will become the global "face of acid attacks" to focus attention not only on the plight of the victims, but also the neglected children in Uganda.
Greenlick, who felt like "she died and went to heaven" the first time she traveled to Africa in 1994, says that her work is the culmination of a lifelong desire to make a difference.