with Karen ReMine, Gil Harrington, Emmanuel Jal, Jane Lillian Vance and Stephanie Anne Koehler

Last Saturday, Karen got to share the story of OMNI with Emmanuel Jal at the Taubman Museum of Art “Saturday Spectacular.” Emmanuel is a South Sudanese musician and former child soldier who now lives in the United States.

Emmanuel is a spokesman for the Make Poverty History campaign, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and the Control Arms campaign. In 2008, Jal also got involved in the musical movement of spreading awareness about current slavery and human trafficking by performing various songs for the rockumentary, Call+Response.

A documentary about Emmanuel Jal called War Child was made in 2008 by C. Karim Chrobog. It made its international debut at the Berlin Film Festival and its North American debut at the Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the Cadillac Audience Award. An autobiography under the same name was released in 2009.

Despite his accomplishments in music, Jal’s biggest passion is for Gua Africa, a charity that he founded. Besides building schools, the nonprofit provides scholarships for Sudanese war survivors in refugee camps, and sponsors education for children in the most deprived slum areas in Nairobi. [*]