That ingratiating anthem of “High School Musical” serves as the backdrop for the video below, which was just written up in the Denver Catholic Register. The story was picked up by Catholic Online:

Timothy Reidy is an average all-American college student who never thought he would be using something like YouTube to promote a cause he is passionate about.

Born and raised in Denver, he went to St. Thomas More School, followed by four years of Regis Jesuit High School. This month, Reidy will start his junior year at the University of Notre Dame, where he is majoring in architecture. He knows undoubtedly what his two passions in life are: “Designing, and working with the poor.”

This summer he had the opportunity to exercise both when he spent nine weeks in Africa, on the western plain of Uganda. The village where Reidy stayed was called Kyarusozi. He taught mathematics and speech in a Catholic school, St. Joseph Kyembogo (pronounced Chim-bogo). It was there he worked with underprivileged families, finding himself in love with the genuine Catholic identity embodied in the tribal people.

“In Uganda,” said Reidy, “you see the Church so deeply engrained in the culture that it comes out so easily. There are no distractions from God. Faith is so easy there.”

“There’s an awesome greeting they have in Rutoro,” he added, describing one of 30 tribal languages spoken in Uganda. “‘Jesu nakugonza’! It means ‘Jesus loves you!’”

Upon his arrival, Reidy instantly experienced this love when one of the women gave him his official nickname, Amooti, meaning “King.”

One of Tim’s favorite students was Francis. He was what they refer to as a “senior-one,” the equivalent of a high school freshman. Reidy mentioned that Francis hardly ever came to class.

“I became frustrated with him,” he explained. “He always got an ‘A’ on every assignment he would turn in, but I couldn’t understand why he didn’t come to class. Until one day I went to see where he lived.”

Francis’ house was three hours walking distance from the school. Reidy describes the exterior as not having enough mud and manure on the walls to keep out the bugs and other animals. The family of six shared two mattresses on a dirt floor. But when Francis arrived with his new friend from the United States, Reidy, everyone had on their Sunday clothes.

“Presumably one of two outfits at their disposal,” stressed Reidy. “Even the sister with malaria, had on a dress when she took off the blanket and got up from the floor to be in a picture with me.”

When he prepared to leave, the family gave Reidy two large sacks full of corn and passion fruit, which Reidy thinks were a good part of the crops from the family’s few acres of land. Reidy describes Francis’ family as being “Poor as heck.”

But that night as he walked home in the dark, he felt as if he had been treated by the generous family according to his prophetic nickname, Amooti, “King.”

When Reidy returned to America, occupied with the thought of his students and their families, he had the idea of making a slide show in order to raise money for the school. He began designing a video on Windows Movie Maker using the pictures and short video he took with his digital camera.

“I pulled two all-nighters to make the film,” said Reidy. “You know because I am an ‘arky’.”

Once the video was finished, the impassioned architect student decided to place it on YouTube.

“It was only after that, I realized its potential,” he said, explaining that he had 50 views before telling anyone about it.

Read the link for more — or, better yet, just click on the video below and watch for yourself. We’re all in this together.

Photo: Timothy Reidy and students, from Catholic Online