Robert

Let me tell you the story of Robert… actually his name is Muyindar, it means struggle in Lugandan, the language they speak in Uganda. When Robert was ten his mother was raped and possibly killed and his father was taken from the home by the LRA, the Lord’s Resistance Army, the Ugandan rebel group notorious for abducting children and forcing them to become soldiers. Robert ran with his two sisters. They ran about 500 kilometers as ended up in a village called Kivubuka, near Bujugali Falls. Here, at eleven years old he built a home out of sticks and mud and has lived there for the last eight years. He has stayed extremely dedicated to his education and speaks better English than anyone else in his village. He wants to be a successful politician and musician.
Robert, being a pure and honest kid got a coveted job working at a petro station in Jinja, a town about 15 kilometers away, which he would run to everyday. With the money that he earned he bought himself a radio costing him about $25 dollars. This was his pride and joy, which turned the monotony of his home into a pleasant concert hall featuring Bob Marley and the such. Several of the kids in his village were jealous that he had such a good job and that he could afford a radio, so they approached the manager of the petro station and told him that they had seen Robert giving out Petro for free. He was fired. Later he came home to find that his hut had been broken into and his ONE possession had been taken. Today, Robert has very little to eat and absolutely no chance of paying the fees to go to university. He is extremely bright and committed to education, however pursuing college is perfectly impossible for him. So he reads his same books over and over and plays his music. He builds string instruments from fishing line, sticks and cow hide which sound incredible. He and his friends jam to the beat of their home-made string instruments and drums. There are few things in the world that he would like more then to get into a recording studio and record some of his music. This will never happen for Robert… he should just give up on this dream to. So, with very few possibilities to pursue he spends his free time organizing dramas with the village kids depicting parables from the Bible. He wonders if his mother is alive and if his father is alive. He asks little from life and gives more than you could belive. I have seen Robert and his home and his fishing string instrument and his dramas. I know the nineteen year old who bears the name: struggle.