Andrew’s Trauma is Significant: Yet His Future is Bright

Before I came to Uganda, we lived in a small village,” Andrew says softly.

Key points:

“The war was too much… the bad guys attacked us and everything was destroyed. People like us can’t fight people with guns.”

Andrew was just a child when his family was murdered in the conflict in South Sudan. Only he and his younger sister survived, but they were captured by fighters.

“They made us work for them like slaves. Me and my sister, we tried to run away, but she was shot. I was five, she was four. She was shot and she told me to run. I ran.”

“The war was too much… the bad guys attacked us… People like us can’t fight people with guns.”

Taken in by an elderly farmer, Andrew helped work the fields and did household chores. “He took me in as his own son… He brought me to this school. Before he died, he told me, this is the school where I will finish my education.”

But Andrew struggled to concentrate in class. He was haunted by his sister’s death and traumatised by the noisiness of the schoolyard. In the shouts of his friends, he heard the echoes of gunfire.

With no one to care for him, he had to make his own money to buy food and other basics, like shoes.

Andrew was haunted by his sister’s death and traumatised by the noise of the schoolyard… he heard the echoes of gunfire.

“I have no way to support myself, so it’s really hard to look for money in Uganda here… I used to come barefooted to school. My friends would laugh at me. That’s why I had to work hard and buy these shoes on my feet so I cannot be laughed at anymore.”

But there was a good reason to attend class every day. Lunch.

“Lunchtime, it’s often well! People get served equally and become full. For me, as a refugee, I have to eat anything that comes on my way!” he says.

But there was a good reason to attend class every day. Lunch.

Fuelled by a healthy meal each day, Andrew’s mind could focus on his teacher’s words and he began to thrive in the classroom.

“When there is food, there’s always fast learning,” he says. “When there’s no food, some people starve with hunger, but they just endure it because they know they cannot do anything.”

Wearing shoes he has proudly earned himself, and with a full stomach, Andrew looks forward to afternoon classes.

Take Away Hunger Day: Thursday, August 21. How many children will you feed?

He’s turning his eyes to the future and trying to leave behind the horrors of his past. For the first time, he can see a better life is within his reach.

“I like science,” he says. “I want to become a scientist and help people out there in the world who are not able to help themselves. I want to provide them medicines that will cure them.”

Take Away Hunger Day: Thursday, August 21. How many children will you feed?

Feature image: Supplied (Feed the Hungry and CMAA)