When Julius Achon was at George Mason University, where he set the NCAA record in the 800 meters, he was embarrassed to tell his teammates about the plight of his family in neighbors back home in the Ugandan village of Otuke.
Desperate poverty. Seemingly endless civil war. Constant suffering.
Achon was filled with concern but uncertain how to act upon it.
Years later, in 2007, working in Beaverton for Nike part-time as a workout partner and pacer, he met another employee from Uganda. Achon told him about life back home and how he struggled with the discrepancies in the way people lived.
The man gave Achon the following advice: Don’t be quiet any longer. Tell Americans your story.
And one of the first Americans he talked to was James Fee, a recent retiree with a head for business and a desire to do something meaningful.
“He needed someone to run the business side, start the web site, write the business plan,” Fee said.
But more than that, Achon insisted that Fee and his wife, Angela, come to Uganda with him so they could see it for themselves.
“It made all the difference in the world,” Fee said.
The war is over, thankfully. But the desperation for basics is still evident in the rural area around Lira where Julius grew up. This is an area that has not be visited by electricity, phone lines, indoor plumbing or paved roads.
“How fortunate we are in America,” Fee said. “The things we worry about, they’re insignificant compared to the daily need for food, water, shelter and health, the essentials of life.”
Fee paused and shook his head.
“For the cost of a $7 glass of chardonnay, I could have provided modern treatment for three kids,” he said.
The update in all of this is that Fee went back for a second time last fall, this time armed with an important list of agenda items to cover as Julius’ biggest project yet — a new medical clinic — takes shape.
Construction of the clinic — 6,000 bricks and 180 bags of cement — will be located on a piece of land acquired from Julius’ father not far from his home. The land is cleared and the first bricks should be set in place sometime in April. Locals will be hired to make the bricks and build the structures.
It will be modeled after an existing clinic in southern Uganda called Engeye.
The clinic will handle the treatment of basics. Malaria. Innoculations. Vaccicnations. Those are at the top of the list.
It’s a major undertaking but Achon reports that progress has been gaining momentum. He has given speeches in California and Oregon at colleges and Rotary Clubs and donations are trickling in. He spoke recently at the Beaverton International School and 1,000 students chipped in $1 each.
Achon is confident that the project will be completed and the clinic will be named after his mother, Kristina.
It was Kristina who told Julius to think about home when he left for the United States for the first time. So many others that find their way out of Uganda simply don’t seem to come back. Perhaps that’s because the problems are so enormous. A 20-year war is thankfully over.
Achon is a two-time Olympian, which may explain something about his worldview and certainly explains the way people in his village gravitate to him.
But if he was a hero before, what he’s doing now is far more impressive.
In addition to the clinic, he is sponsoring 33 children so they can attend school. Some of them are girls. That’s important because this is the first generation in which girls are encouraged to attend school.
Over the years, Achon has personally helped 14 Ugandans make their way into U.S. colleges.
And a sister organization started by friends in Australia (chief among them runner Eloise Wellings) has operated a successful Cents for Seeds program for Ugandan women.
Julius’ recent trip took an emotional turn in early January. He unearthed the remains of his mother, who was hastily buried four miles from home after she was shot along the road to town and bled to death in 2004. He moved her back home, where she belongs. She is buried next to his father’s house and very close to the clinic that will carry her name.
You can donate directly to the Achon Ugandan Children’s Fund online or send a check to:
Achon Ugandan Children’s Fund
PO Box 91639
Portland, OR 97219
