Julius, In His Own Words

[music playing]

Julius Achon: My name is Julius Achon. I am from Uganda. I am Olympic runner, and I run the children's charity in Northern Uganda.

Narrator: Julius Achon has been running his entire life. Julius grew up in a poor village in northern Uganda. Villagers lived in fear of the Lord's Resistance Army, a ruthless government opposition group that would kidnap children and turn them into unwilling soldiers.

Julius Achon: One time in the evening hours we were playing football. Then all of the sudden they all appeared. We had to go. If you don't, they tell you we're going to shoot you.

Narrator: It was 1988, and Julius was just 12 years old.

Julius Achon: They would pick according to the ages because the feeling when you're younger than 10, you are unable to fight or walk. When you are the age of 14, they do not take you because they think your mind would be very difficult to change into their system.

Narrator: Then three months after he was kidnapped, Julius escaped during a chaotic government air attack on the rebel encampment.

Julius Achon: The government plane started shooting bombs, bullets. And every single person were running in a different direction.

Narrator: Nine of the fourteen other boys who escaped were shot and killed, while Julius ran much of the 100 miles to reach home.

Julius Achon: I wanted to go back to see my mom. And I wanted to go back to school.

Narrator: Julius focused his energy on running. He'd heard about a championship race more than 40 miles from his home village. But there was no public transportation.

Julius Achon: I decided that I'd have to run to town. And I ran 42 miles at the age of 13, and I made it to town. And reaching there, I competed the following day. I won three events.

Narrator: Julius eventually won a gold medal at the World Junior Championships.

Julius Achon: That's when American colleges are coming to me, recruiting me. They wanted me to come. I ended up choosing George Mason in Virginia. That's when I came to the United States.

Narrator: Julius represented Uganda in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics. Then in 2003, during a training run in the Ugandan village of Lira, something happened that made Julius stop running.

Julius Achon: I saw these children laying under the bus. And I thought they were dead. And one of them got up, and I said, where are your parents? They said their parents were killed.

And I said can, I walk you to my place where my mom and dad were living? And I told my parents, can you take care of these children when I go to the United States? I will be able to send money for food.

Jim Fee: So here is the photo of the original orphans with your brother, right?

Julius Achon: Yes.

Narrator: In 2007, Julius met Jim Fee, an American philanthropist who took an interest in Julius's story, and helped him create the Achon Uganda Children's Fund.

Julius Achon: Now we have 44 orphans.

Narrator: The fund's mission is to improve the health, education, and self-sufficiency of rural Ugandans. A hospital named after Julius's late mother is one of the fund's major projects.

Julius Achon: So right now we're treating on average between 500 and 600 patients a month.

Jim Fee: There are child soldiers. There are Olympic runners. And there are humanitarians. But I'm not sure you're going to find all three in one person other than this guy.

Julius Achon: At first, I never wanted people to know my background because I feel they would laugh at me. I found out later on the more people hear my story, they wanted to help. And when they give me money, I use it in the right way.