NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — A Massachusetts man who spent time in Uganda is continuing his mission to help people there —  and his idea that really “rocks.”

Justin D’Addario, a 25-year-old from Andover, Massachusetts, a quiet suburb of Boston, is leading efforts to raise money to help build a music school in Uganda —called Rock and Roll Uganda — where kids can learn to play guitar.

D’Addario, who served in the U.S. Army and is also an avid guitarist, said that $5,000 will take care of most of the cost, noting that it’s striking how different other areas of the world are.

“The $5,000 would get us an entire building with multiple rooms and would pay for teachers, guitars, and more,” he said. “That’s how insane the poverty is over there.”

 How the dream began

When D’Addario first got to Uganda’s capitol city, Kampala, in September 2013, he was taken back to his time with the Army when he served one tour that brought him to the front lines of both Afghanistan and Iraq. 

“The poverty in Uganda reminded me of Afghanistan,” he said. “It’s almost as bad.”

Joining the armed forces was a calling nearly cost D’Addario his life, as an improvised explosive device hit the vehicle he was traveling in on Thanksgiving Day 2009. His life was spared, though much of his hearing was not. 

While in Kampala, he got to know a few locals, who took him to a small school called the “Rainbow House of Hope.”

“I knocked on the door, said ‘Hi, my name is Justin. I’m from America and I’m here to help.’ We talked for a little while, and they said they had a bunch of broken guitars, but nobody knew how to play them.”

What commenced was the birth of “Rock and Roll Uganda.”

Just like that, they were ‘hooked’

D’Addario found friends in three Ugandan men, around his same age, named Sadatti, Saidi and David. After fixing four of their seven guitars, the veteran began to teach the group how to play the instruments. 

He taught them the songs he knew from rock ‘n’ roll bands such as Green Day, Blink 182 and Bad Religion – some of his favorites. Just like that, the Africans were hooked, and requested two lessons per day, every day. 

And when his time in Africa ended after three months, his relationship with the trio continued. It only made him wish to expand his reach in that country, and to provide more of its people the ability to learn his favorite hobby.

The three men sent handmade bracelets to him in Andover, which D’Addario sold locally and raised $1,000 for his friends.

“They were able to buy six guitars,” he said. “What’s leftover will go toward building a school in Uganda – called Rock and Roll Uganda – where kids will learn to play.”

D’Addario is in the process of selling more Ugandan goods, including bracelets, purses and even iPad bags — all made by his Ugandan friends. Every penny raised goes to Uganda. 

D’Addario will return to Uganda in September. He will be working to film a documentary about his experiences creating Rock and Roll Uganda, and hopes it will only help his program continue to grow.