Muyingo

Aaron Muyingo Foley is a native of rural Uganda. Orphaned at an early age and left in the care of his alcoholic grandmother and a blind, crippled great-grandmother, he was never sure where his next meal would come from - or the water and fire that would be needed to fix it. One day his life is disrupted when muzungus arrive and whisk him away to a “children’s village” where he is given a bed and regular meals. These are good, but Muyingo is no longer his own boss.

Just as he's beginning to adjust to life in the village, he is told he is going to America. He doesn’t know what “America” means, but he knows he is facing more upheaval. Eventually Muyingo is told that he’s going to be adopted, another concept he doesn’t understand. He is taken to Kampala for the arduous process of securing all the documents, and a strange lady drags him to one appointment after another. His life is now filled with waiting - for what he doesn’t know.

A flight to London and a long, rainy walk to a hotel convince him that he’s been snatched - kidnapped! And now no one speaks his language, including this lady, so he has no choice but to go along with her. Another flight, this time to Arizona, and even his name seems to have changed. In Uganda everyone called him Muyingo. Now it’s Aaron. His saving outlet is competitive soccer where everyone calls him by his new last name - Foley. When it seems as though things couldn’t get worse, a brain scan reveals something Aaron has always suspected. A large brain cyst makes clear why learning has always been so hard. Now Aaron must also survive Special Ed. Trauma seems endless. A new name, country, language, culture, family, soccer team, school, and now everyone knows he has an intellectual disability.

Aaron Muyingo Foley perseveres with wisdom, and these are his stories.