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Advertisement Massachusetts Army vet using music to help kids around globe Justin D'Addario founder of "Rock 'N Roll Uganda" Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Many people dream of one day becoming a rock star and gaining international fame.A retired Army veteran from North Andover has actually done it, but you probably don't know him.Justin D'Addario is the founder of "Rock 'N Roll Uganda," a school that teaches impoverished young people to play the guitar for free.D'Addario is a retired Army combat engineer whose tour in Iraq and Afghanistan was cut short by a roadside bomb on Thanksgiving Day in 2009. When D'Addario recovered, he found he still had a desire to serve.His new mission became finding a place in the world where he could help young people.D'Addario landed in the Ugandan Capital of Kampala, at a little school called the Rainbow House of Hope.He said when the school asked what his talents were, he said he could teach English and play the guitar. "There were three of them there, and they said, 'you can play guitar?'"It turned out the school had a number of guitars in storage, and no one knew how to fix them.D'Addario taught the kids what he knew: Rock 'n Roll."The only full songs that I knew were by bands like Green Day, Bad Religion and Blink 182, D'Addario said. "They totally loved it!"A short time later, several of the students became teachers too, and would-be rockers were coming from all over.Three years later, the program has ten guitars and over 100 students D'Addario is now trying to raise the money to build an actual school.. through a GoFundMe page.He estimates it would take approximately $15,000 in U.S. currency to accomplish his goal. For more informationhttps://www.gofundme.com/yf2u2khttps://www.facebook.com/PunkRockKampala/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hiCbt2nlqUhttp://crowdsurfcentral.com/articles/2016/6/2/rock-and-roll-ugandaGet the WCVB News App