A few years ago, Jared Leeds was asked by Bicycling Magazine to photograph Charles Opiro, a former child soldier from Uganda who was captured and forced to be a soldier at age 10 and escaped 6 years later. From his blog Jared writes, “I won’t go into all the details of his story here, but I don’t know how someone comes back from an experience like that. Charles was so sweet and genuine and thankful. Through Unicef, he eventually made his way to New Hampshire to live with a host family. He got into cycling and started riding with a local cycling team.”
This is what the story was supposed to be about, however the story & photos never went to print & Jared has been sitting on them until now.
When he met Charles, he told Jared his bike had just been stolen. He was working on his GED and working at Fedex at night at the time and had no money for a new bike. Since Jared is an avid biker, he contacted a good friend who works for a major European bicycle company whom in turn, donated a frame to Charles so he could race again. Together, they were able build a beautiful bike for Charles which Jared & his wife delivered to him about a year later. They still keep in touch today.
More photos of Charles from Jared’s blog….
[…] One thing you learn in the business of photography is you can never stop promoting yourself. Whether it’s in-person meetings, sourcebooks, and directories, blogs, email, etc, you have to keep your name circulating. Jared Leeds recently printed some direct mail pieces of former child soldier Charles Opiro, a native of Uganda who turned cyclist in the US. There’s much more to this story that we posted previously here. […]