By: BENJAMIN MILLER
Staff Writer
benamill@iusb.edu
Hello, Titan family. My name is Benjamin Miller. I am interning at the Preface this semester. I hope you have enjoyed my work so far. I will continue to do my best to produce quality news and entertainment for at least the rest of the semester.
I am originally from South Bend. Growing up in this town was an adventure that will be rivaled only by death itself. South Bend is an absolute grind for the rich, poor, and everyone in between. Developing at a snail’s pace, the town does a slow-motion moonwalk into the future while old man winter spends half of every year hacking away at resident’s souls with temperature fluctuations that are rivaled only by remote areas of Montana.
The social fabric of good people that exists in this town was the means of survival for people like me. If not for the family and friends who have supported me over the years, I surely wouldn’t even be writing this article, or be anywhere close to finishing an IU degree in public relations.
Back in 2005, during one of my many soul searching semesters off from IU South Bend, I was approached by a friend of the family and local philanthropist who was traveling to Uganda later that spring to start a humanitarian relief effort in the war-torn Northern region of the country.
We met with members of the Ugandan parliament about the civil war and the upcoming elections that Museveni had a stranglehold on due to his altering of his own constitution that limited presidential terms.
I saw elephants in Queen Elizabeth National Game Park, swam in the lakes around dormant volcanoes at the feet of the Rwenzori Mountains, and even stayed a night with the crew that was filming the “Invisible Children” documentary.
The film ended up having a substantial impact by raising awareness of the struggles of Northern Uganda, while the BOSCO project that was initiated by my friend has also helped. It not only made the displacement camps safer from rebel attacks, it also brought the internet’s educational resources to many of the displacement camps across Northern Uganda and is now looking to move further North into South Sudan.
The trip to Africa really put things back home in perspective for me and gave me new motivation to finish school when I got back. After several part-time semesters and jobs including teaching, which was awesome, I finally got back to school full time.
In 2011, I began my current PR track and plan on walking next spring. My dream is to somehow become involved in politics. I am planning to begin a career in some capacity with Public Relations for a company, organization or individual in the summer of next year.
Eventually, I want to use my skills to represent my own business that I am currently starting or political movements that I hope to organize in the future.
