Ugandan singer Victor Ruz, real name Wajja Victor, has revealed that a painful childhood experience shaped his decision to stay away from alcohol, drugs and other substances.
Speaking during a recent radio interview, the singer said watching a neighbor struggle with addiction and eventually become separated from his family left a lasting impression on him.
Victor Ruz recalled growing up around the man, whom he described as an addict, and said his disappearance had a devastating impact on the family he left behind.
“Where I grew up from, our neighbor was an addict ever since our childhood. We always looked at him as a bad example,” Victor Ruz said.
He explained that the man eventually disappeared, leaving his children behind. According to the singer, the family never learned what happened to him.
“One time he disappeared and left his family behind; up to now, no one knows where he went to. We grew up with his abandoned children as our siblings but we do not know where their father went to,” he said.
Victor Ruz said the situation became even more painful when the man’s wife died and he did not return.
“It all started with the drugs. Even when his wife died, he didn’t come,” he recalled.
The experience reportedly influenced Victor Ruz’s own choices as he grew older and entered the music industry.
Rather than allowing the pressures associated with his career to push him toward substance use, he said he made a personal decision not to repeat what he had witnessed in his childhood.
Victor Ruz said he does not drink alcohol, smoke marijuana or use other drugs, and also stays away from mairungi, commonly known as khat.
He explained that seeing the consequences of addiction up close was traumatic enough to make him determined to avoid a similar path.
For Victor Ruz, staying substance-free is therefore not simply a lifestyle choice but a decision shaped by an experience he says he witnessed while growing up.