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A man who rescues children in need.
Peter Mutabazi with his adopted children: Anthony, 17, Isabella, 8, and Luke, 7. Photo: cnn.com
The U.S. foster care system is overwhelmed, as it seeks loving homes for thousands of children who are the victims of abuse, neglect or abandonment.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, this makes 49-year-old Peter Mutabazi a godsend.
Peter has fostered dozens of children, and adopted Anthony 17, Isabella, 8 and Luke 7.
He welcomes unwanted kids. Why?
(Story continues from "Read More")
Because he was unwanted, growing up in poverty in Uganda.
In his village, few children attended school and so many tiny children died of disease or hunger, that often they were not named unless they reached their second birthday.
Peter was the eldest of five children, and food was scarce for him and his family, as they slept on mud floors in a small hut.
But the worst part was their father beating them and their mother. And when he didn't beat them, he berated them, angrily telling them they were worthless and unwanted.
In desperation, at 10 Peter used his savings and took a bus to Kampala, Uganda's capital, where for the next five years, he and other street kids scavenged for food and for survival.
Many did not survive.
But then something extraordinary happened to Peter.
To make money he began helping a wealthy man and over a year's time this man, James happily employed this filthy street kid in tattered clothes and bare feet.
Then one day, James said, "Peter, you are a smart kid. If you had the opportunity to go to school, would you?" Peter gratefully said yes.
James gave him new clothes and shoes, arranged for him to shower, and took him to a beautiful campus, enrolling him in boarding school.
There he not only got an education, but regular meals, a bedroom, a bathroom, medical care and clothing. James also made Peter part of his family. It changed his life.
Peter graduated from that boarding school, and then Makerere University in Uganda, prestigious Oak Hill College in England, and later The Master's University in Santa Clarita, California.
He then worked for child rescue organizations, helping thousands of poor children as poor as he had been, by pairing them with loving people of financial means to help them as James had done for him.
They too were clothed and fed, educated and had someone to support and love them. And many of them prospered, and now they willingly help others.
Peter then focused on the U.S. foster care system and its desperate need for loving homes, as he began bringing traumatized foster children into his home.
"The love James and [his wife] Martha expressed to me by accepting me for who I was and looking beyond my trauma to see the real me, changed my life."
"I pray I can do the same for the children who come into my home."
Editor's Note:
To learn more people.com/man-has-fostered..., cnn.com/2023/10/14/us/peter-mutabazi..., nowiamknownfoundation.org/ and Peter's book, "Now I am Known."
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