Church's Story

Background

My name is Church Seruwu. I was raised in a Muslim family. My father is from Uganda and my late mother was from Rwanda. I have fifteen siblings, ten girls and five brothers. I was born and grew up in the slum of Mengo, a slum in Kampala city. 

I’m married to Geoffrey Seruwu, we have been together for nineteen years and we have three children—Caleb (17), Nissi (12),and John (4). I have a diploma in Christian Leadership and I’m pursuing a diploma in Social Work and Community Development.

Early Years

When I was 9 years old, my mother separated from my father. She took us to a refugee camp in Nakivale, in Western Uganda, where we stayed for one year and eight months.

During our time there, some days we went without a single meal. Children and adults died due to disease and malnutrition. There was a day when a Somalian refugee family threw animal intestines in the trash. When they left, I jumped into the trash can, picked them out, and took them into our tent. While this was cause for celebration for me and my siblings, my mom was distressed to see her children eating dumped food. She did not eat it because there was not enough for everyone.

Within the camp, there were segregations according to tribe, religion, nationality and other differences. We lived in constant fear, always expecting attacks from other tribes. Since my mother was of a Tutsi tribe, our main fear was from the Hutu tribe from Rwanda. The two tribes have been rivals for years. Our single parent family was an easy target for any abuse. 

Eventually, we left the refugee camp because life there was more miserable and unbearable than life in the slum. Our mom took us back to the Kampala slums, but this time we were in a poorer slum than the one we lived in before. This new slum was characterized by poor or no drainage system, prostitution, drug abuse, and vulgar language.

During my early years of living in the slum and refugee camp, I witnessed my mother struggling and suffering with us, my siblings and I survived abuse, and I saw other children who faced different types of abuse: their rights taken away, girls forced into marriages, and many others. These experiences challenged me to take part in rescuing at risk children.

How Peter’s Heart came into the picture

I met my husband, Geoffrey, in 2002. When we had lived together for 4 years, he left for Iraq to work alongside US forces. He left me with our firstborn who was two and a half years old. In the 5 years he worked with US forces, he could only come home once every year for 14 days. Life was so lonely during this time. 

Geoffrey was unemployed when he returned from Iraq. So, I got a job in Kuwait and had to leave him and our children behind. Because we couldn’t take care of them, one of the children stayed with a family friend and the other stayed with my mom.

When I had worked in Kuwait for 4 months, Dr. James Anderson contacted my husband about my reunion with my family and asked us to start working with Peter’s Heart (PH). The answer was, “yess yess!” But it was not possible to leave Kuwait immediately because my contract still had 16 months to go. After pleading to my boss for 7 months, she allowed me to leave.

When I returned to Uganda, I started the work of caring for children. Right away, I started by volunteering in Bethany children’s home in Kampala suburb and I have worked with PH from then until now. 

Today

Today, I am a Lead Mentor and a Fieldwork Supervisor for Peter’s Heart. I get to be part of the “heart” in Peter’s Heart. I am grateful to God for choosing me to serve Him through serving at risk children—something l am passionate about.

My husband and I are housing 11 PH children. I act as a mother figure to all, especially to those who lost their mothers and to those who lack motherly love. I work to rebuild the children’s hope, love, and trust since the trauma they go through was partly caused by people they trusted. 

One thing that encourages me that the children are happy and well is when they welcome me home with hugs and kisses all over my face and start reporting to me all that’s happened while I was away.