This is an I-Heart podcast.

And we continue with our American stories.

Up next, we bring you a story that begins across the ocean in Africa, but winds

up being a true story of faith, generosity, and citizenship based here in the United States.

Here to share his story is Peter Mutabazzi.

I'm from a small village at the border of Uganda and Rwanda. My name is Peter Mutabazi Habi Armani.

Mutabazi is my dad's name and Habi Armani is the name that I was given at an age of two.

You know, for most moms, you know, we name a kid. is the name that I was given at an age of two.

You know, for most moms, you know, we name our kids before they are born. As soon as we know we're pregnant or expecting, you know, we look for names.

But in my time, in my village, moms were not able to do so.

In my village, most kids would die before the age of two.

So most moms didn't name their kids, not because they didn't love them, but they weren't

sure they would make it.

And so they didn't give us a name until we went a little bit older.

So at two, I was giving a name Habianmana, which means a gift given to me by God. That's what my mom named me.

I come from a village, you know, where life was miserable in every shape, form you could imagine.

Grew up in a home where no one ever told me to be hopeful or grew up in a home where really

tomorrow wasn't guaranteed. You know. And here are the reasons why.

Think about as a mom, if you cannot feed your child for a day, how do you tell them they have a future?

And that was me, you know, at age of four, I knew I can go fetch water, you know, three to four miles away, just for us to have drinking water. And so as a kid,

that's all I did. Think about that you have to walk four miles one way and four miles back.

Do you ever have time to go to school? Absolutely no. That my family needed more, you know,

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