Interview With Mandela Salim Buluma - August 2026
My name is Mandela Salim Buluma, and I am from the eastern region of Uganda.
For many years, my family and I have been caring for vulnerable children through God in Action.
Today, we have 101 children that we support, and our dream is not simply to provide for them, but to help them create a future for themselves.
Recently, my friend Pete Cohen returned to Uganda and we had the opportunity to sit down together and record a very special episode of the STOP 2 THINK Podcast:
What Will You Pass On? Legacy, Hope and the Lives We Touch.
It is a conversation that means a great deal to me.
The legacy my father gave me
My father was the person who first showed me what it meant to care for other people.
Growing up, I watched him bring vulnerable children into our lives and do whatever he could to help them.
He also gave me my name.
He named me after Nelson Mandela and always told me that although I may never be Nelson Mandela, I could still choose to be a good leader and a good person within my community.
When my father passed away in 2023, I knew that continuing this work was part of the responsibility he had left with me.
Today, when I look at these children, I still see my father's legacy.
But I also see their future.
We don't just want to provide for children
One of the things Pete and I discuss in the podcast is something I feel very strongly about.
It is not enough for us simply to feed these children, send them to school and give them somewhere to sleep.
What happens when they grow up?
What happens when they have to make their own way in the world?
Our vision is to teach them skills.
Farming. Business. Entrepreneurship. Painting. Furniture making. Construction. Hairdressing. Baking. Mechanics and many others.
We want them to discover what they are capable of.
We want them to have a voice.
We want them to become leaders.
And one day, we want the children we have helped to turn around and help someone else.
That is how something grows.
My friendship with Pete
Pete and I first met online in 2021.
At that time, our biggest challenge was food.
When Pete asked me what we needed, I told him that food would always be a problem unless we could find a way to grow our own.
That conversation eventually led to people coming together to help us purchase land.
Since then, so much has happened.
A well has been created. Children have been supported through education. Beds and mattresses have been provided. A tractor has transformed what is possible on the farm.
But something else happened during those years.
Pete and I became friends.
We both lost people incredibly important to us.
I lost my father.
Pete lost his wife, Hannah.
We have walked alongside each other through some very difficult moments.
And that is why one part of this podcast is particularly personal to me.
Why I named my daughter Hannah
Earlier this year, my wife and I had a daughter.
We named her Hannah.
I explain why in the podcast.
I could explain the whole story here, but I would rather you listen to the conversation.
For me, Hannah is much more than a name.
It represents a story, a friendship and a legacy that I hope my daughter will grow up understanding.
One day she will be able to hear about the woman she was named after.
She will be able to watch Hannah's Story.
And she will understand why her name means so much to our family.
I hope that story inspires her to think about the kind of person she wants to become and what she might one day give to others.
What will you pass on?
This is why I hope you will listen to this episode.
It isn't only the story of Pete and me.
It isn't only the story of Uganda.
And it isn't only the story of 101 children.
It is a question for all of us.
Our lives touch other lives.
My father gave something to me that I am now trying to give to these children.
Pete and Hannah have given something to me and my family.
We are trying to give these children something they can eventually pass to somebody else.
Maybe that is what legacy really is.
Not simply what people remember about us when we are gone, but what continues to live because we were here.
So I invite you to listen to our conversation on the STOP 2 THINK Podcast:
What Will You Pass On? Legacy, Hope and the Lives We Touch.
And while you listen, perhaps ask yourself the same question Pete asked during our conversation:
What are you passing on through the way you live?
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