From Idi Amin's Uganda to Texas: One Man's Story of Survival and Faith

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Visit att.com slash guarantee for details. This is Lee Habib and this is our American stories. And we tell stories about everything here on this show, but our favorite subject, well, it's redemption stories, stories of faith and hope and love.

And my goodness, that's the story of so many Americans and faith, by the way, being a fundamental part of a large majority of the people of this country. And that's why we tell those stories. And up next, the story of Dr. Dennis Simebwe. Dennis, you were born on April 20th, 1967 in a small town in the African nation of Uganda. Tell us about it. Uganda, Eastern Africa. Winston Churchill called it the pearl of Africa, perfect weather, they say, and happy people.

But in the midst of that, anarchy, because we had Idi Amin, if you remember the famous Idi Amin, so life was tough. My earliest memory, I'm clutching my baby sister's hand, we have to go to school and there's a dead body in the pathway, but we're too young to jump over the body. And so I remember the big debate, should I go home?

If I go home, I'm going to get into trouble, but I can't really tell. So I remember getting to tell Sylvia, Sylvia, close your eyes, as we get to the body. And then we counted one, two, three and jumped over.

And then it goes black from then. The army wasn't paid. So at night they would come to our villages and loot and steal, raping as young as three years old. In fact, at one point, my village, almost all the girls were pregnant by soldiers. And so that's life for me and not enough food. I didn't have shoes till I was six.

We'd climb mango trees for lunch, guava trees for breakfast. It was just tough, tough. How did Idi Amin come to power? How does this happen in a country? Idi Amin was, it's almost like the same story repeated. You look at Saddam and some of these other big guys. He was a favorite of the British.

In fact, he was a colonel in the British army. And so he comes on, he was a hero at first, but he turns, he turns on us and gets greedy and starts to, then tribalism. Then it's the same old story of Africa when the power, it's a power issue. And so he begins to get nervous when there's, it looks like there's a power struggle between him and the West, kind of like Gaddafi, it sounds like, because he's very, he's too independent.

He won't be a puppet. But with that comes the subjugation and he didn't go to school. So he thinks money can be printed. Then he's irritated by the Asians, the Indians, because they're running everything. So one day he decides, you know what, no more Indians. We want Uganda to be run by Ugandans.

And he just exists three days. He expels all Indians for 72 hours to leave the country. And he literally takes Ugandans and gives them, I mean, I remember this picture, I was young, I remember seeing him on TV, walking down the main street. We had one main street in Kampala, and it was literally giving shops that belonged to Asians, is giving them to you, take that one. You take the shoe shop, you take, and of course what happened is, here there's Africans who are now running things, but they were not trained to run.

So of course everything plummets, turmoil, inflation, and so poverty sets in. And what used to be the pearl of Africa, Uganda was the bread basket of his East African cradle before then, the best hospital was in Kampala. Now Idi Amin, initially, as he got nervous, he wanted to squelch rebellion, of course it became heavier-handed. Then he decided to pivot to the Arab world, and so he wanted to turn Uganda into a Muslim nation with Sharia law. So it was illegal to wear miniskirts, and it was illegal, one day he woke up and said, I don't want to see slippers, sandals, slippers, I don't want to see people's feet.

And people were actually literally arrested for wearing slippers and sandals in town, in Kampala, they'd arrest you. So it was chaotic, chaotic. But so and so, and then of course, then as he comes after church, after church, then he had to see, he didn't like any of the independent religions, expressions of religion where Friday became a public holiday, so Friday was a public holiday for the Muslims, Sunday was a public holiday for the, so he had like four days of work, you know.

And of course all of this is plummeting the economy, if things are getting worse and worse and worse. And so persecution, then he began to outlaw all independent religions or expressions of faith, and so thus began the persecution. The archbishop was arrested and killed, and so that was life under Idi Amin until he was ousted. And then what happened is all the, then the tribalism, and now those factions of military soldiers and then the anarchist setting, just like some of these other places like Gaddafi and Libya and Iraq, that's what happened in Uganda.

So we have factions all over, anarchy, rule of law, nothing, nothing. The army wasn't paid and they'd come every night to rape and steal and kill and it was a disaster. So talk about your parents. What role did they play?

Talk about that. Mine was tragic. My dad was their provider, but he had other women. In fact, they were more like concubines, more open. We knew them. We knew them.

In fact, one of them was my, had been my mother's best friend who lived next door. So daddy would come back home and we would see him go to the neighbors. And I remember seeing mommy, you know, just dealing with, wow, wow.

And so that was confusing for me as a boy. And he'd come back drunk at night, 11 PM usually, beating mommy. But then every time I came out, I was the firstborn, every time I came out to their little room, as he's beating her, he would stop. So that caused me to think, oh, oh, I can help here. I can help mommy. And over the next few months, every time I'd make sure to be awake, don't go to sleep because you need to rescue mommy. And she didn't know until recently that I barely slept because whenever they went to their room in my little brain, my little seven year old brain, I was thinking, what if he beats her and kills her?

So I'd sit right at their door all night and it made me a rescuer. And when we come back, more of this remarkable life story and how he ends up coming here to the United States and doing remarkable things with his life. More of the life story of Dr. Dennis Simebwe here on Our American Stories. This is Nikki Glaser from the Nikki Glaser podcast. On a more serious note, I'm still thinking about that commercial with Tom Brady and Snoop Dogg hating on each other, because when you listen to the reasons for hating someone or something, you realize just how stupid they really are. There is too much hate in this country and it's got to stop. So join us at iHeart and standing up to it. If you see hate, speak up, call it out.

And you can learn more by following at What's Up With Hate. Today's podcast is brought to you by Ferguson Home. Whether you're a homeowner working on a remodel or a pro managing multiple projects, Ferguson Home is where great ideas become stunning spaces. My wife and I know firsthand because Ferguson Home was by our side when we built our beautiful house. All of our indoor and outdoor kitchen appliances, most of our kitchen and bathroom hardware came from Ferguson Home. They have the best selection of kitchen, bath and lighting products, all of which you can find online or you can visit a local Ferguson Home showroom like we did and get one on one support from their amazing consultants who are there for us with their expert advice and support. They'll be there for you too.

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Sponsor a child at worldvision.org slash water for kids and help ensure access to life-changing essentials like clean water. And we continue with our American stories in the life of Dr. Dennis Impebewe. We just heard why seven-year-old Dennis wouldn't sleep at night knowing that he was the only person around who could rescue his mom from being abused by his alcoholic father. Dennis, tell us the effects your family environment had on you.

I'm getting depressed. I'm learning about my history. I'm learning that that no Sempebewe, that's my last name, had lived beyond age 40.

They were all womanizers and alcoholics and they had died young. And so, but I strolled into an event, you know, one time when mommy said there's a crusade. This guy was coming from Nigeria and he was going to talk about crusade God. And so mom took me to this crusade, a big open-air event, and this guy was talking about peace.

They said, God can give you peace. And in my brain I was thinking, yeah, but how? And then it was as though this man could hear me because all the questions I asked, he would scream out, don't you wonder how? You don't need to.

So I'm like, well, but I have to. How is he going to do? You want to know how he's going to do it? I'm like, I'm thinking, he could read my mind. What's going on? But, but you know, then eventually said, if you want this peace, come. And I was the first to say, mommy, let's go. I want, I want peace.

I want peace. And, and we prayed a prayer. And as I was going home that night, cause it was five o'clock and five o'clock was scary for me because the sun was going to set. And, and was that the night I'd see my sisters raped, my mother raped.

Was I going to die? Was I going to spend the night outside? Cause sometimes we didn't, it was too dangerous to sleep in the house.

So we'd run around all night during these military raids, looking for places to hide. But this particular night, January 12th, 1980, there was peace. And I was thinking, Ooh, I'm not scared. I got home. My sister asks me, that is, what are you happy?

What are you getting about? I said, I don't know. I just, I think God's given me peace. And she looked at me, rolled her eyes and says, go to sleep.

You're tired. Next morning, I woke up and I still have peace. I still have peace. And I couldn't wait to go to school. Now mornings were terrible in class because every empty seat meant they were either killed or their mothers were raped or whatever.

They were displaced. So, but this morning, January 13th, 1980, I'm like, I'm a little smiles. My friends are looking at me.

What's wrong with you, Dennis? I was a class captain. I said, I don't know guys. I just know that yesterday I prayed a prayer and I asked God to be part of my life. And I, I think it did. And after a while they wanted me to explain why I was happy. And I said, it said, you know what, I give my life to God. Cause he, he said, what do you mean God?

I said, I don't know. It's just, it's God loves us that, that he cares that what he's done for me, he can do for you. And, and I became an instant evangelist in fact, because after 30 days after, after the first month I had, I had like 50 of my friends all coming to church with me and, and we were all, then we had a happy corner and they knew it as that's the happy corner.

Dennis said it's happy corner. And, and people were curious, but, but I began to see, to have this, this idea that God gave me peace that transcended my environment. Something that was, that blew my mind that I still can't explain to this day, but it's as real cause I've lived it. And this would be why dictators hate God. Yeah.

Yeah. Because they couldn't, I, in fact, the peace came from inside. It didn't matter. In fact, it got worse.

My, my environment, this is where I have a problem with the simplistic perspective on God fixing. And so even though Amin was ousted and there was other very turbulent dictators that came around that actually killed en masse, but I mean, would have barrier, a barrier almost every week of a friend or, but, but I was giddy and happy, not, not giddy, giddy, but I had joy. The Bible talks about it as, as joy and speakable, joy and speakable. I was peaceful, had Shalom, Jews call it Shalom, the peace that transcends circumstances. That's what I got. And I could share it with, I've shared it over 80 countries now, 40 for 40 years. It's the same, whether it's a prostitute in, in Amsterdam and a beggar in India, it doesn't matter.

Or a multimillionaire in Beverly Hills. There's this peace that God gives that is unmatched. I was ready to pour out what I had inside of me.

So excited that, that a path was created for me. We began with, we formed a singing group, began singing. And as we sang, all the schools wanted to hear us. All of a sudden we're the biggest thing in, in town. We started to, then we started to, we had, we had a church service, we'll go to church, but we started to, we told, I told the pastor, Hey, can we just come play music a whole hour before the church starts? He said, okay. And so we just started playing, we would play music and six, 7,000 kids would just come listen.

They were mesmerized. And, and of course, I wasn't promising, which is cool is I wasn't saying, God's going to come fix your world, but have God in your life and your world will make sense, but not be fixed. Make sense.

You'll have a reason to wake up the spring in your, in your feet. And he can do that. He can do that.

I've seen him do that. And so that began to change. My father would die of AIDS, which was like, okay. Cause he was a womanizer and all that. And then my, then for a while we're thinking, mommy's going to die too.

But, and that the miracle happened, you know, mommy isn't dying. And so a lot of people now after a man leaves all the anarchy, now we had AIDS, AIDS epidemic, entire villages had just kids running around with their parents, dead, rotting in their homes. Cause remember those anarchy. So all the services are, there's no services.

There's no, there's one doctor to 50 to 70,000 people. So, so, so again, more chaos. In fact, that's when the British media said to say, Uganda is cursed after a man, after all is now AIDS. So, so this again, in the midst of that, we kept preaching, singing, joy, transcendent in the midst of death. And, and some group came from England, heard us sing, they invited us to England. We went and sang in this one church, that church happened to have the editor of voice magazine and the black Britain and BBC.

And they were all going to this iconic church called Kensington temple. And when we sang they all like next day, we're on radio where all over they called it the African group from Africa that's taking England by storm. And that year we won the award for best British new artist.

We're not even English, we're not even British, but, but, but again, the same message. I remember when we recorded, then we recorded one song that became a club hit in London, all the nightclubs playing this song, it's called Don't Pass Me By, Lord Don't Pass Me By, but they loved it. Again, the message transcending culture. And here we are now in nightclubs, the biggest nightclubs in Europe. I remember seeing Muhammad Ali and all these guys and, you know, just the, there we were, the group, a gospel group in the midst of like, some of us had never even been to a club, but, but we were featured. So, so the music opening doors, the message transcending received an invitation to America, Chicago, same thing happened before we know it, where all this and all this place is getting five album deal. And, and that opens up a global, global ministry of, of music that took us to 40 countries and same song, same, same message.

Peace is peace. So how does the singer become a doctor? I, I bumped into this, this gentleman who had a distance learning program. And, and so record time, bachelor's, master's, PhD, all still singing. As soon as I was done doing that, church approached me and said, can you start a college for us? I said, I'm a singer.

I said, no, but you're singing with a PhD. So we founded a college called the international college of excellence. And that, that got me into academics and started 22 campuses in eight countries and then formed an organization called egos rings international. And, and, and, and just going to just wear good hubs now in 26 countries again, you know, the message, same message. God's amazing.

God's amazing simple words, words he absorbed, and then words, well, that drove the rest of his life and his core message. When we come back to this remarkable story in a remarkable immigrant story, an American dreamer story, like almost none other we've told here on this show, the story of Dr. Dennis Zimbabwe here on our American stories. This is Nikki Glaser from the Nikki Glaser podcast. On a more serious note, I'm still thinking about that commercial with Tom Brady and Snoop Dogg hating on each other. Cause when you listen to the reasons for hating someone or something, you realize just how stupid they really are. There is too much hate in this country and it's got to stop. So join us at I heart and standing up to it. If you see hate, speak up, call it out.

And you can learn more by following at what's up with hate. Today's podcast is brought to you by Ferguson home, whether you're a homeowner working on a remodel or a pro managing multiple projects, Ferguson home is where great ideas become stunning spaces. My wife and I know firsthand because Ferguson home was by our side. When we built our beautiful house, all of our indoor and outdoor kitchen appliances, most of our kitchen and bathroom hardware came from Ferguson home. They have the best selection of kitchen, bath and lighting products, all of which you can find online, or you can visit a local Ferguson home showroom like we did and get one-on-one support from their amazing consultants who were there for us with their expert advice and support.

They'll be there for you to go to Ferguson home.com to shop the latest styles from top brands like Kohler or find a showroom location near you. Hi, it's Jenny Garth. We all know the importance of taking care of our physical and mental health. But what about our sexual health? I've been there feeling totally stuck when it comes to my libido. That's why I started taking Addy.

And let me tell you, I've seen firsthand what a difference it can make in how you feel. Addy is the only FDA approved pill clinically proven to help certain premenopausal women have more interest in sex, have more satisfying sex and lower the stress from low libido. Addy has helped hundreds of thousands of women get their drive back including me talk to your doctor or visit a DDYI.com to learn more about Addy. The little pink pill individual results may vary. Addy or flibanserin is for premenopausal women with acquired generalized Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder, HSDD, who have not had problems with low sexual desire in the past, who have had low sexual desire no matter the type of sexual activity, the situation or the sexual partner.

This low sexual desire is troubling to them and is not due to a medical or mental health problem, problems in the relationship or medicine or other drug use. Addy is not for use in children, men or to enhance sexual performance. Your risk of severe low blood pressure and fainting is increased if you drink one to two standard alcoholic drinks close in time to your Addy dose. Wait at least two hours after drinking before taking Addy at bedtime. This risk increases if you take certain prescriptions, OTC or herbal medications or have liver problems and can happen when you take Addy without alcohol or other medicines. Do not take if you're allergic to any of Addy's ingredients. Allergic reaction may include hives, itching or trouble breathing. Sometimes serious sleepiness can occur.

Common side effects include dizziness, nausea, tiredness, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep and dry mouth. See full PI and medication guide including boxed warning at addy.com slash PI. Addy.

Visit addy.com to learn more about Addy. Clean water access helps kids soak up childhood. Girls can be in class instead of walking hours for water. Kids can be climbing trees and skinning knees instead of being sick with waterborne diseases.

Sponsor a child at worldvision.org slash water for kids and help ensure access to life-changing essentials like clean water. And we continue with our American stories and Dr. Dennis Simpebuoy's story. Dennis, your band's success took you to the heights of music in Africa. You took Europe by storm and then you were invited to America. Tell us about it.

I stumbled to Chicago, first 1993. Came and sang in this little Romanian church. You know, we're like, hey, put your hands together.

Yeah. And they were like, looking at us like we're the first black people to ever grace that stage. They almost fell over and they were like, these Africans.

So they almost patronizingly, then I found out the Baptists don't clap hands and I'm like, okay, okay. But, but we just, we just, you know what? And, and so the next, next tomorrow, you're going to sing again tomorrow, but could you not have the music? Cause they didn't like the tracks.

They didn't like guitars and all that. So, so we said, okay. So we decided to sing a cappella. And so my wife was in there, which was the, she was, she said, we loved you. And I'm like, you sure?

Yeah. We, the church, it was a little tough for them, but, but I don't think they're going to have you back. But, you know, so, so, but she and her friend took us to the next church and, and there, that was a black church.

I was like, I wouldn't go crazy. They had never seen Africans like us doing, we were just wearing all the African hats and we just went outrageous on them and they just loved it. And she almost fainted because it was now it was too loud.

She's from Romania. So she shared a similar story of Ceausescu while she was sharing about waking up at 5 AM, lining up for groceries. I said, yeah, we did too. We had no gas. Yeah, we did too.

If you had a car, you just like, yeah, we did too. And the blackouts. Yeah. So, so that connected us and very different stories. My dictator's worse than your dictator.

Yeah, exactly. Your dictator was more dignified. I was, when he was deposed, he had heads of his enemies in his refrigerator. He was, yeah, it was terrible.

He believed the witch doctors had told them, keep them, you need to eat their brains. It was, it was, it was actually a true story, but we connected and, and, you know, got married. Very difficult because I'm the heir of the family and I had to maintain the integrity of my bloodline and there I was going to contaminate it with, with white blood. So that was, that was a tribal, major tribal issue, but they got over it.

And it became a story. I was the couple of the year in Uganda at the time. How did her Romanian family feel about you? Ah, that was different. Cause again, she was the only daughter.

Her dad, an ex Navy officer who had, who had migrated from religious persecution to come to Chicago. They were okay. It was interesting. They were okay. They would have black people come to their house. They were okay until one of the black people wanted to marry their only daughter. And so Ingrid was saying, but my daddy's not racist. I'm like, I know, I know. I said, I said, you know, if I was your dad and all I saw on television was black people from the South side of Chicago involved in gangs and, and hip hop and, and, you know, I'd be scared. I would be concerned. Your dad's and this is worse than those black people. I'm from Africa. I'm like, he doesn't know.

He doesn't even know where he doesn't. And then I had this funny hair. I had half a head shaved. So, so I said, I understand your dad. And she's like, you do?

You don't? I said, no, it's not. It's, it's, it's, it's a tribal thing. It's, it's, it's, it's, he's used to white is used to, which is for me, it helps me also understand that some of the, the, the, the, cause I've been all over the world and I don't think people are always racist like that.

I think, I think it's an affinity issue. When a white person sees another white person, there's a natural affinity to white. When you see black, you're like, okay, black.

Hmm. Cause, cause I've been to certain countries where I'm on the, the only black person for like a week. And so, so like somewhere we went to Siberia once and I didn't see anybody until one Nigerian girl. And the minute I saw her, I was like, Oh, cause it was like, Oh, my kind, that's my kind. He's here.

He's here. You know? So, so there's a lot of that. That's in play many times when we get overly simplistic about race. In fact, he got on the phone one time and said, I don't want you to marry my daughter. I don't want mixed kids. He told me, and she was like, so like, dad, you can't say that you're a God fearing man, but the challenge that was, had come to his home and he had to decide, can I love this guy who's different than me? Can my faith, the faith that I've, cause it's one thing talking about it and singing about it, but now it was in your home. Is this my brother? It didn't matter that I was a Christian, just like him.

I had a, I was a different color and I didn't know what to do with that. Eventually though they reluctantly, and we said, you know, we're not going to get married until they're okay. Which took another three years. My, my, my whole country became okay, but her, her family had a problem until they, they said, okay, I guess we got married today.

Of course, we're, we're the, you know, I'm the favorite, favorite son-in-law and we're so tight and have given him and them five grandkids. And it's just a beautiful story. I've heard you talk about the simplicity of faith, but talk about simplicity of faith and wrapping your head around faith intellectually. See, when, when we were brought, when faith came to us, it wasn't, it didn't make sense. In fact, I remember the first time I had to sit down, sit my friends down when they cornered me and I said, explain why you're happy.

There's death all around. Why are you happy? I said, okay, sit down. So I said, okay, in 2000 years ago, God loved the world. I lost them right away, Lee, because all five of them, one was Muslim, one was, one was a, was a traditionalist, had no, which, which, he had all this talisman from, from, from the gods. So he was old, old, like ready to just kill me, you know, cause I had to, I was going to explain why I was happy, why God, faith made sense. So I said, 2000 years ago, the Bible says, what do you mean the Bible? I'm like, oh, I'm in trouble.

Yeah, this book. It said, it said, God sent his son. First of all, it said, God loved the, when I said, God loved the world, they, they just like, ah, Dennis, because gods don't love in our culture. Gods are mean. They, they, they restrict the rain. So you have to sacrifice to them. So, so rain can come and crops can grow and they take away your fertility. You have to, so that's, that's what they're used to. So God and love was like, I said, wait, you want to know why I'm happy? Sit down. So I, I carry the story and says, he sent, he sent his only son to die for you and me.

Ah, I lost them again. Cause they might try. In fact, one of them said, what sort of God is that? What sort of, he's a weak God, he said, because in my tribe, you don't give your only son for nothing. Cause you only, your son is your future.

How could God give his son for people he doesn't even know? So I said, shh, just keep quiet now. Now I'm, I'm noticing I'm in trouble already cause the story is going to get more ridiculous. So I'm thinking, oh God. And they told us, Dennis, if you can't explain, we're going to beat you.

It was, it was like, were they going to beat me up or whatever? So, so I said, I said, okay. He gave his son, his son died. He said, uh huh. Then I said, then he rose again. Ah, I lost them again.

Cause, cause they were saying, how can he rise again? I said, okay. Okay. He rose again.

Okay. And then, and then I said, then I said, ah, I said, I'm going to be in trouble. So I said, and you know what? He's, he's here right now. And they're like, what do you mean he's here?

I thought you said 2000. He said, well, his, his presence is here. And I said, now keep quiet.

And he wants to be part of your life. And I said, if you, if you believe this ridiculous story, you can have what I have. If you believe this ridiculous story, you can have what I have.

When we come back, this remarkable American story continues here on Our American Stories. Still thinking about that commercial with Tom Brady and Snoop Dogg hating on each other. Cause when you listen to the reasons for hating someone or something, you realize just how stupid they really are. There is too much hate in this country and it's got to stop. So join us at I Heart and standing up to it. If you see hate, speak up, call it out.

And you can learn more by following at what's up with hate. Today's podcast is brought to you by Ferguson home, whether you're a homeowner working on a remodel or a pro managing multiple projects, Ferguson home is where great ideas become stunning spaces. My wife and I know firsthand because Ferguson home was by our side. When we built our beautiful house, all of our indoor and outdoor kitchen appliances, most of our kitchen and bathroom hardware came from Ferguson home. They have the best selection of kitchen, bath, and lighting products, all of which you can find online, or you can visit a local Ferguson home showroom like we did and get one-on-one support from their amazing consultants who were there for us with their expert advice and support. They'll be there for you too.

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I said, you know what, you know what I did to get this? I prayed this prayer, pray with this prayer with me. And they looked at me like, I said, pray, pray, pray, pray this prayer. I said, God, thank you for sending your son to die for me.

I believe this, this amazing, crazy, crazy story come into my life. And they looked at me like, and then Lee, I saw one of them was shedding a tear. He had shed a tear, the meanest one.

And, but he was being macho. Of course, he's like, so that the meeting ended and next day, yeah, you know that story? I think it's real. I said, it is? Yeah, cause he said, yeah, cause I, I feel the peace, the peace you talked about.

I want to know, take me to church. And I was like, then I am, I am, I'm like, whoa, it's, it's powerful. It's not just a nice little story.

The story has power. And that there was my beginning. And I've gone around the world that I lived in England for a while. And I had a option to live in Sweden and Australia at a certain point. And I've been to 80 of them, 82. In fact, there's no place like America. There's no place, there's no place like this.

In fact, I have friends who even are in leadership in those countries wanting to come. I remember sitting with this Malaysian billionaire. He had actually rented out the whole theater.

One of the Transformers movies was coming out. He says, I hate America. He said, he said, but it's good that America is good though. We like America. It's good America is America. Something was happening here. The intellectual said, Americans, don't be stupid. Why are you tearing your country, country apart? I hate that you're on top, but I want kind of like it that you're on top.

It was, it was interesting to hear him say that. My friends call me, especially with all the race things, racial, you know, they call and say, Oh, Dan is praying for you. You must be running for your life. You must be, you must be, you're hunted, right? I'm like, what do you mean hunted? Yeah, because they're hunting black people. I said, Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait.

What do you mean hunted? I said, no, no, no. I said, no, no, no, no. I'm okay.

This is beautiful country. See, see, I don't have, and I, and I talked, I've got tons of black friends, of course. And sometimes they, I remember getting this one award and some, some, some we'll get this, I'll get this award. And my name was read last. And my friend calls me, do you know what your name was read last? Cause you're black.

I'm like, no, cause I'm S my last name is S. So alphabetically, I'm going to be, I said, no, no. I said, because I don't have the, the history that, that some of my friends do, but it's a, but it's not an experience history. It's a, it's a borrowed history. There's no black man here. Who's, who's ever been a slave in a, so, so, and there's no white man who's ever owned slaves that is alive here today, but yet in Africa, we still own slaves. We still have slaves.

Slavery is not an American invention. And, and, and so, and so for me here, this is a beautiful country and, and the, the freedoms when I'm stopped by the police. Yes. I, sometimes I walk into the grocery, into a jewelry store with my wife. She's white. Of course, sometimes they look at her more in, they think she's the one going to buy and, and maybe I shouldn't be there. I've had that, but I don't go like, so, so she goes and picks this stone and she likes to do this. She says, and cause they don't think that we arrived together. And she'll say, honey, should I get this one?

Then all of a sudden they look at me like, oh, he's paying. But I don't go like, yeah, you see, it's me. No, I'm like, I understand because based on the conditioning, this, this, this again, exposure. So, so is this, is this a racist country? Absolutely not. Is there historic racism? Yes, of course.

The books. Yes. When a cop stops me, I'm not thinking racism. I'm like, oh, I probably fit a profile, a profile of, and then when he comes and is nervous around me, it's because there's numbers that show that people like me could do more. He doesn't know. So I don't go like, I, I, I, I, well, here's my, cause I want to get home. I want to go home, go home.

So, so here's my license. He's, are you okay? How are you doing officer? I'm pleasant.

And I have never had problems. I drive a nicer car. And so I, if I'm watched, I understand.

I don't go into, because I have lived an experience that is far worse. And so I, I, I, I appreciate the wealth of America. I see what this country, there's no country like this, Lee. I know that for a fact, there's no country that offers these unsurpassed and matched freedoms and opportunities like this country does. And let's talk last about what, what you hope and pray for America and, and some of the things you worry about for, for the country that adopted you and that you call home. I worry about the loss of, of some of the things that made this country amazing.

In fact, amazing. In fact, when we talk with my in-laws, my, my, my English parents are still alive and they're from Romania and, and they, they run away from that. So we, we talk almost commiserating. You're like, Oh my God, this is how, cause they talked. He says, he says, they said, Dennis, I remember when they told us, cause it's Romania. I remember when they first said, they came to my mother and my, my father-in-law said they came to my mom and they said, you have the shop.

We have to, we have to get, we have, the government has to take over your shop because it's the biggest and we need to make sure there's equal distribution of wealth. So they took it. He said, I remember that. I remember when they offered us free healthcare.

We were so excited. He said, but that created this, this craziness where few people had the power. And, and, and, and they said, and, and, and they, and so we're terrifyingly listen to some of the news and we watch the news and we're like, this is what we run away from.

We run away from, we fled our countries to come here to experience certain freedoms, which are fleeting. We are forgetting about the, the, the, the, I worry about God, even God, the place for God, the place, because if there's no absolute truth, see in my tribe, I've written a book called Timeless Truths and Africa, the richest proverb, richest cultures were preserved by these sayings, these proverbs. And it's at the fireplaces that we learned what a man does, a woman does, men, they care, they, they protect, they treat their wives. We learn these things. That's, that's lost.

It's getting lost here because there's, everything is subjective. I want to be this kind of man. I don't want to work. Really? Yeah. Cause I don't want to work.

Sorry. So, so, so it, so that, that is now becoming mainstreamed. I've got a son who's in college.

He just finished college actually. And my daughter said, daddy, daddy, the things we're learning that America is, is not great. That our history is, you know, every country has history, has every country, like slavery has been in every culture.

Africans own slaves, like I said. So, so yes, we have a path that's gone here, but there's no country, 200 years. Look what America has done in 200 years.

It's an incredible experiment. So we worry that, that we are borrowing too much of, we're idealizing what other countries have and we're losing what's made us great. There's no country as benevolent as this. We're good people here. There is no country quite like this.

And I don't see any on the horizon because, because it's getting crazier out there. I think right now, the values that made us, oh yeah. If there's ever been a time for us to trumpet these values, it's now. America, the free, the brave, the home of the brave and the free.

Hallelujah. And you've been listening to Dr. Dennis Impebewe and what a storyteller and what a story to tell. And what a perspective to see America, the lens with which he views this country as an immigrant from someplace like Uganda or his bride coming from a communist block country and having to deal with the false promises of the regime that took over her country. And for those who have faith, oh my goodness, Dr. Dennis in the end was happy in Uganda, in Uganda. And by the way, to learn more about Dr. Dennis, who now has PhDs has co-founded an international college in Chicago, which quickly grew to 22 extension campuses in eight countries. And he's also founded a global missionary organization and started one of the largest and fastest growing fully accredited ministry training institutions in the world.

And this is what he's managed to do with his life in this country. Dr. Dennis Impebewe's story here on Our American Stories. Hey, Janiece Torres here.

And I'm Austin Hankwitz. We're the hosts of Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories produced by Ruby Studio and Intuit QuickBooks. Catch up on seasons one and two and join us for a brand new season of the podcast as we talk to small business owners about how they manage and grow their businesses with the help of platforms like Intuit QuickBooks.

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