What struck the team first was not what they saw in the children, but what they saw in the adults who loved them.
When Back2Back and Trauma Free World staff traveled to a children’s home in Tanzania earlier this year, they quickly realized many of the practices being used were not trauma-informed. The staff was committed and deeply faithful. They were trying their best, but some of the very practices meant to help children were unintentionally causing harm.
Instead of condemning the home, the team extended an invitation: Come to a Trauma Free World training in Kenya. Five staff members came. Throughout much of the training, the Director sat quietly, overwhelmed by what she was learning. Then, through tears, she finally spoke.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years, and I’m begging God to forgive me. I didn’t know I was doing harm.”
No one rushed to answer her. The room sat quietly under the weight of what she had just admitted. But shame did not linger there for long. What slowly filled the room instead was grief, relief, and eventually, hope.
For the first time, caregivers began understanding how trauma shapes a child’s behavior, relationships, and sense of safety. A different kind of care suddenly became possible, one no longer rooted in control or survival, but in connection, regulation, trust, and healing.
That moment has continued to ripple outward.
Pastors began asking whether the children sitting quietly in their pews actually felt safe there. Staff members pursued additional training. Leaders began realizing that loving children is not always the same as understanding what trauma does to them.
And across East Africa, the hunger for this work is growing faster than anyone expected.
In Uganda, Ann has been helping expand Trauma Free World trainings throughout the region. After one gathering in Kampala, representatives from 12 different organizations approached her asking for training for their own teams and communities.
Over time, it became clear these trainings were no longer simply spaces to collect information. They were becoming gatherings of people united around a shared realization: the Church is caring for children carrying pain it does not always fully understand.
Another unexpected opening came when a local woman named Marcie Smith offered to host a training near Kampala. When Ann asked whether she would be willing, Marcie immediately responded: “Yes. How soon?”
As the event approached, invitations continued spreading outward to pastors, ministry leaders, caregivers, and churches. Local pastors were invited to attend free of charge, and momentum quietly began to build across the region.
When Ann arrived in Uganda, local leaders invited her to dinner. Somewhere in the middle of the conversation, Ann shared that Trauma Free World and Back2Back were connected.
The atmosphere shifted almost immediately. Credibility deepened. Doors opened.
That dinner led to meetings with a pastor overseeing 9,000 churches across the region, a leader responsible for children’s ministry throughout the Church of Uganda, and another overseeing mission efforts.
One after another, they responded with the same urgency: “We need this training immediately.”
Soon, Ann was leading the first trauma-informed training sessions with church leaders across East Africa. What is happening now feels bigger than a single event or partnership. The global Church itself is beginning to acknowledge something important: Many vulnerable children and teenagers are carrying distress that ministries are not yet fully equipped to understand.
And instead of turning away from that reality, leaders are leaning in.
Churches are gathering around the TCC Bible study. Pastors are praying together. Ministry leaders are envisioning what it would look like for churches across nations to become places where children feel seen, safe, understood, and supported.
Not just spiritually cared for, but holistically cared for as well.
This work is still growing. East Africa alone needs more trained leaders, more facilitators, and more churches equipped to respond to trauma with wisdom and compassion. But something important has already begun.
Caregivers are no longer asking only: “How do we help children behave?”
They are beginning to ask different questions:
“What happened to this child?”
“How can we help them move toward healing?”
“How do we reflect the heart of God more safely?”
And for children who have spent years surviving, being understood could be the beginning of their own healing.
