Kisses from Katie

One day, while feeding the Masese children, Katie notices a particularly malnourished and sick little boy—he’s so sick that he “looked to be about three years old (but was actually six), with white hair and swollen cheeks” (197). He’s sitting alone in the distance, and when she brings him a plate of food, she notices that he’s covered in infected sores and his skin is peeling off from malnutrition. She searches around for his father, and when he’s found he doesn’t even know his own son’s name (although another nearby child says that his name is Michael).

She takes him home to care for him. Dead skin hangs from his feet as she removes the jiggers, and it’s clear that this little boy has been physically abused and neglected. Despite the excruciating pain of the jigger removal process, Michael remains stoic. After cleaning him up and giving him fresh clothes and shoes, Katie takes him back to his father’s house. In the van, she gives him a toy, and for the first time, “His big brown eyes lit up and a wide, happy grin overtook his face. It was as though he had held joy inside for all of his brief life—and could at last express it” (199).

When Katie checks on Michael in a few weeks, he’s worse than he was before. She realizes that the only way to save his life is for him to come live with her for a while so that she can nurse him back to health. During this same time, a hopeless woman in Masese pleads with Katie to take her dying infant niece. Katie takes her to the hospital and then into her home, and she names her Patricia after her mother. After nursing Michael back to health, she is devastated to take him back to his family, not knowing if they will care for him properly, even though she’s given them many lessons on how to do so. At first she feels disheartened, wondering why God would allow her to love children who might not survive, but she’s reminded that “one is enough. It is enough that this one is feeling His love and that love is eternal” (204).

“One Day…Tuesday, March 9, 2010”

Katie contemplates how even though she can’t help every single person, she can at least help one at a time, and one is always worth it. 

At this point, Katie has “fourteen children, ten dogs (because one of our dogs had eight puppies), two goats, one monkey, sweet Christine, and me” all living in her house (211). Just when Katie thinks she can’t possibly take any more people into her home, an Amazima employee brings her sister and her sister’s infant daughter, Happy, to Katie’s front door. Happy is barely breathing, and Katie rushes her to the hospital. Despite Katie’s efforts and prayers, Although she’s sad, Katie is also glad that Happy is with the Lord. She’s mad at the government, however; the hospitals are supposed to be free, but when Happy’s mother first brought her in she was turned away. Katie is heartbroken and frustrated knowing that Happy could have potentially been saved had the hospital seen her sooner.

Katie is renewed with hope when she remembers, “We aren’t really called to save the world, not even to save one person; Jesus does that. We are just called to love with abandon” (214). She recalls the Mayernick family, a couple whom she befriended while attending college. When she went back to Uganda, they stayed in touch, and the Mayernicks visited her often. A very sick and malnourished toddler, Josephine, needed a home. After much communication and prayer, Katie encouraged the Mayernicks to adopt Josephine, and they agreed—even after finding out that Josephine was HIV positive.

“One Day…November 20, 2009”

Katie admits that even though her heart breaks for the suffering of all children, it especially breaks when her own children suffer. She earnestly desires to extend that feeling of sadness that she has for her own children to every child she encounters.

One of her youngest daughters, Grace, always protests bath time, but she finally gives in after Katie sternly enforces it. Although at first she loathes it, “By the end of the scenario, Grace usually enjoys her bath so much she doesn’t want to get out of the tub” (226). She likens Grace’s reaction to the way she often is with God: He always knows what’s best for her, but she often protests, desiring to do what she wants instead. Once she gives in and does His will, it’s always amazing.

She applies this idea to the moment when she realizes that she is supposed to break up with her high school sweetheart, who still lives in the United States. Although they love each other, she knows that they are on different paths—namely, he’s staying in the United States, and she’s staying in Uganda.

“One Day…Monday, November 16, 2009”

Oftentimes, especially after breaking up with her boyfriend, Kate feels sad for missing out of the lives of those she loves back in the United States. But even amidst the sorrow, the joy she has in Christ shines bright as she knows that she’s doing God’s will in Uganda. 

A 65-year-old woman named Grace lives in Masese all alone because her husband and children have died. She has AIDS, is blind, and sleeps on the dirt floor in a leaky-roofed shack. Grace prays to God to give her a sign that He loves her. Not aware of Grace’s prayer, Katie hears about the old, sick woman from a friend while in Masese, and she stops by to check on her. After embracing and praying for Grace, Katie learns that she is her answered prayer.

After that meeting, Katie and her children visit Grace regularly. Grace quickly regains some of her health, and unlike before, she is now able to move around freely. After much deliberation and prayer, Katie asks Grace if she wants to move in, as everyone has come to see her as their grandmother. She declines the offer because she doesn’t want to be a burden. Instead, many women from the beading group offer to check in with Grace throughout the day to make her meals and keep her company.

After a short time, Grace’s health once again declines—along with AIDS, she also has tuberculosis. Katie moves her out of Masese and into a home next door to her. Despite all the love she and her daughters pour on Grace, “we couldn’t change the fact that our jja ja was near the end of her life” (244). Katie must go to the United States, but she arranges for Grace to be put in the hospital while she’s away. She comes back just before Grace dies, and she’s able to spend some of her last moments with her. Even though she’s devastated by the loss of Grace, she’s thankful for everything she learned from the moments they shared.

“One Day…July 20, 2010”

As she reflects on the fact that she’s 20 years old with “fourteen children and four hundred more who depend on me” (246), Katie thinks, “Courage is not about the path. It is about taking the first step” (247). 

Katie equates real courage with loving unconditionally. She admits that life in Uganda never gets easier, and she doesn’t ever feel immune to the darkness and devastation around her, but she stays because “I realize that the hard places are good because it is there that I gained more wisdom, and though with wisdom comes sorrow, on the other side of sorrow is joy” (252). She tries to keep this in mind when one of her youngest adopted daughters, Jane, is legally taken away from her by her biological mother—even though Jane was previously declared legally abandoned. Katie is heartbroken, but she clings to the hope that Jesus is coming back one day—and that is the true hope in this life.

“One Day…Monday, October 5, 2009”

Katie recalls a young boy named John who had a hurt foot. He wasn’t worried because he knew that when he saw Katie, she would take care of it. She thinks about the blind faith of the children around her, and she longs “for my faith in the Lord to be so trusting” (262).