This book made me feel terrible about myself. Not that it is a bad book. It is absolutely lovely; basically a long beautiful prayer of thanksgiving to Jesus as well as an exhortation to all Christians to follow Jesus' command to love one another. It is amazing that it is on the New Times Bestsellers list. It is very well written. But as I read it, being the self-absorbed person I am, I felt more and more defeated and more and more inadequate. This young lady, only 22, I think, at the publishing of this book, is light years ahead of me in terms of faith, trust in Jesus, courage, devotion, selflessness and wisdom. It made it very hard to finish this book. Whenever I picked it up I realized my own littleness, my unworthiness. That is not what the author, Katie Davis, wants to convey to the reader. I think she wants to inspire, but instead I just felt crushingly inadequate. But actually, I think that is good for me. I think I need to be shaken from my self-centered complacency. I need it badly. So even though painful, I do think it was a deeply worthwhile book to read.
Katie Davis comes from a wealthy suburb outside Nashville, TN. She decided she wanted to do something different for her senior year Christmas break, so she googled around with the word orphanage and volunteer trying to find some internship she could do for three weeks. The first response to her inquiries came from an orphanage in Uganda. Katie's mother didn't want her to travel to Africa alone, so she went along as well. Katie fell in love with the orphan children of Uganda. Uganda has many orphans as civil war, poverty and aids has dealt a devastating blow to that country. The median age is 14. In many cases, children are trying to raise children because the parents have all died of aids. The poverty is appalling.
The three weeks changed Katie Davis forever. She got an offer to come back to teach Kindergarten for a year. She talked her parents into letting her have a gap year between high school and college. So after she finished high school, she went off for a year. But Katie was head over heels in love. With Jesus. With the children. With Uganda. She rents a big house and starts collecting homeless children until she is the adopted mother of 14. She begins programs to feed hundreds of hungry children. She teaches them about Jesus. She prays over them as she bathes the children or rushes them to the hospital trying to save them from starvation. She is a powerhouse and galvanizes others to help her. She works at completely trusting Jesus. She works at not being revolted at chiggers that bury themselves in the children's feet and must be dug out, or rats that crawl into her oven and accidentally get baked. At diapers full of worms. She is amazing! And she gives it all to Christ. She is like an American Mother Teresa.
Katie's ministry is called Amazima Ministries. She has a blog as well with the same title as her book: KissesfromKatie
Here is a youtube video of this amazing, Christian young lady.
This is the second book I've read recently about a woman trying to make a difference in Africa.
Two definite thumbs up for this book. For more reviews go to 52 Books.
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