This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: the account is without sources late enough to confirm formal Ugandan adoption, which existing sources state would have occurred in November 2014 at earliest. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(February 2020)
American missionary and author
Katie Davis Majors
Occupation
missionary, writer
Citizenship
United States
Genre
Gen Y/Millennial Memoir
Subject
Christian missions, child-/family-centric
Yearsactive
2007-present
Notable works
Founding of AMI (2008), and Amazima Primary School (2020);[1][third-party source needed] authorship of Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption (2011) and Daring to Hope: Finding God's Goodness in the Broken and the Beautiful (2017)
Katie Davis Majors is an American missionary and author who established a mission in Jinja, Uganda in 2007.[2] Her work led to the founding of a school and provision of other services in Jinja, which now operate under the auspices of the Tennessee-based not-for-profit, Amazima Ministries International (AMI).
Davis was born in 1989. Her mother, Mary Pat Davis,[3] and her father, Scott Davis, raised her in Nashville.[4] She is the family's oldest child, and has a younger brother named Bradley.[citation needed] In Brentwood, Tennessee,[3] Davis was a homecoming queen of her high school, as well as class president.[5] Her intention after high school was to study nursing in college.[3]
Missionary work
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(February 2020)
Eighteen-year-old Davis went to Uganda for a year-long mission trip;[5] during her senior year of high school.[4] While there, she did mission work in the city of Jinja on the shores of Lake Victoria,[6] which had a population of approximately 85,000 at the time.[7] Jinja is 50 miles from Kampala,[8][9] the capital of Uganda, which had a population of more than 2 million people at the time.[10] Davis wrote that she fell in love with the Ugandan people and their culture, and decided to go back to Uganda in the summer of 2007 (after graduating from high school).[11]
Davis, at 19, was helping kindergarten children in Canaan Children's Home, an orphanage in Jinja.[6] As described by Bob Smietana for USA Today,
"Davis... noticed many of her students were dropping out because either their parents had died or they could no longer afford school fees. Some parents were dropping off their children at orphanages because they could not provide basics like food and shelter. So Davis persuaded her parents and other friends to donate money for school, meals and medical care for the children."[6]
Eventually, this led to the creation of a sponsorship program that paired children with American and other donors who would donate the $300 needed annually to cover the child's school, medical, and food costs.[citation needed] Davis, her family and supporters[citation needed] founded Amazima Ministries Internation (AMI) in 2008[2][5] - a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization based in Franklin, Tennessee.[12][13] The name "Amazima", means "Truth" in the native Lugandan language of Uganda.[14][15] In the fall of 2008, Davis fulfilled a promise to her parents and returned to the U.S. to enrol in nursing college. Her return was short lived; stating that "she quickly realized she missed the [children] too much." She left college and returned to Uganda.[3] During 2009–2010, Davis and Amazima initiated the Masese Feeding Program serving 1200, as well as the Masese Beading Circle,[1][third-party source needed] for the Jinja District community in a fishing region on Lake Victoria.[16] The Masese area in eastern Ugandan is a "small community of displaced people on the outskirts of Jinja", to its east on the Lake.[16][17] It is known for its high incidence of child abductions (and even the giving over of children, driven by poverty), including where unregistered healers ("witch doctors") and sacrifice are involved.[17][18] As of July 2011, Amazima was described as drawing on donors from the United States to feed more than a thousand children each weekday, while providing programs aimed at community health, and helping 400 to attend school.[3][19] As of October 2011, Amazima was being described as
"an organization based in Jinja that sponsors Ugandan school children, provides vocational opportunities for poor Ugandans, and distributes food and health care services to the families of more than 1,600 children in Masese, a nearby slum."[20]
As of October 2012, Amazima was staffed by a dozen Ugandans and operating on a $700,000 annual budget, providing daily meals to about 2,000 children and managing the sponsorship of about 500 students.[6] As of 2016, the organization was managing the sponsorships of 600 through its Scholarship Program, and was providing medical care to more than 4300.[1][third-party source needed] In addition to managing sponsorships and vocational opportunities, and distributing food and health care,[19][20] Amazima established a farming outreach program,[19] and a specific program to sell the paper and glass bead jewelry manufactured by Ugandans in its Masese Beading Circle to customers in the United States and elsewhere.[14][bettersourceneeded][21][third-party source needed][19] By March 2018, its program to provide meals was still serving 1200 individuals daily, and the student sponsorships had grown to include around 800 children.[19]
As of July 2011, Davis was employed as the director of Amazima, employment that she uses to support herself and those in her care.[3][needs update]
Personal care for orphans
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(February 2020)
Within six years of returning to Uganda, Davis had taken 13 Ugandan orphans into her care,[6][3] The journey began in January 2008, as Davis described it to NPR,[3] following the rainstorm collapse of a mud hut that housed three orphans.[3] The collapse, near where she was working in Jinja,[6] led Davis to seek out relatives of the girls to take them in, and failing that, to have them live with her (rather than being consigned to the already overcrowded orphanage).[3] Within two years, a further ten girls who had lost parents to AIDS or had been abused or abandoned joined.[3] Davis described her quandary, thus:
"My first instinct [was] not, 'Oh, a baby - let me adopt it!' Because I think, best-case scenario, they're raised in Uganda by Ugandans... But knowing there [was] nowhere else for them to go, I [didn't] find myself capable of sending them away."[3]
In the period that followed, Davis was named the court-appointed caregiver for the girls,[3] and by October 2011, age 22-years-old, she began a process that would allow her to adopt them at age 25 (the minimum age required by Ugandan law).[20][3] As of October 2017, she describes in an interview as having "lost a child to an unfair system", and in care of fourteen children.[22] By 2022, she had adopted 13 children.[11]
Davis documented her experiences in a decade-long blog that began the year of her arrival (through 2017) - entitled "Kisses from Katie".[23] She also wrote two memoirs that became New York Times bestsellers: Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption (2011), and Daring to Hope: Finding God's Goodness in the Broken and the Beautiful (2017).[5][24][25]
Local disapproval
As of July 2011, one local child welfare officer, Caroline Bankusha, had publicly expressed concern over the planned adoption, stating, "Unless the children are placed under a children's ministry or children's home, which she [could] start... it is really bad for someone to have more than five children".[3] Bankusha, while noting the legislated 25-year-old minimum parental age, and the stipulation that parents be "at least 21 years older than the child being adopted", acknowledged that it was within the purview of the deciding judge to allow adoption exceptions were they to deem it as being in the children's best interests.[3]
It has also been suggested that she adopted children with parents and was unwittingly manipulated by Ugandans.[26] The organization No White Saviors has seen Davis's work as an example of double standards in the treatment of local NGOs and white foreigners.[27]
Davis was described by Bonnie Allen of NPR as "a devout Christian who idolizes Mother Teresa."[3]
Davis married Benji Majors in 2015, and took his last name.[28] The Majors gave birth to a first son, Noah, in 2016, a second son Levi in 2018, and were still living in Jinja as of 2022.[2][22][28][11]
The Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF), previously known as the National Resistance Army, is the armed forces of Uganda. From 2007 to 2011, the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated the UPDF had a total strength of 40,000–45,000, consisting of land forces and an air wing. Recruitment to the forces is done annually.
Jinja is a city in the Eastern Region of Uganda, located on the north shore of Lake Victoria.
Iganga is a town in the Eastern Region of Uganda. It is the main municipal, administrative, and commercial center of Iganga District.
Watoto Church, formerly Kampala Pentecostal Church (KPC) is a Pentecostal church headquartered in Kampala, Uganda. Watoto means "the children" in Swahili.
DFCU Bank, registered as the Development Finance Company of Uganda Bank Limited, is a commercial bank in Uganda. It is licensed by the Bank of Uganda (BoU), Uganda's central bank and national banking regulator.
The National Social Security Fund (NSSF), is a quasi-government agency responsible for the collection, safekeeping, responsible investment, and distribution of retirement funds from employees of the private sector in Uganda who are not covered by the Government Retirement Scheme. Participation for both employers and employees is compulsory. The Uganda National Social Security Fund is the largest pension fund in the countries of the East African Community, with total assets of USh18.58 trillion, as of June 2023.
Jessica Rose Epel Alupo, commonly known as Jessica Alupo, is a Ugandan politician who is the ninth and current vice president of Uganda since 2021. She is also an educator, and former military officer. She previously served in the cabinet of Uganda as minister of education between 2011 and 2016. She is also an elected member of parliament as Katakwi District's women's representative.
Jennifer Semakula Musisi is a Ugandan lawyer and public administrator. She is the first City Leader in Residence at Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative at the Ash Center of the Harvard Kennedy School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. She was appointed to this position in January 2019.
Wazalendo Savings and Credit Cooperative Society (WSACCO), also referred to as Wazalendo Sacco, is a savings and credit co-operative society in Uganda. It is an institutional Sacco composed of Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) personnel and their families, UPDF Reserve Forces, and staff of Uganda's Ministry of Defence. WSACCO is affiliated with the Uganda Co-operative Savings and Credit Union Limited and with the Uganda Co-operative Alliance.
The Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) is a government agency mandated to develop and maintain the national roads network, advise the government on general roads policy, contribute to the addressing of national transport concerns, and perform certain other functions. UNRA is charged with, among other things, the selection of contractors, the supervision of construction, the scheduling of maintenance, and the prioritization of national road works.
The Kampala–Jinja Expressway, also known as the Jinja–Kampala Expressway, is a proposed four-lane toll highway in Uganda, linking Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda, with the city of Jinja in the Eastern Region of Uganda.
Beti Olive Namisango Kamya-Turomwe, also known as Betty Kamya and Beti Kamya, is a businesswoman and politician in Uganda, the third-largest economy in the East African Community. She is the Inspector General of Government in Uganda, since 16 July 2021.
Kiira Motors Corporation or KMC is a State Enterprise in Uganda established to champion the Development of the Domestic Automotive Value Chain for job and wealth creation and commercialize the Kiira Electric Vehicle Project. The Equity Partners are the Government of the Republic of Uganda represented by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Office of the President holding 96% of the initial stock and Makerere University holding 4%.
Buwenge General Hospital, also Buwenge Hospital, is a hospital under construction in the Eastern Region of Uganda.
Jane Ruth Aceng is a Ugandan pediatrician and politician. She is the Minister of Health in the Cabinet of Uganda. She was appointed to that position on 6 June 2016. Before that, from June 2011 until June 2016, she served as the Director General of Medical Services in the Ugandan Ministry of Health.
Nakawa Vocational Training Institute (NVTI), is a public vocational training institute operated and administered by the Uganda Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES).
James Mbuzi Nyonyintono Zikusoka, was a Ugandan civil engineer, who served as the Cabinet Minister of Works and Transport from 1971 until 1972.
Lt Col Susan Oruni Lakot, is a Ugandan educator and military officer, who serves as an elected member of parliament representing the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) in the 10th Parliament (2016–2021).
Serving His Children (SHC) is a Christian nonprofit organization, based in southeast Uganda. It was started by Renee Bach in 2009. She at first gave free meals to families in need, then offering free medical treatment for malnourished children along with community support regarding malnourishment. Bach's work has been marred with allegations of recklessness and incompetency. Bach has denied many allegations and stated that she never presented herself as a doctor—as she has no formal training.
1 2 3 4 5 Lederhouse, Natalie (April 2013). "Katie Davis: Building a Legacy". Today's Christian Woman. Retrieved February 14, 2020. I quit my life… I quit college; I quit cute designer clothes and my little yellow convertible; I quit my boyfriend... / Katie Davis, then an 18-year-old senior class president and homecoming queen living in Nashville, Tennessee, quit everything she knew, and chose to leave behind her family and friends in order go to Uganda for a year-long mission trip to follow God's calling on her life. / Now, almost six years later, Katie is the 24-year-old single mother of 13 adopted girls, founder and director of Amazima Ministries, an outreach that reaches hundreds of children in Uganda, and author of Kisses from Katie, a New York Times best seller... Katie has always liked helping people. She was the kind of teenager who loved to spend her free time helping at the local homeless shelter, and getting her friends to help too.
1 2 Smitheram, Esther (4 March 2015). "How one charity [Children on the Edge] is working to prevent child sacrifice in Uganda". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 February 2020. The police cite eastern Uganda as having the highest incidence of child sacrifice cases; and blame the high infiltration of unregistered healers... Masese II, a small community of displaced people on the outskirts of Jinja in eastern Uganda, has suffered many ritual attacks on its children... [A] 2013 report from Humane Africa said that during their four-month fieldwork period from June to September 2012 there has been an average of one sacrifice each week in one of the 25 communities where the research was based.
↑ Police in Uganda note that the highest incidence of abduction and giving over leading to child sacrifice takes place in eastern Uganda, with "Masese II" having "suffered many ritual attacks on its children", see Smitheram, op. cit. Fieldwork performed by Humane Africa in 2012 reported one sacrifice per week per community for the 25 communities they studied, for the four-month June–September study period (ibid.).
1 2 3 4 5 UgCN Staff (March 8, 2018). "15 Christian Women Whose Voices Inspire Lives in Uganda". Uganda Christian News. Kampala, Uganda: Christian Direct Limited. Retrieved February 16, 2020– via UGChristianNews.com. Her ministry sponsors over 800 children, runs a program to feed children, has a program to sell jewelry manufactured by locals which are shipped to customers in the United States, a farming outreach program, a medical outreach program and feeds over 1,200 daily.
1 2 3 Feddes, Morgan (October 25, 2011). "Q & A: Katie Davis on Raising a Dozen Children at 22". ChristianityToday.com. Retrieved February 14, 2020. The 22-year-old has begun the adoption process, but official approval might not come for a few years since Ugandan law requires adoptive parents to be at least 25 years old. Davis is the founder of Amazima Ministries, an organization based in Jinja that sponsors Ugandan school children, provides vocational opportunities for poor Ugandans, and distributes food and health care services to the families of more than 1,600 children in Masese, a nearby slum.
1 2 3 PRH Staff & Majors, Katie Davis (October 2, 2017). "How Katie Davis Majors Held On to Hope and Wrote Her Book"(promotional description, interview). PenguinRandomHouse.com. Retrieved February 16, 2020. I have fourteen children, one of whom is a baby... I lost a child to an unfair system
Gifford, Kathie Lee & Kotb, Hoda (interviewers) and Majors, Katie Davis (interviewee) (October 3, 2017). Giving: Meet the Inspiring Young Woman Who Adopted 13 Girls in Uganda(streaming video). New York, NY: TODAY.com. Event occurs at 00:23, 00:39. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
Majors, Katie (2017). "Katie Majors: author—blogger—speaker". katiemajors.blog. Archived from the original on 6 September 2018. Retrieved February 20, 2020– via web.archive.org. Blog posts from Davis Majors, through 2017.
Majors, Katie & AMI Staff (19 February 2020). "Our Story". Amazima.org. Franklin, TN: Amazima Ministries International (AMI). Retrieved 19 February 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
