Before heading out this morning, our team had the opportunity to take a boat ride and go on a tour of the source of the Nile River. I was super excited about this because who would have thought that I’d have the chance to visit—(let alone go on a boat ride) the world’s longest river!!! It was such a fun and neat experience! I loved it!:)
After our boat ride our team went to Amazima Ministries to spend time with Katie Davis and the many children in her feeding program. I was so excited to see Katie and to see what her life was like in person…Prior to our trip I had read Katie’s story and had seen pictures through her blog at: www.amazima.org Her blog is so great, so I would really encourage you to check it out and get to know more about Katie and her ministry. She also has a personal blog, which is where I’ve done most of my reading from and you can find this blog at: www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com She is such an inspiring girl and as a heart to change the world by loving and reaching out to God’s precious children. So, knowing that I was going to finally meet her and be able to spend time with all of the precious children she cares for was SUCH an honor for me! She truly IS CHANGING the WORLD to all of the orphans and children that come into her life!!! Also, let me add that she is around 23 years old—I think that’s what she had told us when we were visiting her—Not sure when her birthday is but I do know she is 23 years old…Ummm, that’s how old I AM! The start of her journey began when she was a senior in high school!! WOW! :) I’m so proud of her for following her heart and for doing God’s will at such a young age!! Please fake just a few minutes to watch this video below. This will give you such a great idea of what Katie is all about and it will also give you a little introduction to her book that’s coming out soon, Kisses from Katie. I am SO EXCITED to purchase this!!!
Here are some pictures of our time with Katie and her children. She has a feeding program that she does and these children come from all over to get fed just one meal—They may walk many miles…for just ONE meal—They would do ANYTHING…for one good, healthy, solid meal. While here in America we over eat constantly—Why do you need to stuff our faces? Why can’t we be thankful and eat just the right amount of food and portion size? Why do we have to always order more than we need and THROW AWAY perfectly good tasting food?!? While these children STARVE….and ACHE with HUNGER?? WHY….I don’t understand and I don’t get it! When Katie feeds these children as many as 300-400 children arrive to receive her food and to receive her unconditional LOVE. As Katie states in her video… “As someone who calls themselves a Christian, it is very apparent that you are to love the Lord with all your heart and you are to love your neighbor as yourself…And like myself doesn’t want to be starving—And so I don’t want other people in the world to be starving.” How POWERFUL is that statement? WOW! Go Katie!!:) If you watched the video you would also see that she is a mother of 14 beautiful girls—How wonderful and remarkable is THAT!!!
As soon as we got there we did worship with the children. It was really so incredible! There were SO many children and they were ALL so respectful and content with listening to a little bible story and with singing worship songs. Ahh..this was really another one of my favorite times!! Plus, it helped that I had sweet little Jane sitting and cuddling on my lap the whole time! :) If you look at Katie’s personal blog and go back quite a few stories by clicking on “Read Older Posts” you will be able to read and learn more about Jane.
Picture Below: All of the children waiting in line patiently--And I'm in the back with little miss Jane! :)
Picture Below: They prepare, package & fill a ton of bags w/ food for the children to bring back to their families in the village.
All of these kids continue to amaze me with how well they listen and how respectful they are!
The next two pictures are pictures of Jenny feeding & serving all of these children. She is from Alabama & was just such a fun girl to have on our team. She is also a photographer so she has so many awesome pictures from our time in Africa--All of the pictures with the black outline are pictures she snapped!:) But these next 2 pictures I took of her while she was helping to feed these children--SO cool!!!
These next pictures show the wonderful playgound Katie was able to provide for these children! She had received a very high donation from someone back in the U.S. that said something a long these lines--"Please use this money for something fun...something the kids will enjoy!" So, they built a playground!!! :) I was SO in love with this and couldn't help but smile at the JOY that I saw in all of the children from being able to act like a kid and play on the playgound. It was GREAT!!!
Below is a picture of Shelby with Katie & one of her little daughters! Katie was just leaving for the afternoon to go bring her home to take a little nap! :)
Today was so wonderful to finally meet Katie! It was just so awesome to me being able to see everything in person! I pray and encourage you all to go out and purchase Kisses from Katie! I know a lot of—if not all the proceeds from the book will go to her Amazima Ministries! What a simple and fun way to help support and build-up her ministry!!
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