Kisses from Katie

Although Katie feels complete and at home in Uganda, she feels bad for not having fulfilled her promise to her father to complete college in the United States. Out of this sense of duty to her father, she returns for college, but she feels as if she’s left her heart in Uganda with her adopted daughters. While at college, she tries to do normal college things, like have parties and go on dates with her boyfriend, but she realizes she can’t be her old self anymore. The “American extravagance” she sees all around her makes her feel “culture shock. How can I feel such disconnect with the place I was born, raised, and for eighteen years called home?” (121).

Through all the homework and work and missing her children, she constantly believes that God will provide what she needs to get through. This is especially true when an accountant friend tells her that Amazima isn’t doing well financially. Essentially, they need “$70,000 to pay off the debt from 2008” and send the children to school in 2009 (126). Katie tries to pray instead of worry, and within only a few months they raise more money than they needed.

“One Day…September 25, 2008”