Book Review: Kisses From Katie by Katie Davis

Book Title: Kisses From Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption 

Author: Katie Davis

Publisher: Howard Books

Publish Date: July 1, 2009 

Summary: What would cause an eighteen-year-old senior class president and home-coming queen from Nashville, Tennessee, give up everything to move to Africa? Go against her parent's wishes, hurt her brother, and leave her boyfriend? God. God and His knowledge of what's truly best.

This is Katie's story!

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

Luke 9:24

When Katie Davis went on a two week missions trip in Uganda she fell in love. The people. The need. The hope. The desperation.. She felt the need to make a difference. When that two week trip becomes a full year of work in Uganda Katie finds herself in the midst of immense poverty. Children wearing rags, starving, dying. Crying for help. 

But what can one person do against such poverty? Katie Davis found the answer. One small thing at a time. You can't change the world in one day, with one deed, or one person. But you can make small changes, one at a time, and they grow into something bigger.

Katie has founded several programs over the years. She started a sponsorship program that now pays for over 700 children's schooling fees. She feels that schooling can change Africa and it's people for the better. She also founded Amazima ("truth" in the native Luganda language) Ministries International which tries to meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the Ugandan people. She started the Masese Feeding Outreach which feeds 1,200 children Monday-Friday. This program keeps the children from begging on the streets. Her final program (to the present) is for the women of Masese. She taught them to make jewelry from homemade beads. They sell them to Katie, Katie then sells them through Amazima. These women can now buy food for their children.

Katie is now mother to 13 daughters. They were brought to her one at a time. Each time it was one deed. One day. One selfless act. But those added up and now 13 little girls don't have to worry about where to live, what to eat, or if they will survive another day. They are fed, bathed, and loved.

Violence: Katie describes the suffering she see's in Uganda. She describes the children; with sores, blisters, jiggers (a parasitic insect that burrows itself into the soles of your feet), and protruding stomachs. 

She tells the story of a mother who got her children drunk so they wouldn't feel the pain of hunger.

Sexual Content: When Katie first arrives in Africa for her year long missions trip her father worries about her safety because of the look men gave her or the way they spoke to her. 

Katie talks about her boyfriend. She described the lonely feelings she has. She also talks about the pain she felt when she broke up with him.

My Thoughts: This book was amazing! I was hooked by the intro! Katie's story is captivating. My dream for years has been to move to Africa. When I found this book I was beyond thrilled. My plan is to go to college and get a teaching degree. After that I hope to make my move to Africa. I'm not sure if it will be a few months, a few years, or, well, forever. That's God's decision.

Something Katie mentions in her book really got me thinking. She said that there are about 164 million needy children in the world. There are 21 billion people who say they are Christians. If 8% of those people adopted ONE child, there would be no statistics left! No statistics! Get's ya thinkin, huh?

Final Rating: 5/5

Recommendations: I would recommend this book to anyone! Girls, boys. Men, women. Kids, adults. This book is a must read for any household.

This book may be geared more towards women just because Katie is a woman. Her thoughts and feelings would probably be better understood by a fellow woman. But that doesn't mean guys won't like this book! :)