33 pages • 1-hour read
Kisses from Katie
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Themes
Wealth and Spiritual Poverty Versus Poverty and Spiritual Wealth
One of the major themes throughout Katie’s story is the intimate connection between spiritual wealth and physical poverty. She first realizes this idea when she goes back to the United States after having lived in Uganda for an extended period. While in Uganda, she was relatively poor, but she felt spiritually rich. Since she didn’t have the comforts of a modern Western life, such as abundant food, entertainment, or widely available medical care, she put her faith in God to provide the things that she and her family needed. Instead of turning to the world for sustenance, she relied on her faith to get her through each moment.
However, when she returned to the United States for her semester of college, she fell into the entrapment of comfort. She tried to entertain herself with parties, ate an abundance of food, and bought material goods, but she quickly realized that when she readily had all these needs met, she didn’t turn to God for anything. As a result, she was physically wealthy but felt spiritually impoverished. In contemplating this situation, she says, “I’ve had people ask me why I think Africa is so impoverished, but these children are not poor. I, as a person who grew up wealthy, am. I put value in things. These children, having no things, put value in God” (26).
While in the United States, she can’t reconcile or justify the way people in the West live, since she knows firsthand how people in Uganda live. For her, it becomes a matter of faith: “I began to realize huge flaws and gaps in my faith, a wide chasm between what I proclaimed to believe and how I was actually living” (30). This conviction is what leads to her decision to live in Uganda permanently. Not only does she feel called by God to help the people of Uganda, but she also believes that Uganda is where she feels the most spiritually fulfilled: “I felt it was easier to cling to Jesus in that state of having nothing than it was to cling to Him while surrounded by the abundance of America” (132).
People’s Need for a Savior
Katie’s actions are motivated by the understanding that along with people’s physical needs, they spiritually need a savior. In fact, in Katie’s eyes, the need for a savior is as essential as a person’s need for food, water, and medicine. When she sees the neediest people in Uganda’s poorest villages, she appreciates “being surrounded by the raw human need that seems to be on display everywhere, a true reminder of our immense need for a God and Savior” (140). When Katie adopts children, or sponsors them through Amazima, she is showing people love so that they can understand the love of Christ.
In the United States, Katie realizes that people become spiritually complacent in their comfort. If they’re sad, they watch a comedy to forget their troubles. If they’re hungry, they go to their pantry or store to eat. They do these things in place of seeking God. However, in a place like Uganda, where the necessities of life are scarce, people turn to God: “Their neediness keeps them so dependent on God” (141). In a wealthy country like America, it’s easy for people to forget that they need a savior because they live in the false assumption that they can do everything on their own. But when all those comforts are stripped away, like they are in Uganda, people can clearly see their need for a savior.
Breaking the Cycle of Poverty through Education
Amazima’s mission is to provide the neediest children in Uganda with an education and educational resources. Katie believes that education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty. In Uganda, the price of sending a child to school is often more than the cost of electricity or water—amenities that most families can’t afford anyway. To compound this problem, many Ugandan children don’t have parents to help them pay for their school fees. If children can’t get an education, then they will be bound to live in the same poverty that their parents did; thus, the cycle perpetuates for generations.
Katie believes that “the key to eternal life for these children in Jesus, but the key to a better life here and now is education” (35). By helping the poorest children in Uganda to attend school, she is simultaneously showing them the love of Christ while also empowering them to one day make a difference in their community. So many children in Uganda, especially those who have been orphaned or abandoned, don’t know what it looks like to be loved. When Katie gives them food, medicine, and an education, she hopes that her doing so will show them that they are immensely loved as individuals and that there is hope for their future—both physically and spiritually.
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