group of young black children playing in a grassy area
Jade Small
Jade Small
February 18, 2022 ·  4 min read

23-Year-Old Single Woman Adopts 13 Kids to Devote Her Life to Them, Births Her Own Baby Soon After

Earth angels. Ever heard of them? These are people who selflessly help and assist others with no gain for themselves. You may have encountered such a person while experiencing a struggle in your own life, and you have probably read about people like this many times. One such earth angel is Katie Davis, and, this is her story.

Katie was 18 years old and living a typical teenage girl life. She drove a convertible, was homecoming queen, and had plans to study nursing when she left school. However, life had other plans for Katie, extraordinary plans.

December 2006

In December of 2006, Katie traveled to Uganda. She was 18 at the time and says that she knew she would return. The culture and the people were enough to convince her of that. It was less than a year later that she went back, and she never left. She devoted her life as a missionary ever since.

Katie worked at an orphanage in Jinja where she taught kindergarten-aged children. And this was just the beginning for her life in helping those in need. A hut collapsed during a rainstorm one day in 2008, it housed three AIDS orphans. Katie tried to find family of the children, but to no avail. Instead of placing them in another orphanage, Katie took in the three girls herself. Fast forward 18 months and Katie had another 10 girls come to live with her. Each of the girls was from a situation that needed saving, either they were children of parents with AIDS, had been abandoned or abused. Katie was now the “mother” to 13 children.

My first instinct is not, ‘oh, a baby — let me adopt it!’ Because I think, best-case scenario, they’re raised in Uganda by Ugandans. But knowing there is nowhere else for them to go, I don’t find myself capable of sending them away.”

Katie David and her 13 adopted daughters
 facebook.com/KatieinUganda

Read: Pregnant Teen Chose Adoption – 33 Years Later, She Reunites with Her Son

Katie says God brought her to Uganda

Katie is a Christian and feels that God is the reason she ever found Uganda. She believes that God sent her there for a reason, and it’s hard not to agree with her.

“I think that’s definitely something that I was made for. God just designed me that way because he already knew that this is what the plan was for my life — even though I didn’t.”

Katie says that the people who work inside the orphanages are constantly changing. What this means is that if a child forms a strong bond with anyone, the chance is, they will end up leaving eventually. This makes things hard on the children. Katie says: “Even if the girls form a relationship with one of the aunties or mommas, or whatever they call them at the orphanage, that momma might leave.”

Adopting the girls was no easy task. In Uganda, it is not a simple thing to adopt a child. In fact, you need to be 21 years older than the child you wish to adopt AND be over the age of 25. Luckily, however, if a Judge found it to be in the Childs best interest, he could override the rule.

Read: Couple adopts 7 siblings in foster care after parents die in car crash

Katie found love in Uganda, too

Katie had adopted the children all on her own, making her a single mother. However, she eventually met the love of her life, Benji Majors. It turned out that Benji was actually from Katie’s hometown, however, they had never met one another prior to this. In 2015, the young couple got married. On her blog Katie spoke about her relationship with Benji.

“At first I was hesitant, but while Benji was patient, God was faithfully working on my heart. I watched him teach Bible studies and disciple men and fix my kids’ bikes. We laughed over coffee and all the crazy things that are life here. He taught me more and more about the love of Jesus, in his words, and in his example. He captured my heart.” 

Katie Davis and her daughters
Stylianos Papardelas

Katie says that the girls love Benji too, and that they were bridesmaids at their wedding. She says that he plays a vital role in their lives as a father and caregiver.

My husband’s love is just another way God has chosen to pour out His extravagant love on me, another constant reminder that He rejoices over me, and over each one of our daughters. I watch them come alive under the loving gaze of their new father, I hear the delight and the certainty in their voices as they call ‘Dad’.” 

Katie says she would change nothing

When people ask her why she would want to adopt so many children at a young age, she simply replies that God is the one who brought them to her. But, her 13 adopted children are not her only children. In 2016, Katie and Benji welcomed their own little one. Their first biological child who they named Noah. By 2018, Katie had 14 children aged 2 to 22 and together with her husband they run a non-profit which helps with the education of over 400 Ugandan children and provides over 1.600 families with food. Amazima Ministries also helps to provide work for those in need as well as health services.

Keep Reading: Mom’s Boyfriend Interrupts Family Photo Shoot To Tell Her Daughter He Adopted Her

Sources

  1. Meet the inspiring young woman who adopted 13 girls in Uganda.” Today. Kathie Lee and Hoda. October 2017
  2. In Uganda, American Becomes Foster Mom To 13 Girls.” NPR. Bonnie Allen. July 2011
  3. Amazima