[2] Her work led to the founding of a school and provision of other services in Jinja, which now operate under the auspices of the Tennessee-based not-for-profit, Amazima Ministries International (AMI).
[10] Davis wrote that she fell in love with the Ugandan people and their culture, and decided to go back to Uganda in the summer of 2007 (after graduating from high school).
[6] As described by Bob Smietana for USA Today,"Davis... noticed many of her students were dropping out because either their parents had died or they could no longer afford school fees.
"[6] Eventually, this led to the creation of a sponsorship program that paired children with American and other donors who would donate the $300 needed annually to cover the child's school, medical, and food costs.
[16][17] It is known for its high incidence of child abductions (and even the giving over of children, driven by poverty), including where unregistered healers ("witch doctors") and sacrifice are involved.
[17][18] As of July 2011, Amazima was described as drawing on donors from the United States to feed more than a thousand children each weekday, while providing programs aimed at community health, and helping 400 to attend school.
"[20] As of October 2012, Amazima was staffed by a dozen Ugandans and operating on a $700,000 annual budget, providing daily meals to about 2,000 children and managing the sponsorship of about 500 students.
[1][independent source needed] In addition to managing sponsorships and vocational opportunities, and distributing food and health care,[19][20] Amazima established a farming outreach program,[19] and a specific program to sell the paper and glass bead jewelry manufactured by Ugandans in its Masese Beading Circle to customers in the United States and elsewhere.
[3] The collapse, near where she was working in Jinja,[6] led Davis to seek out relatives of the girls to take them in, and failing that, to have them live with her (rather than being consigned to the already overcrowded orphanage).
[23] She also wrote two memoirs that became New York Times bestsellers: Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption (2011), and Daring to Hope: Finding God's Goodness in the Broken and the Beautiful (2017).