Katie Davis, the young Christian who has become a legal foster mother to 13 Ugandan girls, is one of eight semi-finalists in Glamour magazine’s “Women of the Year Readers’ Choice Award.”
“Katie’s devout commitment to Christ and her zeal for mission work is just the type of example young women in America need,” said Jonathan Merkh, publisher of Howard Books. “While Katie herself may not want or need this award, I think it would benefit our culture for her to be named Glamour‘s Readers’ Choice Winner. I want everyone to vote.”
She is author of the New York Times best-selling book Kisses from Katie (Howard Books), which chronicles her life in Uganda and her desire to life a in service to God.
“I have to laugh a little when people consider my life radical because I do ‘ministry,’” she says. “Our very lives, these are our ministries, and every aspect of them are our acts of worship.”
Davis, who was highlighted in last October’s Charisma magazine, fell in love with Uganda’s people as a high school senior during a three-week trip with her mother to volunteer at an orphanage there. She moved there in 2007 after an invited to teach kindergarten at an orphanage.
She is currently fostering 13 young girls, one of which has cerebral palsy, and plans to start adopting them when she turns 25—the minimum age required under Ugandan adoption laws.
The 23-year-old is also the director of her nonprofit organization dubbed Amazima Ministries, which provides schooling and food for impoverished children in Uganda.
She was recently featured in People magazine, spotlighting Kisses from Katie. Released in October 2011, the book debuted at No. 10 on the New York Times Paperback Nonfiction list for the week of Sept. 23.
Glamour‘s poll closed Sept. 19. According to an online chart, Davis is in the lead with 20.52 percent of the votes.
