Water is something that people in the Western world take for granted, but in Uganda, where clean water is a precious commodity, it’s symbolic of hope. Many of Uganda’s most impoverished and sickest children are also the physically dirtiest. Without access to clean water, many children go without regular baths; this aggravates wounds towards infection and propagates skin infestations like jiggers and ringworms. Whenever Katie takes in a child or cares for them medically, the first thing she does is give them a bath. Although it’s a physical act that washes their skin and cleans away disease, it is also symbolic of a fresh start. Many of these children have never had a warm bath, so the comfort of the act also symbolizes that someone cares about their well-being.

Water is also symbolic of spiritual cleansing and rebirth. In the Bible, water, specifically the act of Baptism, is a symbolic gesture that demonstrates a person’s desire to turn from their former life of sin and embrace a new life in Christ. Likewise, when Katie washes a child in the warm water of a bathtub, she demonstrates for that child that there is hope for the future; many of the children whom Katie takes into her home and bathes no longer have to live in filth and illness.