About Annah Frances

Annah Frances was born in Agu Village, in the Teso District of northern Uganda. Throughout Annah’s childhood, Uganda struggled under the vicious reign of dictator Idi Amin Dada. Annah saw her parents and neighbors working hard—and often not succeeding—just to sustain their families.

When Annah was in her first year of Primary School, she witnessed the suffering of four school-aged children whose parents had died. These children were left in the care of an elderly grandmother who could barely take care of them. This was Annah’s first encounter with orphans. She couldn’t imagine life without her strong, loving parents, her “Toto” and “Papa.”

At school, Annah had learned that God always answers the prayers of children, so one night she knelt under a bush to pray. Her heart-felt prayer went something like this:

 “Please, God, I am scared, and I don’t want my parents to die.  God, if You will let my Toto and Papa live, I promise when I grow up, I will take care of all the orphan children in our village.”

Annah grew up and married a brilliant and loving young man, James Emuge. James was a great  and well-respected teacher. Because he did his job so well, James was given the opportunity to study at the University of Ohio, so Annah and James and their little family came to the United States of America. Only two years later, before James had the opportunity to complete his education, the Ugandan government was overthrown in a violent coup, and James’s scholarship was revoked.

While  living as refugees in America, Annah and James heard that their villages had been destroyed as a result of the civil wars in Uganda. Despite many repeated efforts to contact their families, James and Annah were unable to communicate with the relatives they had left behind. James and Annah tried to make contact for nearly fifteen years before they learned that most of their family members had survived.

After James lost his scholarship, he fell into a deep depression because of his and Annah’s inability to secure employment as refugees. James had trouble handling his status as a man without a country, with no means to further his studies or support his wife and children. 

Unfortunately, James turned to alcohol to forget his problems as Annah struggled on to gain her U.S. citizenship. After she became a naturalized citizen, Annah often worked two or three jobs at a time to make ends meet. Through the years, Annah nursed James until he eventually succumbed to alcoholism. But Annah was strong. She was determined to continue on after James’s death, working, studying, and raising their four children alone because long ago, she had made a very big promise to God, and she intended to keep it! 

In spite of all the hardships and disappointments Annah faced, she never forgot her promise to God to help the orphaned children of Agu Village. Today, Annah is the Director of Atai Orphanage, where her Toto loves and cares for the children left without parents by the ravages of war and disease.

Although Annah and her mother face the daily struggles of providing the bare necessities for the orphans, these precious children know that they are absolutely loved and cherished—by God and by their “Mama Frances” in America.