Life as a Missionary Kid

The smell of fresh cement brings the Hagins family back to memories of Christmas. In December 2019, the family moved from their temporary residence at the Abaana’s Hope guest house into a newly constructed home in the missionary compound. Breathing in the earthy, sweet smell of new cement floors and walls that made up their home, the family of seven celebrated the birth of Jesus in Uganda for the first time.

Previously, David, Jessica, and their five daughters – Ella, Addison, Trinity, Charlie, and Anna Joyce – traveled to Uganda in 2017 on a short-term mission trip with Four Corners Ministries and the experience changed the trajectory of their lives. After seeing the Lord at work and seeing the need for more missionaries to join the harvest, the family believed God was calling them to serve long term at Abaana’s Hope.

Two years later, the family made the move. They sold their home in Huntsville, Alabama, packed what they could fit in their totes, and got on the plane headed to Uganda. Addison, their second oldest daughter, was nine years old at the time. 

“When my parents talked to me about it, I didn’t really understand it very much, but I was excited to move here. When we came to visit, I liked it and thought it was fun,” she said. Although she was very young, she remembers meeting people, making friends, and playing with the missionary kids on their short-term trip in 2017. Now, Addison is a 15-year-old high school sophomore.

Shortly after the family arrived, the COVID-19 pandemic spread globally, and once it reached Uganda, the government enforced strict regulations and mandatory curfews.

“We were kind of just stuck in the compound. Everything was shut down, and we couldn’t really leave our compound,” Addison said. She and her sisters spent their time playing with the other missionary kids. 

After the pandemic regulations were lifted, Addison and her family had more freedom to go out into the community and into the nearby town of Gulu. Since then, a normal day for Addison involved completing her homeschooling lessons and spending time at Living Stones Christian School (LSCS). Before attending school in Kenya, her math class was taught online, and she learned through textbooks or video lectures for her other courses. She taught Bible class to the kindergarteners at LSCS, enjoyed breakfast and lunch with the kids at the Abaana’s Hope kitchen, and tutored some of the kids in the afternoon. She’s also on the monthly rotation to teach children’s church on Sundays.

“I don’t know how to explain it. I just like the kids here a lot,” she said. “I feel called to them, so I love to get to teach them or do different activities with them.”

Addison enjoys photography in her free time and uses her skills to take photos of the kids in the school, during the Child Development Program’s center weeks, on field trips, and at other events going on at Abaana’s Hope. Last year, she created the first yearbook for LSCS. 

“Normally, if I take pictures for center week, I’ll play a video at the end of the week, so they can see it. They always love that, so I thought it’d be good if I made pictures into a book so they could always be able to look at it,” she said. She found a website online to create the yearbook, took individual pictures of over 260 students, and put it all together.

The Hagins family has visited the U.S. several times, and Addison said the first time they returned, it was a big culture shock for everyone. 

“I get very used to having no air conditioning, so that’s a lot when we go and stay with our friends. This past time we went during the summer, so that was good because it was warmer. The first time we went back was during December and it was very cold. We were all freezing,” she laughed.

For her youngest sister, Anna, who is 7 years old, Ugandan life is all she’s ever known as she was one and a half years old when they moved. For her, the appliances in the U.S. are a curiosity and sometimes a little scary. When Anna was younger, she was scared of the air vents and thought the microwave was weird.

“I always ask, ‘What’s a dishwasher?’” she said. In the missionary compound at Abaana’s Hope, they wash their dishes by hand in their kitchen sink. 

Although Addison experienced a big difference moving from the U.S. to Uganda, she described it as a smooth transition. Her other two sisters, Trinity, 13, and Charlie, 11, don’t remember much before the move to Uganda.

They’ve all grown up homeschooling, participating in ministries at Abaana’s Hope, and enjoying activities other kids their age enjoy in the U.S. like reading books, watching TV, coloring, completing puzzles, and sleepovers with friends spent playing Barbies, watching movies, and staying up late talking. They go for rides on the boda (motorcycle) with their dad and go on outreach home visits with their mom.

Charlie loves having the freedom to walk around barefoot and seeing animals roam free. She and her family have two dogs and she and Anna have two bunnies, named after the main characters in Tangled, Rapunzel and Eugene. The bunnies were Christmas gifts in 2024. 

While they frequently enjoy eating American food like hot dogs and pizza, they’ve also acquired a taste for Ugandan food. While we can get pineapple, papaya, mango, and passion fruit, in the U.S., all fruit tastes significantly better in Uganda. The four girls also expressed their love for beans, rice, and chicken. Addison added sukuma wiki and boo, which are two different kinds of leafy green vegetables, to the list of favorites. Anna added g-nut paste (which is like peanut butter), jackfruit, and silver fish. (She’s the only one in the family that likes the last two items on her list.) Trinity added their two favorite restaurants in Gulu – an Ethiopian restaurant and an Indian restaurant. 

For family vacation time, the Hagins have gone to the safari parks in Uganda, a trip to Egypt, a trip to Europe, and the beach in Kenya. They've also visited Addison's older sister, Ella, at the boarding school in Kenya she's been attending since 2024. This is the same school Addison now attends. 

In addition to what Americans would describe as normal, they also get to witness the gospel spread across the community, leading more to eternal salvation through Jesus Christ. They’ve met Acholi people who’ve been scarred by the 20-year rebel war and people going through daily struggles who continue to praise God through it all. They’ve each been encouraged in their faith and hope to make a difference for the Kingdom of God.