Donna Pool in Koch Lii: Placed for a Purpose

Donna visits Prudence, the student she sponsors in Koro

Donna Pool visited Uganda in early 2025 with a short-term missions team from Centerpoint Community Church in Roseville, California. She arrived ready to serve, encourage, and support the work God was already doing through Hope Alive! in Koro, and to help lead Vacation Bible School at the Koch Lii site. What she did not know was that God had been preparing her for a very specific moment, on a very specific dirt road, with a very specific woman.

At the end of the week of ministry, Donna and other Centerpoint team members teamed up with Hope Alive! high school leadership students from Koro and local Koch Lii leaders to go door to door in the Koch Lii community, visiting homes and inviting families to the new church plant in Koch Lii. The goal was simple: spread out across the community, meet people where they lived, and share the hope of Jesus.

Donna was placed in a team with Pastor Patrick, who helped found the newly established church in Koch Lii, and three Koro high school students. Their team had already visited several homes, prayed with families, and extended invitations. As the afternoon went on, it was time to head back to the meeting point. Walking along a dirt road that split in several directions, Pastor Patrick initially suggested skipping one path because other groups were already there.

Then he stopped.

“I think we are supposed to go down there,” he said.

That moment of obedience to the Holy Spirit’s leading changed everything.

The path led them to a small group of homes. Three huts sat in an isolated area, with a tree standing at the center. Beneath that tree sat a woman, clearly the matriarch of her family. A grown son rested in her lap, with two or three younger children nearby.

Donna noticed it immediately. The young man had cerebral palsy. She recognized it without hesitation: his posture, his movements, the way his body responded.

Donna recognized the signs immediately because she had lived them herself. Her daughter was born three months premature, suffered a lack of oxygen at birth, and was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Years of therapy followed. Today, her daughter is nearly 30, married, employed, and living a full life.

Another group, all Ugandan, was already with the mother and her son, speaking with the family. Their prayers and conversation reflected a common cultural understanding of illness and faith. Donna quietly took a seat on a log and listened. She leaned over and whispered to Pastor Patrick that the young man had cerebral palsy. He looked surprised and asked how she could be so sure. Donna explained, giving him a brief picture of what cerebral palsy is and how it happens.

As the conversation continued, a visiting pastor who was part of the other group began to pray for the young man. Believing the condition was caused by demonic possession, he placed his hand on the young man’s forehead and began calling demons out.

The young man became agitated and distressed. Donna felt it immediately. The young man’s affliction was not caused by demons, and the prayers for exorcism were distressing, not helping him. As the young man grew more upset, the pastor became more animated, believing the agitation meant his prayers were working. Quietly, Donna began praying for calm. She prayed for peace. Eventually, the young man settled down. The pastor concluded his prayer, spoke briefly with the mother, and then the group left. Donna and her group stayed.

She asked Pastor Patrick to translate, since the mother spoke only Acholi. Gently, Donna asked what had happened to her son. The mother explained that it occurred at birth. The young man was now in his twenties and had no speech and could not walk. 

Donna nodded. Then she shared something deeply personal. “My child has the same thing your child has,” she said. “My child was born with cerebral palsy. I know what you are going through.”

Donna asked the mother if she had any questions about cerebral palsy. The woman’s head drooped. She quietly said no. Donna knew then that this was not a moment for medical explanations. It was a moment for presence.

“I cannot pray that he will be healed,” Donna told her honestly. “But I can pray for you. I can pray for renewed energy. For renewed love. For strength to care for your child. God is with me as I care for my child, and He is with you too. You are not alone.”

She told the mother clearly that her son’s affliction was not her fault. It was nothing she had done. Nothing her son had done. She told her she was not afraid of her child. She did not think less of him, but instead felt deep respect and compassion for what both mother and son carried every day. Donna asked for the woman’s name so she could pray for her specifically. By the end, both women were crying.

Donna held the young man’s hand. She prayed. The mother was no longer alone. So often, families in Uganda believe that life in the United States is perfect; that hardship and struggle exist elsewhere, but not there. Donna’s presence disrupted that lie. Simply knowing that another mother, on the other side of the world, was walking a similar road mattered deeply.

Donna still prays for that mother every day. She prays that she will seek out the church in Koch Lii. She prays she will find a caring community, support, and hope. She knows that woman will always be part of her story.

God places people exactly where they need to be. Sometimes that place is across the world. Sometimes it is at the fork of a dirt road. And sometimes, it is simply sitting beside another mother, reminding her she is seen, known, and never alone.