Morgan Vanderwall was 12 when she first visited Uganda.

“I don’t think I would be the person I am today if I hadn’t gone to Uganda in 2009,” she said.

Vanderwall, a recent Skyline High School graduate, became intrigued when a family friend, who started a school in Uganda to honor her brother who had died of AIDS, organized a travel group to accompany her to the country. Vanderwall’s dad also was in Uganda, working through his own secular nonprofit called “Expressive Business Strategies,” which teaches people in Third World countries how to be successful with their businesses.

Vanderwall said that when the opportunity came up, she knew she had to go. And so she did, spending approximately two weeks aiding in educational efforts with one of her best friends, Isabella, by her side.

So when the summer of 2010 rolled around, Vanderwall became eager to get back to the country she fell in love with. The Vanderwall’s family friend constructed another team, and they went again for two weeks. In 2011, they went again. But in 2012, the family friend decided to take a break from her yearly trips.

“There was a big three year gap where I couldn’t go back,” she said.

Eager to get back, Vanderwall began researching mission groups and stumbled upon the Watoto Church and its “Global Missions Team.” For $2,200, not including her flight, Vanderwall could spend three weeks helping people in Uganda. She applied for the program, was accepted, and began raising money through GoFundMe.com.

On July 2, Vanderwall took off for Uganda with the same friend she went with in 2009.

“I have fallen in love with the country every time I’ve gone,” Vanderwall said.

The two spent their entire two-and-a-half weeks in Uganda with the children of Watoto Church, helping out wherever the could. The church is the biggest in Uganda, taking in children who have lost their parents due to disease, war or abandonment. They hire nannies, or “mammas,” who are often refugees themselves, to take care of the children and raise them until their ready to go off on their own.

Vanderwall said the church works both ways, because the children are gaining a family, but the mothers are as well.

“We would help the nannies and mammas with whatever they needed to give them some relief during the day,” Vanderwall said. “It’s not like when we go over (to Uganda) we’re the first white people they’ve ever seen. It’s one of the most typical countries that people go to do mission work, but I don’t think they take anything for granted.”

Vanderwall said that even something as simple as changing a diaper means the world to them, and that the people she’s interacted with over the years are some of the most joyful and welcoming people she’s ever met in her life.

“Yes, they see the color of your skin and they know you probably live a better life than they do,” she said. “But at the same time, they love you the same amount that you love them. They are so thankful for anything that you can do for them.”

Vanderwall began sponsoring a baby from the Watoto Church after her visit in 2009. He was in the special needs ward due to hydrocephalus, a condition that causes a clear colorless bodily fluid to build up in the skull and make the brain swell. Vanderwall was able to see the child, Moses, when she visited this past month. He is now 7.

“He is the cutest little boy I’ve ever seen,” she said. “I love him.”

Vanderwall, who will be attending the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise (FIDM) this fall, said she hopes to find a career that encourages her to travel and grow as a person, after realizing how influential her first trip to Uganda was.

“I think it was the most life-changing trip I ever went on,” she said.

Kelly Montgomery: 425-391-0363; kmontgomery@issaquahreporter.com