Megachurches, Mission Trips and White Saviors: HBO’s ‘Savior Complex’ Dissects How Renee Bach Caused Havoc in Uganda
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Renee Bach was 19 when she claims to have heard a calling from God telling her to travel to Uganda on a missionary trip to save children from starvation, poverty and deadly diseases. In 2009, she moved to Jinja, Uganda and opened a charity called Serving His Children. There, with a high-school diploma and zero medical education or professional licenses, Bach spearheaded treatments for babies and young children, which included hooking up IV drips, feeding sessions, prescribing medications, giving blood transfusions and handling other procedures.
From 2011 to 2015, Serving His Children ran as a non-governmental organization. During this time, a large number of children died under Bach’s care, and soon after, Ugandan officials shut SHC down. Bach was run out of the country, and returned to the U.S., where she is currently facing a lawsuit from a Ugandan human rights attorney, based on the testimony of two mothers who lost their children under Bach’s care.
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Now, HBO’s three-part docuseries “Savior Complex” — which is now streaming on Max — takes a look into the problem that is Bach and SHC. While the mortality rate at Bach’s facility was high, so was the mortality rate at local, government-operated hospitals in Uganda. The series ponders whether it would have been better for Bach to have done nothing, as opposed to give some care — and asks why she never went to medical school nor hired Ugandan doctors to lead her NGO.
But it doesn’t just put the pressure on Bach. At one point, head nurse Constance Alonyo, whom Bach worked closely with at SHC, says no one involved in this story was doing everything perfectly. “Let he who has never sinned pick a stone and throw it at Renee,” Alonyo says.
“Savior Complex” takes a look past Bach to delve into a much larger issue. “We really wanted to zoom out to understand how the situation could happen at all,” Emmy-award winning series director Jackie Jesko tells Variety.
In an interview with Variety, Jesko and executive producer Roger Ross Williams break down the shocking twists revealed over the course of the three episodes, while discussing what they’ve learned about megachurches, mission trips — and white saviors.
I really loved one of the first quotes from Episode 1, when someone says, “Africa is not your playground.” It felt like that was the recurring theme over the course of the series.
Jackie Jesko: When we started working on this series, of course you want to do the investigation into understanding this case — what happened, and all of that — but we really wanted to zoom out to understand how the situation could happen at all. Unpacking that was what led us to such huge, interesting and important topics: the legacy of colonialism and Uganda, harmful white savior narratives that often shaped the mindsets of missionaries and aid workers, and how, when those two worldviews collide, it can be really dangerous. So, I definitely thought that was a really important thing to draw attention to. Obviously, Roger did as well, as he did it in his fantastic film “God Loves Uganda.”
Roger Ross Williams: Ten years ago, I made a film called “God Loves Uganda” where I followed American missionaries as they went to Uganda to basically write and enforce the anti-homosexuality bill, which was death by hanging for the LGBTQ+ community. That was death by hanging even for recruitment, meaning if you approach someone and talked about being gay, you could be convicted. And 10 years later, that bill got passed. This was the work of decades and decades and decades of American missionaries, who couldn’t get this idea through in America, but could in Africa.
Uganda was ripe for a takeover. It’s the country most devastated by HIV and AIDS, so it has the youngest population and the most orphans in the world. So the American missionaries and evangelicals went there and built schools and hospitals, and basically raised politicians who are now the members of parliament or the judges who sit on courts, all so they could control the country and enforce these harmful policies and ideas that they couldn’t in America.
So Renee Bach was not the first, but she was the center of this particular story. How did you get her on board to speak on camera for the docuseries? Along with everyone else? Because I’m sure it wasn’t easy.
Jesko: You’re correct. The bookings were difficult. But I think on the Renee side, she agreed to participate because she felt like the story being put out there by social media activists, in particular No White Saviors, was untrue. People will be calling her a serial killer, a genocidal maniac, that kind of stuff. Obviously, she does not agree with that. So I believe she hoped by sharing her version of events that some people would see there was more nuance to the situation. For the rest, ultimately, I think everyone felt like this was an important story and that it should be told. That ended up kind of tipping it over for everybody.
Williams: And it’s really important that we expose these kinds of stories. How are we going to accept that white saviorism is racism if our eyes aren’t open to stories like this? However painful it is to talk, it’s really important to expose this. I’ve also followed seemingly innocent young, white missionaries from the International House of Prayer in Kansas City — a megachurch with a $30 million yearly operating budget — to Uganda, where they preached hate. I exposed that, and it got a lot of attention. But, you know, did it make a difference? Maybe, but it’s 10 years later, and it’s still happening.
When this premieres, do you think it’s going to help change that? Or what impact are you seeking?
Williams: I think that the faith-based community in America is not all bad. You know, there are many people who want to do good with their missionary work, to help empower the people of Uganda. And what should have happened is Renee, and whoever her funders were, should have empowered Ugandan doctors or medical schools to train Ugandan doctors, those who actually are qualified to do this stuff. Uganda is in this situation because of colonialism in the first place, so, we really need to think about how we present aid to a place like Uganda. It’s a conversation that is not talked about enough in this country.
What were some principles or guides that you followed along the way to deal with conflicting stories, and to keep a streamlined narrative going throughout the film?
Jesko: I’ve spent my whole career as an investigative journalist, so for me, people telling me conflicting stories is not really new, but there were challenges specific to this story. We were looking for official documentation — the issue was the only records available were from Serving His Children. There’s no outside entity tracking admissions or deaths. We also got a lot of slammed doors from Ugandan officials, from the police to the department of health. I understand why, because anything about America and Uganda can be a political hot potato, and nobody really wants to get involved.
Also, even locating the moms who brought their children to Serving His Children was very hard, considering the vast area they came from and the fact that a lot of them didn’t have documentation or proof for us to corroborate their stories. But I’m proud of what we were able to do against those circumstances. It was just putting all the evidence we had out there. Calling it like we saw it, and letting it lie. That’s the most you can do in a story like this, especially when we’re dealing with someone who has allegations, but there’s no criminal convictions, right? So it’s kind of a complicated and difficult balance.
In the third episode, you delve into the story behind No White Saviors kicking out its co-founder Kelsey Nielsen. Was that something that you planned on including? Or did that drama happen during production?
Jesko: Almost all of Episode 3 happened while we were filming the show. We didn’t know that was gonna happen, but of course, I thought it was an interesting thing to include, considering the mission of No White Saviors.
Did you kind of feel like Kelsey and Renee were — I don’t want to say in the same position, but were kind of representing the same white-centered saviorism?
Jesko: I wouldn’t call it a one-to-one by any means. I think that’d be really unfair. Kelsey probably shouldn’t have been in a position of power at No White Saviors, and so the fact that they kind of came down on her, there’s a kind of poetic justice in that. I don’t think she’s the same as Renee. But do I think there’s that dramatic similarity in that? Yeah, for sure.
What do you feel is your biggest takeaway from working on this project? And what do you hope comes out of it?
Jesko: I guess for the series, what I hope is that it sparks a difficult conversation about how to help without hurting, and that it will provoke people to think more deeply about the intersection of money, religion, race, when it comes to foreign aid, and how that can create harmful imbalances. And it’s interesting, because I’ve actually seen a bunch of Ugandan intellectuals, on Twitter and stuff, talking about this case, and saying this is an example of things that need to change in their own society and governments. And that’s cool to see that.
But I also think the onus is more on the American side of the equation, because we’re the ones sending so many young people out. We’re the ones funding that. I grew up in the same generation as Renee Bach. And I was exposed to a lot of the same white savior narratives in media, right? There’s always movies about the white person who goes in and saves the day in this foreign country, and no one else could have. So I think it’s important to talk about it — I think that it’s been a big issue in aid and missionary work. And that this story gave us the chance to really talk about that in a real way. And that was something Roger cares a lot about as well.
Williams: I think it does start with the money, you know — always follow the money. When you were giving money to missionary work in your church, maybe you want to question exactly what those missionaries are doing — exactly where that money is going.
And maybe this is a question more for you, Roger. I know some people from big group churches go on these missions, they post about it, they’re really excited about it. What do you think is the best way to reach people who are a little blinded by this “savior” notion, to get them to realize that what they’re doing might not be as good as they think it is? Is it a documentary like this?
Williams: I think they all should watch this film so they can see the damage that often happens because of missionary work like this. Like any great piece of journalism, it’s about opening your eyes to a situation, an injustice that you may not have been exposed to. And that’s the great thing about Jackie and her team. They’re young, talented journalists who saw a story, wanted to investigate it, and get as wide an audience as possible with HBO. It’s a sad story. But it needs to be seen. And as someone who has made many films in Africa, who was on many boards supporting lots of artistic endeavors in Africa, I am passionate about exposing these sorts of narratives and really having a discussion, both here in America and in Africa.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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