U.S. citizen went to Uganda to help kids. Now her charity is accused of killing them.

"I knew she was not trained, but she had this presence about her that you kind of just believed that she knew," an ex-volunteer the charity says.

Earlier this year, a women’s advocacy group in Uganda sued a U.S. missionary, accusing her of operating a nonprofit in Uganda as an unlicensed medical facility, leading "to the death of hundreds of children." Now the missionary is speaking up, saying the organization she founded had more than a 96 percent “success rate” at treating malnourished kids.

“Mistakes were made and lessons were learned, but mistakes and life lessons never resulted in the harm of any individual,” the missionary, Renee Bach, 30, told NBC News in an email.

By Bach’s own admission to NBC News, 119 children died in the facility between 2010 and December 2018 — a figure also cited in SHC’s internal documentation.

The two women suing Bach claimed that she was "seen wearing a white coat, a stethoscope and often administered medications to children in her care," even though Bach had no medical training.

The two women suing Bach claimed that she was "seen wearing a white coat, a stethoscope and often administered medications to children in her care," even though Bach had no medical training.via Facebook

Bach, who said she had “lay medical training” and a CPR certificate but no medical degree, said she received her high school diploma via home-schooling.

“I never intentionally put myself in a position to treat children for illnesses, or be involved medically. I was — and I’m not putting this off on anyone else — but I was often thrown into those situations. Not by choice,” Bach said.

But according to former volunteers at her charity and documents obtained by NBC News, during the period from 2009-2015, she was closely involved in caring for very sick children — some of whom died in her organization's care.

One former volunteer even alleges in testimony included in a civil lawsuit that Bach lured mothers and children from government hospitals to Serving His Children, her organization in the city of Jinja in eastern Uganda.

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"This is not about helping children, this is about you needing to be intimately involved in this for your own benefit."

Bach, of Bedford, Virginia, was 20 when she moved to Jinja in 2009 as a Christian missionary and founded Serving His Children, a tax-exempt charity focused on fighting malnutrition.

A city of 72,000 people on the shores of Lake Victoria, Jinja has long been popular with U.S. missionaries and served as the backdrop for the 2013 bestseller, “Kisses From Katie,” a nonfiction book about a young American who traveled to Jinja and adopted 13 local children.

Malnutrition is a serious issue in Uganda, with some 2.2 million children under age 5 stunted and another 300,000 too thin for their height, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. Malnutrition is behind 45 percent of child deaths in the country.

Bach and SHC are now being sued in civil court in Uganda on behalf of two Ugandan women, Gimbo Zubeda and Kakai Annet. In court filings, their attorneys allege that Bach operated an illegal medical facility that led to the deaths of the women’s children and “hundreds” of others. The mothers' case has been brought by the Women's Probono Initiative, an advocacy group that provides women with free legal services.

According to court documents filed on the mothers’ behalf, the women didn't find out that Bach lacked medical training until after Zubeda’s child, Tawali, and Annet’s child, Elijah, had died.

Their civil suit, filed with the High Court of Uganda in January, asks for damages and the closure of Serving His Children’s facility.

According to the lawsuit, Tawali died on July 16, 2013, and Elijah on Jan. 21, 2018.

In March, Bach filed a response with Jinja High Court, denying the allegations.

In a 2017 interview with NBC's Virginia affiliate WSLS

In a 2017 interview with NBC's Virginia affiliate WSLS, Bach explained that her charity focused on combating malnutrition, offering "preventative care programs and then also treatment services."WSLS

She and her lawyer, David Gibbs, say Serving His Children is not responsible for the deaths of Tawali and Elijah.

According to Bach’s lawyer, Elijah was turned away from SHC because he was not malnourished.

Not only that, Bach said during a telephone interview, the program referred his mother to the appropriate facility but she decided not to go.

“It was her choice,” Bach. “She chose to go home.”

“I imagine that as a parent, that she might feel some regret and that she’s looking for someone to blame. I would too,” she said, adding that she was very sorry for the loss of Annet’s child.

“But I don’t really have too much more to say to her, because we weren’t involved,” Bach said.

As for Zubeda’s son, Tawali, Bach said she was not in Uganda at the time he was treated.

“I never met him, I never met his mother. But I can say with confidence my heart breaks for her," Bach said.

The group No White Saviors runs an Instagram account with 194,000 followers and tries to raise awareness about the negative impact many "mainly white" aid workers have had on "black and brown communities in the name of charity or mission work." The activists have posted frequently about Bach’s case, citing the allegations as an example of the “white savior” complex — Westerners who move to poor countries to deliver aid even when they’re unqualified for the task.

In a written statement, Gibbs said that "reputational terrorists” were “attacking Renee Bach and Serving His Children with false allegations using the platform of social media."

But former volunteers painted a different picture — one in which Bach sought an active role in treating sick children.

Ashley Laverty of Ottawa, Canada, said she began volunteering with Serving His Children in early 2010 after meeting Bach at a local church in Jinja.

At that time, Laverty says, the outreach was operated out of Bach's home and consisted of serving lunch to local children twice a week.

But over time, according to Laverty, SHC's focus shifted to providing medical care to seriously malnourished children — despite the fact that Bach had no medical training and the facility was not licensed to provide medical treatment.

"She started getting referrals from friends, about children suffering from malnutrition, so she would take them into their home and feed them a high-caloric milk called F-75," Laverty said by phone from her home in Jinja.

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