A young woman uses the difficulties she’s suffered to bring others to Christ
I was born in Nyankunde, in the maternity ward that was just rehabilitated by Samaritan’s Purse. My life has been a series of challenges. At 14, a man in our village raped me, and I became pregnant. I wanted to abort the baby, but after receiving counseling, I decided to carry her.
When my daughter, Martha, was born, I realized the difficulty of having a baby at such a young age. This experience is what convinced me that I wanted to become a nurse in a maternity ward, but the fees for school were so high that I didn’t know whether it would be possible.
A newborn is weighed in the maternity ward in Nyankunde.
When I was 18, my family was able to pay for me to attend, and they helped care for Martha. But during my first year, Nyankunde was attacked. My father told me to run to the hills and hide right before he was killed at gunpoint.
While I was in the hills, the rebels found me and kidnapped me, along with several other people. They killed everyone except me. I was wearing my nursing uniform, and they thought that I might be helpful to them. One of the rebels took compassion on me and helped me escape. I thank my God because the enemy took me during the war to mistreat me, but God liberated me from their hands.
I ended up in a nearby town where I met a family of expatriates. They paid the rest of my school fees so that I could become a nurse. I started working in Beni, a town several hours from Nyankunde. When Dr. Upio, who was a doctor at Nyankunde Hospital before the attacks, told me that he was returning to Nyankunde to restart the hospital and wanted me to join him, I agreed, even though I knew I wouldn’t be paid a salary.
When we first started, the hospital was destroyed. I remember laying a piece of cloth on the ground to deliver babies on the floor. We had to perform caesarean sections in the operating room because we had no means in the maternity ward. Many patients couldn’t pay for their procedures.
A mother cares for her malnourished child at Nyankunde Hospital.
My daughter also became pregnant against her will at a young age, and her daughter, Blessing, is currently 11 months old. We live in the nurses’ quarters for the moment, but we pray that God will give us a way to build our own house. We also pray that both my daughter and I can continue our studies while I continue serving pregnant women at the hospital.
I love working in the maternity ward. I want to help young mothers walk through the process of having a baby by encouraging them through my story. My favorite thing is counseling mothers who want abortions. I love convincing them to keep their children. I have used my own testimony of how God has worked in my life to save others.
