Irene Mwmba Mukuka has a beautiful story and I want to share a portion of it with you. I was fortunate enough to meet this woman in Kitwe, Zambia and she is a testament to the love and grace that comes from knowing Jesus.
As Irene was growing older she suffered the loss of many of her family members. The cause of death wasn’t old age, freak accidents, or cancer; but a different kind of disease. Many women in her family died because they became HIV positive. The reason behind this contraction? Prostitution.
Fast forward a few years later and Irene became happily married. A common thread in Irene and her husbands lives? Both have had several family members become HIV positive due to prostitution.
At this point neither her nor her husband had a relationship with Jesus. Not too long into their marriage (in 1988) Irene attended a crusade that she was invited to. Here she heard about Jesus’s love for the first time. His saving grace. What stuck out to her is that God is able to heal. Not just heal physically, but spiritually and emotionally. That through Jesus prostitutes can be healed, families can be restored, and we can be made whole.
About the time of Irene’s salvation, her and her husband had their first child. Things seemed to be heading in the right direction. She had found meaning in life and she was having a baby! This is when she received some other news. Her husband had suffered from a mental illness for a long time and had kept it hidden from her. It hadn’t completely taken over his mind that is how he was able to play it off. But once their first child was born he went completely insane. This obviously troubled Irene. But because of her understanding of the gospel and of the power and authority of God she sought out healing for her husband and counsel from her pastor to learn how to love him through his. Through counseling she began to learn more and more about God’s love and understand how she could love her husband. Through prayer her husband’s mental illness began to dissipate! She began to experience the power of God in her life.
At this point she knew because of her past and her husband’s past that God wanted her to minister to prostitutes. So she began going to the night clubs in the area and started making relationships with them. Through her time spent these women, 3 of them became followers of Jesus and were able to get out of prostitution!
She now lives in Kitwe and ministers to prostitutes there. She has seen them grow and most of them desire to get out of prostitution, but there are obstacles. Irene will take them in and feed them. However she can only afford so much. The women and their children will go a few days without food; then to avoid their children becoming sick they will go back out to the streets so that they can feed them. It is a sad cycle. They want freedom, but they want their kids to eat. Irene desires for the church to step in and help. Unfortunately, most of the churches here are fighting for their freedom. This may be because the women in the church are afraid to help because they don’t want the prostitutes to take their husbands.
Irene’s vision is to start a rehab center. A place these women can come live and receive physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. They can live there. Learn a trade. Receive an education. Irene knows God can heal them and she desires to see them healed. He is calling them to Himself desiring each one to call Him Father.
With this zeal Irene continues to fight. Even in the face of her husband suffering a stroke recently which has really disabled him. Please pray for Irene. For her strength. That her strength may continue to come from her joy in The Lord. That she continues to possess steadfast love. That The Lord will send her help. Physical help and monetary help. That people will desire to show these women the love of Christ, and that money may come in to help support these women. That the church of Zambia will stand up and fight!
I’m so thankful for Irene. The love she shows her husband and the love she shows those that most people walk by and ignore is truly amazing.
