NELLIE…

When Nellie was a little girl she
lived with her mother, 4 sisters, and two brothers in Durban, South Africa. Her
childhood was unpleasant. She was always fighting with her sisters and her
mother had severe alcoholism. So severe that she was unable to work and provide
for the children, so Nellie and her siblings had to go to work at a very young
age, and never went to school. When Nellie was 11 years old she began working
doing domestic jobs in other people’s homes (cleaning, laundry… ect). At the
age of 24 Nellie became pregnant with her first son, Sifiso. She decided to
move to Johannesburg with Sifiso and his father, because her mother had died
from food poisoning (by her own sister), three of her siblings had died from
HIV and tuberculosis, and one was murdered. She had nothing left in Durban. At
the age of 33, Nellie became pregnant again. This is when she found out that
she was HIV positive.

Nellie did not take the news well
that she had contracted HIV from her children’s father. She became very
depressed at the thought of ending up like the people she had seen on
television with HIV, ravaged and suffering. Nellie tried to take drugs to kill
herself and her baby but was unsuccessful. After Nellie gave birth to her
second son, Klankla, the father became angry and physically abusive toward her,
forcing her to leave him. When she was 34, Nellie had to quit her job and move
in with her sister because she became very ill with the HIV. She could not walk
because her legs became very swollen and sore, she could not eat, she could not
take care of her 2 children, or even make it to the toilet. She was afraid for
her life and for her children. Nellie prayed to God everyday, asking Him to
forgive her so that she could take care of her children. Her sister did not
receive it well that Nellie was HIV positive, and so she ill treated Nellie and
was very cruel to her. Eventually her sister kicked her out of the house,
leaving Nellie with no place to stay and very sick. Nellie ended up in the
hospital with HIV and Tuberculosis for 1½ months. She received medication for
the tuberculosis, but not the HIV. 
When Nellie got out, one of her close friends took her in for a while,
but she too, treated Nellie in a cruel manor and ended up kicking her out.

One night, feeling deathly sick and
abandoned, Nellie cried out in anger at God. She yelled at Him saying that
there must not be a God, because if there were, He would not allow her and her
children to suffer so severely. 
That very night God came to Nellie in a dream in the figure of a
dog.  At first Nellie ran from the
dog and was afraid, but she became tired of running and sat down crying. The
dog came over to her and sat down in her lap and nuzzled into her. As Nellie
began petting the kind dog, it turned its head toward her and began to speak.
In a deep and powerful voice, the dog told Nellie “I am here and I love you.
Why don’t you believe in me? Just believe in me and I will take care of it
all.� Nellie said about God’s voice, “the whole world could crumble because of
that voice; it was like a tornado.� Nellie woke up from hr dream crying and
shaking. She couldn’t believe that God had come to her and spoken to her! She
prayed to Him, telling Him that she believed and wanted Him to come take care
of her. He did.  The very next
morning one of Nellie’s friends told her about a place called Nkosi’s Haven.
She told her it was a safe place where she could stay and where her children
would be taken care of and provided for. Nellie agreed to move into Nkosi’s
Haven Village, feeling that this was God’s will for her. She packed up all of
her belongings and her children and called a taxi. When they pulled up to the gate
she went to pay the driver, and he said “no charge.� Nellie couldn’t believe
that God had provided for her to come to Nkosi’s Haven free of charge! From the
moment Nellie walked through that gate on, her life was forever changed. When
she arrived at Nkosi’s Haven, Nellie was very sick; she couldn’t walk or eat,
and was very skinny.  Within the
first few weeks of being there she got dramatically better. Nellie said she
could “feel the healing inside of her, and God’s strength increasing within
her.� Sister Rose in the clinic couldn’t believe how fast the swelling in
Nellie’s legs went down and how quickly she gained weight. While Nellie’s body
was healing, she learned to make clothing, mats, and beautiful jewelry. A
talent she never had before and believes that God has blessed her with to
provide income.

Nellie has been living at Nkosi’s
Haven for 3 months now and is healthy and strong. She has only been on ARV
medication for HIV for two months, and believes it is God, not the medication
that has made her healthy again. Both of her children live with her at the
Haven. They get three meals per day, have a cottage to live in, and attend
school. Nelly and her children are safe, they are together, and they are
getting a chance at a better life. God kept His promise to Nellie and has taken
care of everything. She thanks Him everyday for bringing her to Nkosi’s Haven
and for saving her life.

Nellie now has a dream, a goal, and a purpose. She believes
that God has called her to share her story with Johannesburg, South Africa, and
the World. Her goal is to show people through her own testimony that there is
hope in God, and all He asks is that we “love Him enough to believe in Him, and
He will rescue us, from any situation, even HIV.� God has also anointed Nellie
as a healer. She goes into the clinic at Nkosi’s Haven and also to the local
hospital and helps take care of the patients suffering from HIV as she once
did. She helps them just as much as the nurses do and the patients ask for her
now, instead of the nurse, because Nellie offers them something more than
physical help. She offers them hope and spiritual help, encouragement and love
as well.  Nellie says that many
times she has felt God telling her to place her hands on someone and pray for
them, and so she does, and people have been healed. She has prayed for and
healed people’s stomachaches, knee pain and other ailments as well. She says
that she doesn’t know what to do or what to pray, but the Holy Spirit comes and
just works through her.  She says
that she can’t even believe that she is the same person anymore, healing people
and speaking to them with confidence about how God saved her life. “I used to
be a quiet and insecure person, but after God came to me and spoke to me in my
dreams, I felt chosen and special, and I am not shy or insecure anymore.�

Nellie is such a beautiful, strong woman and her faith is
truly encouraging. She is so obviously in love with God and says that He is her
best friend and is all she needs. She prays to Him constantly, thanking Him for
everything He provides.  She has
only been a follower of Christ for 3 months, but she has the wisdom, love, and
faith of someone who has known God their entire life! This woman is my hero.
She has been through so much hardship, yet is thankful to God for it, because
she knows that He will use her story to change many people’s hearts and lives.
She loves her life now, because she has God, and she knows that He will always
provide for her and her children, bless them in abundance, love them, and keep them
safe. This is Nellie’s story. A story that she has asked me to tell to the
world, with the faith that God will use it to change lives and bring hope. It
is a story of struggle, it is a story of hope, but most of all… it is a story
of God’s transforming love.