PRINCESS
My name is Princess, a native of Oguta in Imo State. I lost my father when eight. I had always loved to travel out of the country from my tender age, so I embraced the opportunity to Madrid, Spain at the age of 17 from a brother’s friend. After a period of five months, I got deported.
After this, I never relented and so I got another opportunity and travelled to Tunisia and later to Libya where I was introduced to drug business. I got arrested and imprisoned, after I had tried to escape from Libya to Italy and later deported back to Nigeria. Getting to Nigeria, I went fully into commercial sex work. I stayed in a hotel from where I got my customers through the internet. They would book an appointment with me after payment has been made.
After this hotel, I got a friend who introduced me to smoking drugs (cocaine), though I had earlier involved myself in drug business, but I had never tried it. I later got so addicted to it that I used all the money I had ever saved to buy drugs, and even sold all my acquired properties (including landed property). After a while I could not afford to pay my hotel room bill and the meantime, o had gotten pregnant and the man who I believed was responsible for the pregnancy denied me.
Now I found myself in double dilemma – pregnancy that did not allow me to continue my prostitution business and the strong thirst for drug. It is at this point that God brought some members of RCCG who preached to me and later linked me up with Wholistic Outreach.
In Wholistic, I went through deliverance sessions and discipleship, had my baby and I now am going through catering classes. The high point is that I have been reconciled to my family. I thank God that today I belong to Christ.
IFY
My name is Ify. I am 24 years old from Owerri in Imo State. I dropped out of school in JSS3. A month after my mother’s death, my father remarried and this decision really angered me, and it resulted in frequent quarrels between my step mom and I.
I left home on account of this for Lagos where I met a soldier with whom I started living within the barracks.
Sometime later, the soldier was posted out; he then left me with another man who took me to his family house in Benin. A month later, I found out I was pregnant but his family members asked me to for an abortion, after which I returned to Lagos.
In Lagos, I dated several men but later went back home where I was welcomed for a short while, and then the quarrels with my step mom started and I had to leave again because I felt rejected. Back again in Lagos, I lived with different people until I came in contact with a woman who listened to my story and took me in to stay with her family. At this time, I was pregnant again.
After delivery of my baby, the woman got me a teaching job in a private school but I later lost the job. With no job, I started flirting around until I got pregnant again; with this, the woman asked me to leave her house but kept my son because her already started schooling.
With no place to stay, I started sleeping in Tejuosho market (during the day, I will be roaming around and begging for food and at night, look for a ‘safe’ place in the market to sleep). This continued until God brought RCCG LP 15 my way. They brought me to Wholistic Outreach.
I delivered another baby bot early in 2012; I have learnt catering & kampala making before going ahead to write my WAEC in May 2013. I have moved on to another level in life. I am so grateful Jesus found me.
NKOYO
My name is Nkoyo from Akwa Ibom State and I am 33 years old. My father is late but my mother is still alive in the village. I am the 12th of a family of 16. I was married and have 5 children; because my husband was always beating me, and had carnal knowledge of one of our daughters, I left home in anger for Lagos.
In Lagos, I stayed with a friend who introduced me to commercial sex work, which I did for 2 years before some members of RCCG and Wholistic organized a program in the brothel where I resided, there I gave my life to Jesus. I moved into rehabilitation home early in 2013. I have gone through a deliverance sessions and discipleship. I have learnt catering, the kampala making. The ministry has gotten an accommodation for me and also established a business. I really thank God for His mercy.
AMONOSI
My name is Amonosi from Benin in Edo State. Sometime in 2005, I had followed some members of RCCG who had come to the brothel where I was residing, to know where they were taking our brothel chairlady (madam) to (they had ministered salvation to her). Unknown to me, I was God’s target because the chairlady later left the rehabilitation home while I stayed on.
While in the home, I was ready to learn new things and God really helped me to be submissive to authority (knowing where I was coming from). Though I was nicknamed ‘mummy Jesus’ by my mates, this did not deter me from wanting to learn the things of God. Apart from learning spiritual matters, I also learnt catering (which was about the only vocation available those early days of the ministry) and I was one of seven ladies that graduated from catering class in 2008.
An accommodation was provided for us and I was attached to a parish in Ogun Province 4; the pastor in charge of the Area and his wife took a liking to meand were of immense help to me. I have gone through water baptism. I am now a worker. I love to go on evangelism and also an executive member of a drama group in the province. In mid-2012, I got married to a loving husband (a minister who loves the Lord) and early this year, we were blessed with a beautiful baby girl. Indeed God has been faithful.
UDUAK
My name is Uduak I hail from Delta State. But I have lived in Lagos all my life. Growing up for me was a nightmare as I was rejected by my parents right from my womb and this spirit followed me right up until I was born. Because of the rejection faced mostly by my family, I became a very reserved child. Although by God’s grace I was an exceptional student in school, I developed a major complex because of the way I was being treated at home.
Things grew from bad to worse for me at home as there was no one there to stand up to my family about the way they brutalized me in all areas of my life. I never did know my mom, as she left me with my dads’ family when I was a baby and never since came back. Unfortunately for me my dad passed on when I was about nine years of age so being an illegitimate child as my family termed me to be I went through hell.
I was an only child to my father who had been a wealthy man before his death. There was an issue on how his property should be shared. I therefore became an enemy to members of my family because of my position as my father’s only child. I was eventually thrown out by my family after much harm had been done in my life.
I was sexually molested by our guard right from age six and this continued till I was at about ten years old. I never for once told anyone as there was really no one to tell.
Through all the struggles of life after being a victim of sexual molestation and rape at a tender age, I developed a very thick skin and a hardened heart.
It was about two years after I left home that I met the father of my child. He was the first and only person that showed me love or so I felt. This was another turbulent period in my life as his family objected to our being together based on stories heard about my family.
When the stress became unbearable I took my child and left. I didn’t have anywhere to go so I just walked away and slept outside buildings for a while until I met a team of Wholistic members in one of the RCCG who sent me to the home for rehabilitation. To God be the glory it was that day God arrested me, and today I am singing a new song everyday; my daughter and I have a new testimony.
MY DESIRE
I am presently in the University (thanks to the Ministry) and reading Law. I want to become the best God wants me to be. I also hope and pray my daughter and I are absorbed into a family so we will not have to worry about facing rejection EVER AGAIN
CHIZOBA
My name is Chizoba, I come from Anambra State. I am the fourth child of my mother. I grew up to know that my mother loved me very much but could not do anything because she was mentally unbalanced. Because of her illness, I was taken from one relation to the other. At that time I was at about five years of age.
I was seriously brutalized as a child and that made me despise my people very much. I became very rebellious to the extent that I got pregnant and aborted just to get to my family who claimed they are born again but never showed any atom of it.
Everyone in my family labelled me a black sheep. One of my uncles however believed in me he saw me as an intelligent person, adopted me and financed my education up to class 3 after which he died in 2001 thus causing me to discontinue my education.
There was no one willing to take up where he stopped, so I had to drop out of school. My mother though she was mental at the time she always called me names that made me know that I was going to be great. This gave me strength and propelled me to take my GCE in 2004 with my money even though I knew my chances of passing was slim because I had no knowledge what so ever about the examination I was about to take.
It was that same 2004 that I came to Lagos in quest for greener pastures, went into prostitution to make a living and later met a young man who I fell head over heads in love with. He got me pregnant. He told me he loved me very much which I later realized was a lie.
When I got pregnant and I told him about it, he accepted it so I decided to keep it up until I discovered he had another woman who had children for him. So I decided abort my baby at five months.
It was in cause of trying to abort the baby that God used Hope Valley Clinic magazine to arrest me so I decided to keep the baby and also gave my life to Christ believing He will make a way for me. And He did make a way for me when He introduced me to a couple that brought me to Wholistic Outreach where I had my baby, started school again and I’m about to enter the higher institution by the grace of God.
MY DESIRE
All my life I had always wanted to go to school so I need someone to finance my education to whatever level. I want to study mass communication and I hope to further my education in Oxford University or Harvard University because by the grace of God, I want to be the first black woman to be president of BBC or CNN. I know by His grace I will get there