Ngalula came to Goma by boat from Bukavu. She'd walked weeks through the forest to get to Bukavu. She didn't even know where she had come from. She was dressed in clothes given to her by some woman in the first village she'd come to after escaping the men who had held her captive for years. She had seen her entire family killed before her eyes, and she was taken as a slave. When she escaped she was pregnant.

When she arrived at the dock in Goma she asked a policeman to take her to the hospital for women. He took her home instead, and raped her again. She escaped once again, and eventually got to the HEAL Africa hospital.

Ngalula wanted to get rid of the child. The counselors became her family, and gradually she started to feel safe. She was healed in body, and as her spirit healed, she decided to keep the baby. One of the administrators agreed to give his name to the baby, when the little boy was born. When she was ready to live again, a donor provided money for her to go to cooking school in Kigali. She and her little son are living in Kigali, and she's learned Kinyarwanda and is learning French in addition to the Swahili she already knew.

She comes back to Goma, to HEAL Africa, to the counselors who are her "mothers" and the proud grandmothers of Johnny, who is now nearly two years old. Another donor is helping her as well, and flew her to the city in the north of Kivu where they live, to meet her and Johnny.

This is a story of hope and transformation. She will have good skills and will be able to earn a living for herself and her son. She is confident and radiant. Pray for protection for her and her son.

(Names have been changed to protect the confidentiality of those involved.)