Nesizwa

Neziswa Mlahlwa has a vivid memory of her 2005 arrival in Cape Town. “I was hopeless,” she recalls. Unemployed and recently diagnosed with HIV, she faced a bleak future indeed.     

Then God intervened. Neziswa visited the health clinic in Masiphumelele and joined a Living Hope support group for HIV patients. She went to work for African Hope Crafts, a shop that employs people with the illness. She began ARV treatment and saw her health improve. Best of all, she received Jesus as her Savior after hearing the Gospel from Living Hope staff.       

“I told myself, ‘This is not the end of my life.’ I realized I have a responsibility to take care of my children,” says Neziswa, the mother of two sons, ages 11 and 13. “Living Hope has given me a lot of hope.”   

Today she shares that hope with clients of her own, having joined Living Hope as a support group facilitator in 2007. “I tell my clients they can live a long life if they have hope in God,” she says. “He is the way. They must let Him rule over their lives. That’s what I have learned. I can’t rule myself. I must let God control me.”