One boy gets a second chance
After joining a gang and running away from home, one Masi teenager has returned and is getting his life back together.
Mandla* is a 14-year-old boy in the Vulnerable Children program, a ministry of All Nations. Mandla is from Masiphumelele and has grown up with a very unstable home life, moving from house to house when his mother would leave for months at a time. He ran away from home a year and half ago and was living on the streets with a group of gansters. Because his family had no contact with him and we had no way of locating him, we had to drop him from the program.
But we did not give up on Mandla. We continued to pray for him and believe for a complete miracle in his life! In August we began to really contend and ask the Lord to restore him to his family. In September we found out that he had returned home and was living with his mother and sisters! The story does not end there. Since then we have seen such a change in Mandla. His neighbors have been telling us that he is no longer going out with his gangster friends and that he is very helpful around the property he lives.
He came to us and told us that he wants to go back to school! But when his mother went to register him they would not accept him because he had been expelled two years ago for drug use at school. We began speaking with the administrators, advocating for Mandla and testifying that he is truly changing and that we will support him. The administrators decided to admit him to school! We took Mandla to purchase a school uniform and supplies, and he began school the next day! It was such a beautiful experience to see this child prepare to go back to school.
This is a child who would have no other chance if we had not been a voice for him. He has been given a second chance. THAT is the heart of Jesus…redemption, second chances, new life. I was so overwhelmed with thankfulness watching him pick out school supplies, proudly carry his full sack of new clothes for school and have so much fun just pushing around the shopping cart through the mall. I was so overwhelmed by it all and so thankful to be able to care for vulnerable children like Mandla. Praise God for miraculous transformation in this child’s life. We are expectant for even bigger things for Mandla!
*Name changed
