More than a decade has passed since Susan Ithungu was rescued from a dark, cramped closet where her father had locked her after his beatings failed to extinguish her faith in Christ.
The abuse began at age 11, after she was baptised as a Christian. Her father beat her, threatened her life and finally locked her away to die in the darkness. Susan’s brother secretly gave her roasted bananas and a little water occasionally, but it was nearly six months before authorities learned of the abuse and freed Susan in September 2010.
Although 85% of Uganda’s population is Christian, Islamic extremism has been on the rise, and those who leave Islam for Christianity often face physical abuse from family members.
Covered with open wounds, suffering from untreated malaria and weighing only 20 kilograms, Susan was so weak that her bones had become brittle and stopped growing. She spent the first year of her freedom in hospital and has since endured 13 operations to repair the damage done to her body. She still uses crutches to move around, but her prospects and outlook on life are very different now than when she first left her father’s house.
“I feel so happy,” she said during a recent conversation with VOM. “From the time I became a believer and those things were happening to me, and afterwards [during the hospitalisations], I didn’t know if I would ever heal or go back to school. But … I can look back and see how God was always there for me and I was never alone. So I know that whatever comes in the future, God will help me.”
One way He helped her was by sending her a Christian woman named Dreda Birra, or ‘Mama Dreda’, as Susan calls her. When Dreda heard of Susan’s situation, soon after her release from captivity, she knew the Lord was calling her to help her little sister in Christ. She committed herself to Susan’s care and took her in as part of her own family.
A Christian woman who saw Dreda with Susan in the hospital told a local church about them. As word spread, Christians began to bring them food and help pay for Susan’s hospital bills. The global body of Christ has also helped pay Susan’s school fees and provided necessities to support Susan and Dreda.
At times Susan wondered whether she would be able to experience a normal life, but finding friends in a good school has helped tremendously. “There have been times when I was sick or recovering from surgeries, where I was missing years of school,” Susan said, “and I thought, ‘Okay, I am different and I will never fit in’.”
Susan briefly considered leaving school, but her love of learning drove her to persevere. She has now completed year 11 and is planning her future. She thinks she might pursue journalism.
When front-line workers first met Susan, they were encouraged by her strong faith and positive spirit, but they noticed an even bigger change during their most recent visit. “This is the most joyous and healthy I have ever seen her,” one worker said. “If you did not know her story, you would never assume she would have been through what happened to her. It is an amazing testimony not only of Susan’s and Dreda’s faithfulness but ultimately the Lord’s.”
Besides the provision of medical care, Christian friends and support for daily living, Susan has seen the Lord’s faithfulness in an unexpected place — her relationship with her father. In recent years, as she entered adulthood, she has begun to talk to him again. Although her father remains unrepentant and blames her suffering on her conversion from Islam to Christianity, Susan has found the strength to face him and ultimately forgive him.
“There are times I just look at him and get angry,” she said, “but then I stop and remember I have to forgive him.” It has not been easy for Susan, especially during times of intense pain, but forgiveness has brought her a different kind of freedom. She wants to honour her father despite the abuse.
“Moments [of anger] can come,” she said, “but I find encouragement to keep the relationship. I can’t finish one day without thinking about my father, and I pray for him all the time.”
Susan enjoys studying the Bible with friends, and she feels a special connection to Ezekiel 37, where the prophet sees a valley full of dry bones. “It talks about the dry bones coming back to life,” she said. “That is what I pray the Lord does for me physically and what He has already done for me spiritually.”
She expects to have one more surgery, and she hopes it will be her last. She and Dreda were joyfully surprised this year by the gift of a small house from the global body of Christ. Located near Susan’s school, the house is set back from the road to provide peace and security.
“When I heard a home was going to be built for us, I was overwhelmed,” Dreda said, laughing. “When I told my family, they said, ‘God is good!’ So now everyone is longing to see Susan here. We will dance with Susan in this house! Everything that we have prayed for, God has done. I have joy in my heart; I can hardly speak because of joy!”
VOM has been helping Susan since 2013.
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