TB Joshua disaster: last woman saved praises God
She said her faith in God kept her going, even when the rescue teams lost hope of ever finding anyone alive five days after the building collapsed
By Victor Ne-Vumbani
The last person pulled out of the rubble alive after Nigerian prophet TB Joshua’s building collapsed on September 12, said she is alive today because of the grace and love of God.
Lindiwe Ndwandwe from Umthambeka Section in Tembisa spent five days trapped under heavy metal and bricks without food and water.
She said her faith in God kept her going, even when the rescue teams lost hope of ever finding anyone alive five days after the building collapsed.
It all started when Ndwandwe arrived in Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday, September 10.
“I spent the whole day trying to see the place and locating other South Africans who were also in Nigeria. I attended some spiritual lessons before we called it a day,” she told The Tembisan.
Ndwandwe’s ordeal began on the Friday afternoon. “I attended a church service for the better part of the morning. At lunch time, I went into the building where I met a fellow South African woman also waiting to eat her lunch.
‘I gave her my handbag and rushed to the bathroom on the first floor. I was about to pull up my trousers when the building collapsed. It happened so fast that in just seconds, I was lying under heavy rubble with no space to move,” she said.
When asked what came into her mind after realising she was trapped and there was very little hope of surviving, she said she thought of her mother and her family.
“I thought of my family. It was so dark in there and to be honest, I was frightened,” she said.
She spent three days lying there all alone, with no prospect of hope.
“On the third day, I realised there was no one to talk to except God. I asked God to save my life. I prayed and said that if I die, let me go straight to heaven. But if I live, I will spend the rest of my life glorifying His name,”she said.
She added that on the fourth day, she started hearing the voices of people moving on top of the rubble. She was getting weaker.
She said she heard a mysterious voice saying that she would not die.
“I heard the voice three times. I remembered that Jesus Christ spent 40 days praying without food but he did not die. TB Joshua also spent 40 days praying without eating anything, and he too did not die.
“I told myself that even if I am under the rubble, I was not going to die, because God has told me that I will survive,” she said.
She spent the whole day praying and was pulled out of the rubble on Tuesday morning.
“I spent two days in a Nigerian hospital and people were calling me the miracle woman. Doctors checked and found that no bones were broken and believe you me, because of the grace and love of God, I have survived against all the odds,” she said.
