I will give my testimony briefly because my son is unwell so i need to to rush him to the dispensary. My name is Shida Hassan, I was born in the village of Komkonga, Handeni district in Tanga, Tanzania.I am an orphan of a father and mother. They died when I was young and I do not know the date of birth or the year So from these circumstances I did not go to school.After my mother died I was adopted and raised by my aunt.In short I grew up in a very difficult environment,I remember this place was a bush at the time.I was raised up on the basis of Islamic religion and that had been my faith and religion until i met Jesus Christ in my adult age.We were taught to worship Allah as God the creator and worthy to be worshiped and glorified That is was my faith believing that he was true God, I gave him respect, honor his prophet as We read in the Qur'an, “I have not created the jinn(devils) and humankind except that they worship Me” .

While living with aunt, life was not very hard for me because I was abused and made to overwork on various domestic and farm work.I was repeatedly unfairly accused of things that I did not do, which led to severe beatings, starving. this led me to get married when I was still very young in order to escape that torture I was going through. The man who married me hid me that he was already married to another woman with whom they had failed to get a child and I came to know about only after this man had already taken me to his house.

Even after him confessing to me that he was married to another woman,there's nothing I could do about as the Islam religion allows men to marry several wives.So I had to agree and put up with the situation as according to the teachings of the religion and the guide of the Quran men have the final say.After getting pregnant, my husband changed and began to abuse me and refuse to be responsible and deny me the basic needs.It was very difficult for me to know peace for a long time and I lived without knowing what my fate would like. When I saw things getting worse, I made the decision to return to my aunt while I was pregnant.

Later the time came when I gave birth to my first born son. Life continued to be very difficult, and I was unable to feed my child properly until he reached one year (1),the baby began to fall sick for six months (6),and in the absence of close support I began to take for my child for traditional healers for treatment almost all this period until I was able to take him to the hospital and when he was diagnosed the disease was not found.Then I was advised by my aunt to go back to the traditional healers who some of them are Muslim Imams(Shehe). I was frustrated for searching for an answer with no response and I decided it was best to bring him back to the hospital without any money, in fact the situation was very difficult,and unable to afford hospital expenses until my dear son died from hospital at the age of one (1) year and six months (6).

I was so frustrated and disappointed that the father of this child failed to provide any sort of assistance throughout this difficult period,not moral neither financial support.

"After my son died, I sought help from relatives and friends without success,so I had carry my son's dead body on my back and walk for thirty miles (30 miles) until home."

And funeral procedures began, I was not allowed to see my daughter's body being laid and never game my last respect to my daughter and that's according to our traditions,till this day I do not know where my son's tomb is. This life of hardship went on and after a year I got married again to another man with whom we were blessed with four children, two (2) girls and two (2) boys. Out of the four, one child was taken by his grandmother's (my husband's mother) for the purpose of alleviating us from the burden of feeding four children as the life we ​​were going through with my second husband was really hard..

My mother in law was living in a far away place from ours that required 2days to reach by foot.while at her home,my son who was living with her got very ill,he died and was buried and all this happened without us getting any information about what was happening. When the news reached us after a little while, then we went there to mourn.I was so hurt and frustrated because for the second time I could not bury my child, I was really disappointed and desperate.

After this tragedy my husband left me with the children at home without food for money, for a long time.The landlord ran out of patience until he decided to expel me and the children and threw my things out.After an attempt to find my husband in all the places I knew and could not find him then I decided to return to my aunt. And after many days passed,he came and gave me a divorce and left me with the three children to go and marry another woman accusing me of being a cause of bad luck,having demons and my presence was a bad omen in his life. I waited more than two years after being abandoned by my man and I re-married another man with whom I live today and this is my third marriage.We are blessed with two children (2).

When we started living with my third husband, life brought hope and I found comfort because I used to go through a very difficult situation, I could say back then I didn't know the meaning of peace and tranquility.Then we got our first child without any problem.But when I got the second pregnancy (2) my cousin (aunt's daughter) got very sick, with her bad condition, we did not know what the problem was so we straight away went to the witch doctors. For us once a person gets sick we run to witch doctors to seek for treatment due to the system of superstitious beliefs that we have been built from childhood and believe that the person has been bewitched.

And there the traditional healers sent us for various materials (several chickens ,goats,coco nuts,razer blades ect..) for the sacrifice in order for my cousin to be cured,but due to our poor financial situation we failed to continue with these demands and then we decided to take her back home.Her condition worsened and I had to take care of her all the time with my pregnancy.After lengthy talks then the family decided that it would be better for us to take her to the hospital so that they could identify the problem.

We took her to the hospital and it was found that she was infected with HIV. After it was known that she had been infected with AIDS relatives rejected her and feared to approach her, so I decided to take care of her for two years (2) until she died.During the same period as I went to the clinic for pregnant mothers and after tests I was also diagnosed with HIV. These results completely confused me,i lost the courage to continue living,I felt worthless ,I felt really like I was meant to just suffer in life and I did not have hope to live left inside me.when I remembered the history of all my life I considered myself unworthy to live.

I thought of my children and asked myself who would be ready to raise them after i die ? I didn't know how to deliver this news to my husband, because I did not know what would be his reaction.when I remembered the history of all my life I considered myself unworthy to live.But I decided to tell my husband the truth because I could not keep this a secret for a long time.After I told my husband he was very upset and confused he took the decision to leave me.His decisions were more confusing and discouraging to as i had always been faithful in my marriage, never had i ever cheated on him.I knew that HIV had no cure.

I started taking the medication given from the hospital for two months (2) and friends encouraged me until I gave birth to my last child who was also diagnosed with this infection after testing.

Meeting Jesus and receiving my healing

March 2016 missionaries came to announce the word of God in our area, I heard their arrival in the street urging people to come to Jesus to be healed and forgiven all their sins.These words touched my heart although at first i taught that it was impossible but decided to shared the news with my husband and he allowed me to fallow the call in my heart and I went to the crusade to listen keenly. The sermons touched my heart and began to think of changing religion from Islam to Christianity and being saved but I did not think I could be healed because I knew HIV had no cure.

When I returned home I told my husband about the sermon and told him that I wanted to be saved and abandon the culture of witchcraft and anything to do with it .and the faith that I knew from childhood because it had put me through so much suffering.And my husband did not oppose my decisions and agreed with me .Then I went for repentance on the fifth day of the crusade. I felt like I was born again,so relieved,happy and the burden of thoughts I had in me somehow disappeared,I had suddenly found hope because I was told Jesus loves me and cares for me,he had forgiven me all my sins and from that day my name was written in the book of life so I was told to believe he will heal me and renew me and my family(what a great day it was for me) .The pastor told me that from that day my name would no longer be Shida(which means troubles) but my new name would be HAPPINESS and that's the name I use till today.

I was told God forgives all sins and sanctifies no matter what I did in the past but if I repent and turn away from sin then I will inherit the kingdom of God Now this was very brandy new life for me and my family.I recall that day I was very happy and after the crusade had finished I looked for the pastor and told him all my problems to seek advice and guidance for finding lasting peace in my heart.I received detailed instructions that helped me and relieved me of the fears I had and gave me the assurance that I made the right decisions and Jesus was going to heal me.He also ordered me to collect all the magical( witchcraft ) materials given to me by the healers and bring them to the church so that we could burn them, I did what I was told and brought them out and burned them all

I was given a special prayer session of seven (7) days of fasting and praying for my unlocking, while they were also teaching me the word of God.

Jesus has healed me -

After the seven-day prayer I felt very fresh and comfortable and it was discovered that all the demons I had came out of me.the pastor told me to go back to the hospital for re-HIV testing and when I went to the district hospital the nurses there refused to test me as they were furious that i had stopped taking medication.The church sent me to Mombo hospital in Tanga township for test as they wanted me to be sure that Jesus had healed me.There I went with my youngest boy to whom I gave birth while infected and the results came NEGATIVE. I couldn't believe it as I thought I was dreaming.

I returned to church with the results and that is when they gave me few people who would accompany me to the district hospital where I had tested POSITIVE while pregnant and after delivery to first to show them these results and convince to do for me another test.This time they agreed and their results came NEGATIVE for both my son and I and the nurses could not believe their eyes.I have since then undergone 3 tests together with my husband and we thank God the creator of the Universe for this miracle.to him we owe our lives and we are currently serving him and help spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our village

With thanks

All my sincere thanks to the Most High God, the Creator of heaven and earth,for he has done great wonders in my life.To him be glory forever and ever.Amen !