Music Saved Me.

Londiwe Lukhele-Dlamini grew up at Mpaka in the Lubombo region @ Eswatini is a second born out of 7 siblings of a couple who traditional wedded before she was born and my mother was 16 years old when she married my father. Their marriage was not a bad of roses, my father left my mother for another woman right after 10 years of marriage. My paternal grandfather who was a very God fearing woman supported my mother as she could not go back to her family, she had to leave us with my grandmother and my other 3 siblings then, she left for the factories in Matsapha to help with school fees mostly as my other uncles provided food even though they made us work very hard for those meals.

While my mother was hustling in the factories unfortunately me and my younger sister not only were we physically abused but experienced sexual abuse from my cousins whom were loved by our uncles they would not do no wrong in their eyes. It was a very painful time, it is so humiliating to not be believed by the people you trust, worse of all is wishing and knowing that your father is out there but cannot protect you. I endured that horrible experience until my grandmother persuaded my mother to take us away from the village as she was old and could not save us. At the age of 12 two major things happened, firstly, I accepted the Lord as my saviour, secondly, I moved in a one room flat with my mother, she had to do overtimes to support us and take us to school, we would sometimes go a night without food as long as we had attended school.

As all this happens im still struggling with the loss of my purity, everytime i had a flashback of what happened in the village i would sing a song that was my comfort my safe haven, everything seemed to be perfect, my voice was my therapy, it opened doors for me as people loved me for it, it made me feel special, i found myself in a world that was so awful to innocent souls. I used my voice to stay closer to God and to gain back what was taken to me forcefully. By the help of a missionary who was in the country serving who fell in love with me and my sister, she decided to support us and pay our school fees and she helped us to finish high school, and she asked us what we wanted to do now that we had graduated high school, I simply told her i wanted to work with children and use my story as a story of resilience, few weeks later I was serving for Children’s cup an organisation which was working in different communities around two cities, they were mainly addressing the HIV issue and discipleship.

Unfortunately two years later, they faced some financial issues and let us go. In one of our discipleship workshop i had met the amazing D-team and kept in touch with Zodwa specifically who had a beautiful voice. 2010 they invited me to meet with former director Mr Gerber who welcomed me in the team, since then i have one mission to share my story of how God helped me to use my voice to be resilient in all the obstacles life throws at me. 2012 I got married to my best friend Menzi Dlamini whom i love so much and we were blessed with a beautiful daughter Sabusiswa Denise Dlamini who is 6 years old in grade 2. In 2014 in our organization we hosted our first choir competition whilst i was still a d-team member then in 2015 i got the opportunity to pioneer the Music Ministry which God had a purpose for me from the beginning.

I have experienced growth spiritually and as leader in these wonderful ministry, God has done great things, lives have been impacted and I believe God is still goin to do great things for the young people of Eswatini and i am humbled to share my story and do lives with this young people that are part of the Music Ministry. I am also excited to share with you all on this journey about what the Lord will do for my family and the ministry He had entrusted me to lead.