TESTIMONY

Isha Kamara, the seventh Banson sibling. This girl is my sister. My family and Isha have been through an amazing journey. This girl has a heart as big as the ocean and her story would either give you goose bumps or it will leave you in tears. God has blessed her and is blessing her. Please follow her YouTube "Kay Talks" and support her (the link will be at the bottom). Now, let's hear testimony.

My testimony: Isha kamara

A world without a mother’s love  And a father’s protection  The vultures wait in line for their pound of flesh  And oh, how they took from me  They took unfailingly  They took persistently  They took aggressively  Until every bit of me  Was stripped naked  For the whole world to see And oh, what a cruel cruel wold it is  Innocence was gone  Energy was drained  And hope was a word I used  To describe something in a far distance  That was out of my reach  Predictions had been made about me  And how my life would turn out to be  There was no one to rescue me  They all folded their arms in waiting to see  How the naïve me  Would make it out the deep blue sea I had given up and was letting go to drawn – in  But little did I know  There was someone watching over me  When I least expected it  Jesus Christ came to save me  This is my testimony  And the reason why I praise him so fervently 

Many people have that one great experience that led them to God, which I admire, sometimes I even used to think to myself “Wow! Isha what is your testimony? What was that one day you could say yeah my life changed for good and I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour”. This year I realised that my whole life is my testimony. I am a living, breathing, walking testimony and I did not even know it. I think I struggled to come to terms with this due to the way I was raised from a toddler to the age of 11 years. I was taught to; suppress, keep in, lie and conceal so much so that I would struggle to tell my real life story to people because I thought it was shameful or I would sound ungrateful to those who claimed to love and look after me but really did not. 

Is it not funny how most times when we get out of a situation that we think is bad, then realise that it strengthened us or lead us to a victory, that’s when we appreciate the ‘bad’ time. And at times we even wish that we did not complain through it but took more advantage of it. I know that sentence sounds more easer written than when we are actually going through it. Trust me I can contest to that but I am learning each day to enjoy the process of my life because this life is all about “progression and not perfection”- Pastor Michael Todd. I feel like my life has been a lot of journeys of hardship.  It is only this year I could say I have truly found peace in God and started to seek who he is and who I am in him. Through all of these journeys, God protected me and I did not even know it at the time. Today, I will share with you a glimpse of the glory of God over my life. 

I was born in West Africa (Sierra Leone) on 19th May 1998, three days after my birth a civil war emerged, as the rebels were approaching our home, my mother was trying to convince her mother (my grandma) to hurry and pack her belongings (we had aunties who lived in London that would send her luxury items that my grandma valued). As soon as my grandma had finished packing the rebels were at our door; my mother had me in her arms and my two older siblings by her foot. The rebels told my mum to leave with her children and leave her mother behind otherwise they will kill us all. My mother left with us reluctantly and as we step out the house we heard a loud gunshot and that was the end of my grandma’s life; no time to grieve. We had to keep running for our lives. Have you ever watched the series lost ‘yeah’ we were living it for real? Whilst running we reached a deep river that we had to pass over to get to dry land. At the time my mother had me wrapped around her back and had forgotten she had a three-day old baby there. My mother swam with my siblings across the river for about 10minutes which means I was under the water the whole time ( I should have died!). After that, I had lost all sense of consciousness and my lungs were filled with so many nasty things. My mother only remembered she had me on her back after walking for a good while on dry land and I started to cough. She started crying and trying her best to get everything out of my lungs.

After a lot of running, we met up with my three uncles and ended up in Ghana as refugees where my mother eventually died. Shortly after, my auntie who lived in England ‘Plymouth’ brought us to live here. There was a massive family feud which led us to live with another auntie in London where I and my siblings experienced; emotional, physical and mental abuse. My auntie eventually made my sister homeless at the age of 15 and put myself and my brother in foster care. I will never forget the heartbreak I experienced that day as she told the social worker that “she no longer wanted us” and left in a heartbeat. Till this day, I do not think I have cried so much. Literally from morning to evening and six weeks straight every night in our emergency foster carers home asking God “why” and praying to go back to what I considered home at the time. I thought my life was going to be like Tracy beakers LOL. Looking back I did not realise that home was toxic for me. I had become so numb and normalised to the dysfunction that I wished to go back to it. On that day someone I use to call “mummy” as I had no recollection of my own mother became a stranger to me. 

Little did I know the day I met my permanent foster carer (Earlene) was the day my life will change for the better. Earlene came in my life when I had experienced so much; hurt, pain and trauma. I built up a wall that I decided at the age of 11 that no one would break down. This led me to be what people will describe then as; shy, timid and scared that I even allowed myself to believe this for years. I can honestly say that Earlene was truly sent by God for myself and my brother. Most people will describe being in the foster care system as one of the worst experience of their lives. However, for me, it was when I actually started enjoying my childhood and received true love, care and compassion from a woman who not only called herself a Christian but lived as one. I lived with Earlene from the age of 11 to the age of 21 and learnt so much from her that has helped shaped the woman I am today and I am still learning from her now. We have a wonderful relationship and I can truly say she has been a mother to me. I did not know God had that type of love in store for me.

Now when I look back I realise that God had his hand over me the whole time and everything I experienced happened for a reason and he has a purpose for it. Everything works together for good for those who love God and are working according to his purpose (Romans 8:28) Recently, I have been praying to God for my purpose and my gifts and I now know that he is calling me to make changes in the foster care community. Something I feel that I would not have been able to relate to if I had not experienced it. God has surrounded me with many tools I need to execute his work and I am trying my best to work on it day by day with the strength of God. 

At the beginning of this year, I earnestly sought after God and he has been revealing himself to me and allowing me to be free in him and I can now say I accept Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour and I believe that he lived, he died and he rose again for all our sins. Amen. 

So, to anyone who may be questioning God right now and why they are experiencing turmoil after turmoil, remember that God will work everything out for your good. Focus on him. He had me when I did not even know him. So,  if you know him please hold on to him he will never let you go. He never strays away from you. He loves you. 

Thank you, Sarah for trusting me on your platform. May God continue to fill you with his glory. Amen. 

Prayer: Lord, we thank you today. We thank you for giving Isha the courage and grace to share her testimony. We can see your amazing works and we pray for our own testimonies. We thank you Lord, in Jesus name, amen.

Message to Isha: Thank you so much Isha for sharing your testimony. Our God that protected you from Sierra Leone should protect you forever. May blessings follow you everywhere and may your purpose benefits anyone that comes across your path. You shall never lack anything and may all your heart desire come true. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. Keep being great.