The life of 19-year-old Mirriam Chisaka in Malawi’s commercial city, Blantyre has completely changed within a month since a ‘mysterious’ object was removed from her body.
While science is calling the 3.1kg mass an ovarian tumour, Mirriam’s pastor says it is a three-headed snake from the depths of the sea.
Apostle Llinet Matope believes that the girl, who lives in Manyowe Township in the city, was a Satanist. She claims to have rescued Mirriam by killing her tormentor with the power of Jesus Christ.
In her small frame, dressed in a black skirt and orange top, Mirriam displayed her vertical scar along her stomach where she was operated on at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre on January 8 2013 to remove the mass.
Chief hospital administrator for QECH Themba Mhango said revealing details of the patient’s condition to the public without her consent is a breach of medical ethics and patient confidentiality.
“So in short, we are not denying nor confirming it,” said Mhango.
Mirriam’s health passport shows that she was operated on to remove an ovarian tumour. Her condition is described as a huge palpated and fixed mass.
According to Internet search on women’s health on www.webmd.com, tumours can form in the ovaries, just as they form in other parts of the body. If tumours are non-cancerous, they are said to be benign. If they are cancerous, they are called malignant.
Mirriam’s tale began in November when she awoke one morning with sharp abdominal pains that prevented her from walking normally or even answering to the call of nature.
“In December, the pains got worse and I sought spiritual intervention from Matope’s fellowship. I attended several meetings before she pointed at me as having satanic spirits. I was surprised, but did not argue. She prayed for me and I fell to the ground screaming.
“She further revealed to me that I had an object living on my inside and it was meant to defuse pastors’ powers for the triumph of the dark world. She told me that the object left my body in the night and returned to me as its house. The pastor said she had killed it with the power of prayer,” said Mirriam.
She said while in hospital, she dreamt about two girls accusing her of making a fool of them by leaving the satanic practice. The dream was set in an incomplete building where several youths converged.
Mirriam’s encounter with Matope was the start of a long journey to full recovery. She said after the prayers, she began noticing changes to her body with the rapid swelling of her stomach that triggered pregnancy suspicions by her family.
Mirriam claimed that the pain continued, but it was the stomach protrusion that further confused her and she rushed back to Matope for answers.
“She assured me that everything was alright and that the protrusion was a result of the death of the object. She said I should not worry, but got to the hospital so it could be removed surgically,” she said.
This was after her mother took her to a Banja la Mtsogolo clinic in Chilomoni for a pregnancy test which turned out negative. She was admitted to QECH on January 7 and operated on the following day.
Her mother, Gertrude Phiri, described the object as resembling two round balls, each with a hole in the centre.
“I am convinced that God intervened in the life of my child and saved her. I know that it may look like anything in the natural, but spiritually, Matope saw what she saw and as a believer, I know it is true,” said Phiri.
Matope confirmed having discerned a spirit of Satan in the girl which she said was in the form of a snake called Nangumi. She claimed to have been seeing Mirriam in her visions for over a year, but did not know who she was.
“I knew she was possessed and when her mother came to my church one day, I immediately connected the two. I also knew the daughter will come some day and she did following her agony,” said Matope.
But another pastor, who refused to be identified, questioned Mtope’s theory of killing a demon while inside a human. He said a demon, which is in the form of a spirit form, is never killed, but cast out through prayer.
