Terry Gobanga was raped and stabbed on the morning of her wedding, and when she finally got married, her husband died 29 days later. Despite it all, she overcame self-pity and despair and found love again.
Terry describes him as one who had “a very clear motive” to be a friend at a time when other men wanted to take advantage of her situation.
Doctors had informed Terry that she would never conceive since her womb had been damaged as a result of the stabbing she received when she was raped.
She informed her current husband who said he did not mind not having children. But the doctors were disproved when she got pregnant.
Despite having gone through a lot of negative experiences, Terry says her inspiration comes from the fact that she can tell people that bad situations are only there for a while.
She has written a book – Crawling out of Darkness (2011) – that captures the details of her story and gives hope to those in despair.
Terry and her husband pastor their church, Stones to Rubies Ministries, located at China Centre along Ngong Road.
Terry also mentors women through a ministry called Pearls of Hadassah. She uses this platform to teach women how to cope with the situations affecting them and uses her story to help them overcome their challenges.
“When you’ve been hit so much with life’s challenges and everything seems to come to an end, never give up.
There are periods you feel you’re done but don’t stop turning the pages. It’s a bad chapter right now but when you continue walking, you’ll realise there’s something more. God has put an intrinsic treasure in all of us. Don’t quit,” she says.
Eventually, their church décor had to be taken down to give way to a second wedding that was starting at noon.
A young girl witnessed Terry being thrown out of the vehicle and ran to her grandmother to report the incident.
The grandmother shouted for help. Those who came to her aid tried to flag down vehicles to take Terry to hospital but the longer it took the more convinced they became that she was dead given the amount of blood she was losing.
Further, someone checked for her pulse and told those gathered that she was dead. The police on the other hand were not responding to calls for help.
Terry was later informed that a prominent person happened to pass by decided to find out what was happening when he saw a huge crowd of sad people. He then managed to convince the police to come to the scene.
The police saw her and proclaimed she was dead. She was then wrapped in a blanket and the vehicle headed for City Mortuary.
The police, however, decided to stop at a station to record a statement when Terry returned to consciousness and coughed, startling the officers who had thought she was dead. The police quickly took her to Kenyatta National Hospital.
Back at home, her family was frantically getting in touch with anyone who knew her to find out where she was.
And at the hospital, a matron looked at her and told the other nurses that Terry looked like a bride. “Let me check the churches around to see whether they are missing a bride,” she said.
Coincidentally, she began with the All Saints Cathedral where Terry was to wed. Terry believes it was the hand of God that directed the matron.
The presiding cleric confirmed that a bride had failed to show up for her wedding and came to the hospital and confirmed that Terry was the missing lady.
The story of the matron was narrated to Terry after she came to full consciousness as she had been very violent and shouted at anyone who dared talk to her.
Got wind of the story
Her family was informed of her whereabouts, but the media also got wind of the story and several reporters and cameramen were at KNH to get the details.
“It hurts when you’re the one wearing the shoes and others are just there to get the story. I wasn’t aware of what was going on, but my family was annoyed and tried to prevent the media from taking pictures,” Terry recalls.
I refuse to let a tragic past ruin my life’s story
