Description
Born into hardship in a black township near Salisbury (now Harare), Zimbabwe, Stephen Lungu’s life began with abandonment and uncertainty. The eldest son of a teenage mother forced into marriage, Stephen was only three years old when she fled, leaving him and his younger siblings in the reluctant care of relatives. By the age of eleven, he too had run away – choosing the brutal independence of street life over neglect.
Surviving meant sleeping under bridges, scavenging scraps from dustbins, and learning how to fend for himself in a world that showed little mercy. As he grew older, Stephen was drawn into a life of crime, recruited into a notorious gang known as the Black Shadows. Driven by anger, survival instincts, and a vague dream of revolution, he became part of a movement marked by violence, theft, and destruction.
But everything changed the day he was sent on a mission.
Armed with homemade bombs, Stephen was ordered to infiltrate a large evangelistic gathering and destroy it. Blending into the crowd, he waited for the right moment to strike. Yet instead of carrying out the plan, he did something no one expected. He stayed to listen.
What followed was an encounter that would transform his life forever.
In this gripping and deeply moving story, Stephen Lungu recounts a journey from abandonment, violence, and hatred to hope, purpose, and redemption.
