Days after she came out of the rubbles of
the Synagogue Church of All Nations
(SCOAN), South African Lindiwe Ndwandwe
finally recounted her five-day ordeal,
revealing that she survived on her urine.
In a 20-minute video made available to
THISDAY yesterday by Adaure Achumba, the
West African correspondent of eNews
Channel Africa (eNCA), Ndwandwe
attributed her rescue to her faith in God.
According to her, she survived by drinking
her urine after she got dehydrated.
She said: “I was trapped in the toilet for five
days. I was hungry and thirsty throughout
my stay there. I couldn’t even move so I was
just lying down because there was no leg or
headroom to move around."
Rescue operations had been ongoing for
four days when she walked out unaided on
the fifth day at about 2 am last week
Tuesday after excavation had been done in
the section where she was trapped.
She said: “I was about to eat when I decided
to visit the restroom. When I was there, I
heard this noise and then the ceiling of the
toilet came crumbling down.
“I heard people praying but I was alone in
that place. I tried to sleep but it was
difficult. It was through a hole that I knew
whether it was day or night.
“On the third day, I knew they were
rescuing people because I stopped hearing
the voices of my neighbours.”
On how she survived, she said: “Remember
I was about to eat when I decided to visit
the rest room. When I was hungry, it was
then I started having a conversation with
God. Anytime I was hungry or thirsty and I
told God, I will just fall asleep. On the
fourth day, I was becoming weaker.
“And I was more thirsty. It then occurred to
me that the only thing to do was to drink
my urine. But I couldn’t even do that
because I was lying on my side and the
ceiling was hanging over me.
“So I removed my vest from my neck, put it
round my legs and urinated on it. The same
urine-soaked vest was what I sucked on
anytime I got thirsty.”
On how she was rescued, she said she
heard two men arguing on whether to dig
where she was or not and when they did,
she came out alive with a few bruises on
her arms.
She said: “When I was rescued and I called
my husband, the only thing he could say
was thank God. I could hear the loud shouts
of my family rejoicing in the background.”
After the interview, she was again led to the
site of the collapsed building, where she
broke down upon sighting the wreckage
from where she crawled out, muttering that
it was God that saved her.
www.thisdaylive.com/articles/synagogue-tragedy-how-s-african-survived-by-drinking-her-urine/189635/

tank God for her life

When something avoidable becomes a source of testimony. Thank God for your life.