Granting His Wishes

Sanda Matshayana is fighting a rare disorder and those around him are trying to make his battle a little easier

- Siyabonga Kamnqa

THE gospel tune Igama LeNkosi Liyasindisa (God’s Word Heals) by award-winning gospel star Lusanda Mcinga’s band is playing softly on a radio as a nurse gives the little boy his medication.

Lusanda is the boy’s favourite singer. Hearing her music is one of the few things that can still put a smile on the face of Sanda Matshayana (12). So you can imagine his joy when the singer came to his hospital ward recently and gave him a bedside concert.

Sanda has short bowel syndrome and doctors recently told his mother, Kayakazi Macozoma, there was little more they could do for him apart from keeping him comfortable.

Was there anything else that could ease the pain, staff at Life Vincent Pallotti Hospital in Cape Town asked? Any wish he’d like fulfilled?

Yes, he said – to see Lusanda perform. Sanda is convinced prayer will help heal him, his mom says, and if he could get his idol to sing and pray for him perhaps he would have a chance.

When Bonginkosi Madikizela, the Western Cape human settlements MEC heard of Sanda’s wish, he sponsored Lusanda’s trip from the Eastern Cape to Cape Town.

Standing at the boy’s side, the star treated him to a few of his favourite tunes, much to the young patient’s joy.

“Words cannot describe how saddened I am to watch such a bright young boy suffer like this,” Lusanda tells us. “But we believe in the power of prayer. We praise a miracle God and He is the one who will give the final answer.