Crossroad Coffeehouse

Tebogo’s Story
SEVEN TIMES MORE ALIVE THAN OTHERS
By: Carlos Andrés Montañez

Despite his difficult life, Tebogo Mpufane from Rustenburg is a living miracle: due to different life circumstances he ended up contaminated with HIV /AIDS and has survived without ARV´s (Anti Retro Virals)! For a normal person with HIV /AIDS a count of CD4 White blood cells below 125,000 will be deadly. Well, Tebogo has a count over 889,000 just drinking vitamins!!

He never knew his father until he came back from Umkhonto weSizwe (MK), an armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1995. According to Tebogo this army changed and destroyed his father! When his father came back was drunk almost all the time and abused his mum, Tebogo and his two sisters verbally and physically. He eventually ended up abusing sexually all his daughters as well as his wife.   

Tebogo finished his matric in 1997. In 1998 he came to Pretoria and studied for an Information Technology Diploma at Tshwane University of Technology. He couldn't finish his studies because of lack of finance during his second year. Then he started looking for a job. In 2000 he worked at a pizza restaurant for 9 months and then went back to Rustenburg again.  There he had to take care of his mother who was very sick. In this time he did small jobs that he could find close to home. Since then his mum was always in the hospital and in 2010 after Tebogo's mother died his father committed suicide! 

He always heard about God around Him but started his own journey towards Him as he moved away from home. His family was scattered after both their parents´ death:  Marcia, who is 29 years old, started hanging out with the wrong crowds, drinking and misbehaving because she couldn't handle the fact of both her parents dying. She told her aunt that she was coming to Pretoria to look for Tebogo, but he's sure that was a lie... He hasn't heard anything from or of her ever since. No one knows where she is. He desperately wants to find her! 

His other sister, Precious, is 36 years old. She came also to Pretoria and studied at the same University Tebogo did. She studied production management and finished her course but she's struggling after having three miscarriages. He doesn't really know where she is. They've always fought a lot, and so their relationship isn't very good. 

In 2011 Tebogo came to Pretoria and found a job in Centurion. He left the job, because he felt that he was treated wrongly, unfairly. In 2012 he started volunteering at different NGO's so he could maybe find his sister. He quit smoking in April 2012.  
During his time working with Christian NGO´s he seriously understood God´s love in Jesus and committed his life to Him.  By December 2012 he was living in a small flat with a guy who had MDR - TB (the most dangerous, strongest form of tuberculosis) and he never got sick despite his condition!!  Tebogo could not pay his monthly rend and was homeless sleeping in front of the police station for several months. 

Tebogo got to know about ´The Coffee House´ through other people on the streets and came to us during the last months, showing a sound mind, a clear and supernatural testimony of God´s healing and caring and a willingness to improve in his life.   He is very keen to share with people of all ages, especially teenagers about God´s plan and design for sexuality and life in general. He wants young people not to make the same mistakes he made and to come to Jesus. 

By God´s grace We manage to find a shelter for Tebogo where he is now staying and he was privileged to find a job.