The first time Famata tasted drugs, she was afraid, and didn’t want to take it, but all it took was a little bit of persuasion from her friend who told her that marijuana will make her wise and strong. She tried it the first day and didn’t really feel any different. The next day Famata returned to the beach, this time to experiment on her own. She says "the way the drugs treated me, I loved it because I was just laughing. When I got home and my mother asked me where I was coming from, I said from the beach. I lied to her."
Not long after, Famata hit the nightclub scene where a friend introduced her to –the brown sugar- heroin. After a few months of sniffing heroin, Famata needed something stronger. Through another friend she was introduced to one of the deadliest drugs of all--crack cocaine. It turned out to be the worst decision she has ever made. "The day I tasted that thing, I never stopped. For nine years I got hooked on drugs. When you taste it, one is too many and a thousand never enough. If you have one million, you will spend everything you have. The more you take, the more you want." The only way she could feed her habit was by stealing, stealing within the neighborhood and from her mother. "When mother was in the kitchen, I’ll go and steal her clothes, sell them and go buy my high. In the night I would go out to hustle to get my crack. My life was hell on earth. The days I didn’t have money, I would do anything to get my hits." Anything for Famata meant becoming a prostitute at the age of 14. Famata’s job as a bartender in a nightclub gave her an opportunity to pick up men with ease. As her addiction to crack cocaine worsened, Famata took her hustle to the streets. What she did to make money meant nothing to her. "There was no special customer, I could sleep with any person for little or nothing I just had to get my hit the next day, because if I didn’t get my hit, then there was going to be problem."
The addiction to crack cocaine finally began to take its toll on Famata’s health. She could not get men to patronize her anymore because she looked so skinny and sick. For 9 years, young Famata Thomas lived in the ghetto
and spent most of her time on Gurley Street, Monrovia a place, which for decades has been associated with crime, prostitution and drug addicts. There she had the company of other addicts, an occasional supply of crack and a simple wooden bench to sleep on at night. Famata was in bad shape, her health was failing, she was no longer the prostitute men were once attracted to.
Famata’s addiction to drugs affected the lives of other members of her family. Her mother developed high blood pressure while caring for the child Famata gave birth to as a young teenager, but Famata didn’t care about anybody. She says, "my daughter will tell my mom, "I want to see my mom’ and my mom would say, "Okay, come, let me show you where she lives’." Most times Famata is either too sick or drugged out to recognize her mother or daughter. She says "I was helpless, my life was unmanageable. I will be in the room high on the floor and someone will say, your daughter is here but I won’t even be able to get up and see her." Finally her mother gave up hope of believing that Famata can ever get off drugs or change her lifestyle.
Quite often, a few pastors would come into the ghetto to preach the gospel, provide the drug addicts with clothes and feed those who are hungry. One of those pastors was Francis Thomas. Pastor Thomas says "the first day I went into where Famata lived and smoked, it was a place where you can only compare to where animals are kept. You really must have the grace of God on your life to walk into a place like that." The last person Famata and her friends really wanted to listen to was a pastor. They puffed smoke on his face, abused him and told him he lived a useless life by not doing any other thing than preach the Gospel. Famata remembers saying things like "Jesus didn’t die for me. I don’t even know Him. Why would He die for me?"
Famata’s life deteriorated so much that her friends in the ghetto became worried and feared for her life. Once during a visit to her friend who is a drug dealer, she was offered a piece of crack. Moments later she realized that something was seriously wrong. "At first I thought I was high, but it was different. I was just vomiting green, water was just coming out of me. I will never forget that day because God saved my life. I saw life leaving me. I was dying. So I told my friends, "something is happening to me.’ But they all said
I was high." Although Famata was a Muslim, she was able to remember the words of a prayer she once heard in school. She prayed "Now I lay down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to take, if I should die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to keep. I knew I was going to die and I said Lord, help me." Famata lapsed into a coma and the drug dealer couldn’t help her. One of Famata’s friends finally rushed off to get the only person she knew who would care enough for a dying drug addict, Pastor Thomas. Pastor Thomas says "She was extremely sick, very unkempt, clothes all dirty, smelly, she was laying sprawled up on the ground. She was going to die."
When she came to herself Famata said, "Lord, I’m about to give my life to you because I know that this day I’m going to die, then I raised my hand to heaven. The pastor said, "Do you have a home? Can I take you home?’ "I said, You can’t take me. I have abandoned this home for nine years. How will I go home? You can’t take me home.’ The pastor said, If your mother and father forsake you, Jesus will take you. I said, But I don’t even know this Jesus. How can Jesus take me?"
Pastor Francis picked Famata up and decided to take her back home to her family. But her mother was not ready to receive her with open arms once again. After much pleading, Famata’s mother finally gave in although she was not sure how long Famata’s homecoming was going to be for. That was the beginning of a major turning point in Famata’s life, an end to nine years of bondage.
Today, Famata still hangs out on Gurley Street, but no longer as a drug addict in search of a fix, but as a minister of the gospel. Her old passion for crack cocaine and heroin has been transformed into a passion to reach out to others with the transforming message of the gospel. Many of those who once knew the old Famata would tell you that the new person is a living, walking miracle. Famata says "Some people just see me now, raise their hand to heaven and say, "Oh God, if you can change this girl, you can change me’." Famata tells them that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever, be it a drug addict, a rogue, a prostitute, a homosexual, a lesbian or whosoever believes in Jesus shall be saved. If God can save my life, He can do it for you."
Famata has a burning desire to reach many, who today live the life she once lived. Famata is now reconciled with her family and also reunited with her daughter, and yes, she is happily married to the man who shared the love of Christ with her in the ghetto. The same man who prayed for her when she was almost dying from a drug overdose. Pastor Thomas says of his wife, "she is just God’s divine and perfect will for my life. She’s a trophy of grace. Together, Francis and Famata Thomas are committed to reaching Liberia’s unreached and unwanted with the love of Jesus Christ.
