Inside Story for Friday 17th of October 2025

Watch a short YouTube video of Tsitsi Zondo at: bit.ly/Tsitsi.

Tsitsi Zondo couldn’t believe her eyes. It was a dark night in Zimbabwe, but she could see her precious cargo of sweatshirts strewn across the highway and the dim figures of people scurrying to take them away.

Image © Pacific Press

Tears filled her eyes. She had borrowed money to buy the sweatshirts in South Africa and now wouldn’t be able to repay the loan. She had nothing. How would she provide for her children?

She prayed, “Lord, You know that I’ve been struggling to make my business successful, and now this has happened. Out of all the bags, my bag is the only one that opened.”

Tsitsi had packed 60 sweatshirts into a large bag and stowed it on the roof of a minibus for the trip from Zimbabwe’s border with South Africa to her hometown, Bulawayo. But halfway into the journey, a passenger had gotten off the minibus and, in looking for her bag, the driver had opened and closed several bags on the minibus’ roof. Somehow, Tsitsi’s bag hadn’t been closed.

The minibus had resumed its journey and, after traveling some distance, stopped at the flashing of car lights. The car’s driver said the minibus had been dropping sweatshirts ever since the passenger had gotten off.

Tsitsi saw to her horror that only 10 sweatshirts remained in her bag.

The minibus driver knew that he was responsible but raised his hands helplessly. “I’m sorry,” he told Tsitsi. “I just don’t have the money.”

After praying, Tsitsi wiped away her tears. She had always been faithful in returning tithe and giving offerings on the wares that she imported from South Africa, and she was sure that God would care for her.

In Bulawayo, friends heard about Tsitsi’s situation and came over to pray. One offered her a loan to return to South Africa and buy more sweatshirts.

Tsitsi accepted the money as an answer to prayer and returned to South Africa. With the new sweatshirts, she was able to deliver on all of the original sweatshirt orders. It took a total of four trips to South Africa to repay the two loans. But during that time, Tsitsi always had enough money for food and family expenses. She also kept returning tithe and giving offerings.

Tsitsi doesn’t understand how God works, but she has no doubt that He always provides.

“Even when I lost everything, my family and I never went hungry. We always had food on the table,” she said. “If you are faithful and you give to the Lord in tithe and offerings, the Lord always comes through for you.”

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