Liberia's Unwanted

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She was told the drug would make her wise. Instead it turned her into a 13-year-old addict. Witness a young woman's free fall that took her to the brink of death before an unusual love story set her free. 700 Club senior producer Victor Oladokun tells this amazing story from the African nation of Liberia.

Victor Oladokun: At what age did you start using crack?

Famata: I was 13-years-old.

Victor: You were 13, and you were addicted to crack?

Famata: Yes, when you taste it, one is too many and a thousand is never enough. If you've got one million, you will spend everything you have. The more you take the more you want.

Victor: The only way she fed her habit was by stealing in the neighborhood and from her mother.

Famata: When my mother was in the kitchen or out back I would go and steal her clothes and go buy my drugs.

Victor: At a young age, her attitude toward drugs was simple.

Famata: I got my life to live. If I smoke crack and anything is wrong with me is my business.

Victor: What she didn't realize was that her life was already in freefall.

Famata: In the night I would go up to hustle and get my crack. And my life was hell on earth. The day you don't have the money, you will do anything to get your hits, anything.

Victor: Anything for Famata meant stealing and becoming a prostitute at the age of 14.

Famata: If I didn't steal, I slept with men.

Victor: For a number of years, she worked as a bartender in a nightclub. It was a job that 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.

Famata: Because of my addiction, I could sleep with any person for little or nothing. Because the next day I must get my hit. If I didn't get my hit, there was a problem.

Victor: But crack cocaine had finally taken a toll on Famata's health.

Famata: Even to get customers on the street, it was not easy. I was addicted to the drugs. When I was whoring, my friends even said I got AIDS.

Victor: Curley street, Monrovia, for decades it's been associated with crime, prostitution and drug addicts. It's also where young Famata would come for her drug fix and where she would later spend nine years of her life living in the ghetto. There she had the company of other addicts and an occasional supply of crack and a simple wooden bench to sleep on at night. Famata was in pretty 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.

Famata: People would see me in the ghetto and would tell my mother, "Your daughter is finished."

Victor: Her mother also provides care for the child Famata gave birth to as a young teenager.

Famata: My daughter would say, "I want to go see my mom." My mother would say, "Come, let me show you where she lives."

Victor: But most times, Famata was either too sick or drugged out to recognize her mother or daughter. You were helpless?

Famata: Helpless, my life was unmanageable. I would be in a room, high on drugs, laying on the floor and someone would tell me my daughter was there.

Victor: Finally her mother gives up hope believing that Famata will never get off drugs or change her lifestyle.

Pastor in Ghetto: What will you do with the rest of your life?

Victor: Quite often, a few pastors come in the ghetto and they preach the gospel. Provide the drug addicts with clothes and feed those who are hungry. One of those pastors is Francis Thomas.

Francis Thomas: When I went into where Famata lived and smoked, it was a place that you can compare with where animals are kept. You must have the grace of God to go into a place like that.

Victor: That was the last person that Famata and her friends wanted to listen to -- a pastor.

Francis: They blew smoke in my face and sometimes would abuse me. They would say, "Don't you have something better to do than to talk us?" But I persisted.

Pastor in courtyard: My dear sister, God loves you, and God has a plan for your life, and I believe God can do something for you.

Famata: I would tell them sometimes, "Jesus didn't die for me. I don't even know Him. Why would He die for me?"

Victor: Famata was in a deadly collision course and even her friends in the ghetto were worried about how she was deteriorating. Once during a visit to a friend who was a dealer, she was offered a piece of crack. Moments later, she realized something was seriously wrong.

Famata: At first I thought I was high, but it was different. I was vomiting green water and it was just coming out of me. I will never forget that day that God saved my life. I saw the life leaving from me.

Victor: You were dying?

Famata: I was dying! I told the dealer something is happening to me. She was like "She is high man!"

Victor: Even though Famata is a Muslim, she remembered the words of a prayer she once heard in school.

Famata: Now I lay me down to sleep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. I knew I was going to die. I said, "Lord, help me."

Victor: She lapsed into a coma, and the drug dealer was no help. One of Famata's friends rushed off to get the one person she knew that would care enough for a dying drug addict.

Francis: She was extremely sick, very unkept and her clothes were dirty and smelly. She lay sprawled on the ground and she was going to die and she came to herself.

Famata: "God, I'm about to give my life to you because I know this day I am going to die." And I raised my hand to heaven. I will never forget this -- there was something strange that came on me. And the pastor asked me if I had a home. He would take me there. I told him you couldn't take me home. I have bothered this woman for nine years, how could I go home? You can't take me home. The pastor said if your mother and father forsake yo,u Jesus will take you. I told him I don't know this Jesus, why would he take me?

Victor: 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.

Francis: Her mother had actually told me previously that she had no hope. We should take her back to where she came from. She didn't want to see her daughter or me.

Victor: After much pleading, Famata's mother finally gaive in. She was not sure if this was for real. But it was the beginning of a major turning point and an end to nine years of bondage. Famata still hangs out on Curley 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 is transformed into a passion to reach out to others with a transforming message of the Gospel.

Famata preaching: If know that your God has not forgotten you, raise your hand, and say, "Thank you, Jesus." Some people come and raise their hands to heaven and say, "Oh, God if you can change this lady, you can change me."

Victor: Many of those who once knew the old Famata will tell you that the new person is a living, walking miracle.

Lady on street: I knew her before she got into the ghetto. She was a very small child. And I saw the Famata that God changed. I decided to rededicate my life to Christ.

Famata: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. That whosoever - and that can be anyone. A drug addict, a crook, a prostitute, a homosexual or lesbian or whosoever. If you believe in Jesus, you shall be saved. If God can save my life, He can do it for you.

Victor: Famata has a burning desire to reach many who today lived the life she once lived. Famata is reconciled with her family and 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.

Francis: This is God's perfect will and design for my life. She's a trophy of grace.

Victor: Together, Francis and Famata Thomas are committed to reaching Liberia's unreached and unwanted with a love of Jesus Christ.

Francis: God has laid a heavy burden on my heart for those in the ghetto, especially Famata and her friends.

Famata: Because you know, something good can come from the ghetto.