Windhoek - The 13-year-old girl Lydia David who is believed to be 'possessed' by demons after she suffered from a strange affliction that caused her to vomit stones, bones, human hair and braids, mahangu grain, thorns, soap and other objects is now doing better after she received prayers from more than five pastors from the Pentecostal churches.

Her elder sister Mwaala Shilongo said on Tuesday when the sad story was published in New Era that she received many calls from pastors of different churches who promised to pray for the girl, because they believed she was possessed.

"More than five pastors came forward to see my sister and prayed for her day and night, we thank New Era for the story because we really received a lot of prayers."

Shilongo said her sister is now doing fine and she is returning to school today, because she no longer vomits the strange objects.

"My sister is no longer demanding Hungry Lion and milk, but eats and drinks everything now although she eats non-stop. She always wants to eat although we give her enough food," Shilongo said. When New Era visited their shack in Goreagab in Katutura this reporter found David playing with a younger sister and looking happy. When the reporter asked her how she is doing she responded that she is doing fine and she is very happy. She said she can't wait to go back to school and that she missed all her classmates.

David apparently started demanding only Oshikandela milk or Hungry Lion when she fell ill. "Once she drinks the milk and eats Hungry Lion (chicken) she starts to vomit stones and all sorts of waste, including soap, human hair and plaited braids," said Shilongo.

The Grade 6 learner at Havana Primary School sometimes vomited reddish meat bones, mahangu grain, sewing thread and her own beads, which she had not worn for many years, which has baffled relatives and neighbours, who believe that she was possessed by an evil spirit.

According to her elder sister Shilongo, David started fainting and sleeping a lot longer than normal last December. Concerned relatives say she also screams and kicks and fights in her sleep. "Around December 5 she began sweating all over her body, and foam mixed with a lot of saliva came out of her mouth. We thought she was suffering from epilepsy. But when we took her to the hospital, doctors could not diagnose her ailment.

"They took blood samples and even X-rays, but could not see anything wrong with Lydia. They only told us that she must drink a lot of water," said the concerned sister. Two weeks following her visit to the doctor she started experiencing fainting spells, during which she would flail on the ground with foam coming out of her mouth.

"We saw her vomiting a lot of waste including huge stones. If the stones were large then she would struggle to vomit them, but if they are smaller then she does not struggle. These stones come out of her mouth completely dry. They are not coated in saliva or anything. They would be stuck in her mouth for more than 40 to 50 minutes," the elder sister explained.

"After vomiting she would sleep for the whole day. Her strange behaviour normally starts at 06h00 until 12h00 the next day," she said. Shilongo described her sister as a talented and intelligent girl, who performs very well at school and who always comes first in class. "She always passes with good marks and is always number one; maybe someone bewitched her because of her intelligence."