Carol-Anne Isaacs

Mark and I have known Carol-Anne since we moved to Cape Town in February 2006. We left Kenya after twenty years to assume the position as the principal of Cape Theological Seminary, which is now called Global School of Theology-Western Cape (GST-WC). At that time Carol-Anne was a third year student enrolled in the four-year Bible and Theology degree program. The instant we met her, we immediately noticed something very special about her. She not only had an outgoing and friendly personality, but she was like a woman on a mission—never slowing down and always looking for ways to be a blessing to everyone around her. The longer we have known Carol-Anne, the more inspiring her life has become.

Born on December 24, 1964, she was diagnosed at birth with a bone disease called athrogryphosis. This is a rare congenital disorder that is characterized by multiple joint abnormalities and a shortening of muscles that causes muscle weakness and a deformity in her joints. She also has a condition called bilateral dislocated hips, which means she was born without any hip sockets or knee caps and she walks with a severe limp. In addition, she also inherited a condition that affected the development of her hands and feet. Her fingers are webbed up to the first knuckle which makes it difficult for her to spread her fingers out and she cannot lay her hands down in a flattened position. Throughout her years as a student she earned extra money to help pay her school fees by typing other students’ papers and she can literally out-type everyone on the campus. However, this particular condition has made playing the piano impossible.

Carol-Anne with her graduating class from CTS in 2007

In November 2007 Carol-Anne completed her four year BA degree at CTS and immediately following graduation, the school hired her to be the full-time librarian. On October 11, 2013 she completed her second BA in Library and Information Science after five years of part-time studies at University of South Africa (UNISA).

Carol-Anne’s entire life has been a series of miracles but the most recent one came to my attention through a fellow missionary, Rosie Gilbert who teaches music at the seminary. One day she heard someone playing the piano and wanted to know who it was. She peeked in the door and was amazed to see that it was Carol-Anne. Carol-Anne had decided at the beginning of the year that she wanted to learn how to play the piano. She took a few lessons from her friend and fellow staff member Clarina’s husband but due to the deformity in her hands, she was unable to spread her fingers out and play without causing great pain. After a few lessons, she became very discouraged and decided to quit trying. Normally when she would get disappointed about something she would go to her room and sleep. However, that particular day she put her school bag down and decided to pray instead and afterward she sat down to do her school work. As she was typing an assignment she felt the urge to pray again and when she looked at her hands she couldn’t believe it—they were straight! She burst into tears and ran to Clarina’s flat on the campus and showed her what had happened to her hands. Clarina started to pray and praise the Lord for healing Carol-Anne’s hands. Carol-Anne stated proudly that she can now play the piano but still needs to take some more lessons so she can learn how to play “properly”.