IT TOOK a forced visit to South Africa for Hoft Inbar to realise that her life's work was to heal people.

IT TOOK a forced visit to South Africa for Hoft Inbar to realise that her life's work was to heal people.

Ten years later Inbar, a spiritual healer, is a proud South African resident and a dedicated healer who has helped hundreds of people with her special gift.

"When my husband suggested we come to South Africa I was reluctant at first but he managed to convince me and I have no regrets he did that. South Africa has been my proud home for the past 10 years now," she explains.

Inbar, who is from Israel, says coming to South Africa was like a blessing in disguise.

"It was only when I was here that I fully appreciated my gift and gave myself a chance to explore it."

With her healing power Inbar has helped hundreds of people from various backgrounds, races and religions to come alive spiritually.

Once a month she gathers with people from all walks of life at the Zoo Lake in Johannesburg, where they form a circle and pray for peace.

The experience, she says, has reaffirmed her purpose to unite and heal people.

"The circle of peace is so powerful. It's amazing how the people from different religious backgrounds have come together with a purpose to love one another sincerely and pray for peace and unity. It showed me that South Africa is a very spiritual country," she says.

Inbar, a qualified nurse, used her healing technique to lift the spirits of terminally ill patients at a hospice in Killarney before it closed down.

"Some of the patients I've helped had lost hope in life. We've helped them to claim their lives back and the results have been very encouraging.

While some died, others lived and I have helped some of those find jobs. It is positive results like that that give me satisfaction, knowing that I have made a difference to a person's life," Inbar says.

How did she know she had the ability to heal?

"I realised at the age of 5 that I was different from other children. I never spent much time with children my age. I used to spend time with old people.

"I even worked as a manager at an old age home and loved being surrounded by those grannies.

"I also spent a lot of time with my grandmother. When she fell sick I helped to take care of her until she died. It was during those moments when I bathed or massaged her that she told me I had a special gift.

"I didn't understand what she meant at the time but I always felt that there was a guardian angel walking with me. It was only when she was about to die that she said I had a special gift to heal people," Inbar says.

She believes spiritual healers are born with the gift.

"Not everyone can become a spiritual healer. It is an inherited gift.

"A good spiritual healer should have three very important elements which are unconditional love, mercy and understanding. Without these qualities you cannot heal people effectively," she says.

Inbar, who survived emotional and physical abuse in her childhood, says she also had to forgive her abuser who was a family friend.

"How do I heal with a heavy heart? Through the experience I learnt that something was behind all that. I learnt to forgive and appreciate the fact that I'm not the one to judge," she says.

Inbar believes spiritual healing happens through divine intervention and that indigenous and spiritual healing practices need to be preserved.

"It may not be a fashionable way of healing but I love what I do and I believe it's a calling.

"I believe in the universe and its power to heal."

I came alive this week. Using her native American hands-on healing technique, Inbar dusted off all the negative energy that was occupying my heart. After the one hour session, my heart felt light and I felt I could take on the world again with a positive spirit.