Last year when I turned 16, my mother’s sister succumbed to TB. At first after her death, people went to a traditional healer who lived nearby to ask what had caused her death. As soon as they arrived they were told that evil spirits which were from her husband who also died in 1998 cause the problem.
I later realized that something could be done because this could create enemity and things could be worse between my mother’s family and the Moyo’s where my mother’s sister had once been married. She left her children who are Munoda and Zvamada.
To proceed they were going to live with their father’s relatives. There, they were treated badly since they wanted to take advantage because of both of my next of kin’s parents had divorced. Every morning, they went to fetch water at the river which was almost two and half kilometers away.
They went to school after they had finished their chores. This meant they were always late for school. This pained me a lot. I did not know why, may be they did know they had nowhere to go. Also they did not bought them even a single cloth to them.
They were told that if they wanted clothes, they should go and rise their parents since they always told them that their did not want to breath, they were lazy, that’s why they died.
When the village head heard that they were abused in that way, he warned their guardian that if those things happened next time he would get into trouble if they reported to the police.
Written by Theresa Katopa (17 years)
Mashame Secondary school, Gokwe North, Zimbabwe.
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