Zimbabwe: I regret the day I met Doubt*

I was staying with my sister and her husband when I met Doubt*, the father of my child. My sister and her husband were paying for my studies at a local vocational training centre. Doubt* convinced me to abandon the course and move in with him. Doubt* promised to take proper care of me and give me some start up capital so that I would have a small business to run. I was madly in love with him such that I accepted and believed his stories. My sister and her husband tried to warn me against making some hasty decisions but I would not listen. I never thought that Doubt* was telling me heaps of lies. 

When I started staying with Doubt* as husband and wife he tended to be very understanding and caring. He would pamper me with gifts and I believed every word he said. He convinced me to get pregnant as he was in the process of raising some money to pay lobola to my people. When Doubt* realised that I had fallen pregnant he started coming home drunk and no longer brought home some food.  

I asked Doubt* what the problem was and he always said that they were not being paid at their workplace. At times he would not return home. When he came back he would just say that he had been sent to distant places by his boss and he was very tired. That became a habit and I had to seek help from my sister and her husband. I was heavily pregnant and Doubt* did not seem to care. I had not even registered at the local hospital. Nothing had been bought for the expected baby and Doubt*’s drinking rate intensified. He was claiming that his boss was not paying them thus he had to down his misery in beer. He said that his friends were buying beer for him all the times. 

He finally gave me US$20 to register at the local hospital because he knew that I was expecting to deliver that same month. There was completely nothing to wrap the baby with. I did not give birth the normal way as I had to undergo an operation. For the whole week I spent admitted in hospital Doubt* did not visit me often. When I was discharged he was a completely changed man. He would spend even a week without returning home. I had to depend on neighbours for food. My sister and her husband took me to their place for a while I recovered. 

When I returned to Doubt* I found him gone. I was told that he went away the same day my sister took me and never returned. All my belongings were placed in a car-port because of non payment of rentals. I had no choice but to call my sister who immediately came to my rescue once again. My sister’s husband gave me some start up capital and ventured into buying and selling some perishables like bananas, oranges, roasted nuts and roasted maize. My child is now about to turn four and I do not even know where Doubt* is. His relatives also say that they lost track of his whereabouts some years ago.