Zimbabwe: The girl child who travelled the long road filled with pebbles of inequality

I was born in 1963 to a family of ten. I and my twin brother were the seventh in the order of our family. I am the eldest sister and my two sisters were born years after me. Our family was living a decent life because my father was a civil servant and my mother was involved in sewing projects.  

While growing up we had access to decent food and decent clothes. We were living in the comfort of a government house. Unfortunately, my father fell ill and his health continued to deteriorate. He continued going to work while not feeling well and he failed to recover.  He later went on an indefinite sick leave and the salary stopped coming. My mother tried to work hard fending for the family but the burden was too much for her. 

In 1977 my father passed on and we went to bury him at our rural home. It was my first time going to our rural home and I had no connections with many relatives save for our aunties who used to visit us. After the funeral we went back to our home and our mother remained behind. She stayed at our rural home while living with our grandfather because my father had not built a house at our rural home. All my elder brothers were at boarding school so I was staying with my younger brother and two young sisters. Life became very difficult for us and we struggled to bring food on the table. As the eldest sister it was my responsibility to take care of my siblings. We were also responsible of taking care of my mother who was living at our rural home. 

My elder brother completed his education and got employed at a local college. I was very happy because our situation changed. He built a house for us at our rural home and I moved to stay there with my mother. All my brothers completed their education and they were employed as teachers. They assisted me with my education up to grade seven. I failed to continue with my education because of war.  

I got married in 1979. My husband was not employed but he later left to look for employment. I was left in the custody of my brother-in-law and his wife. I was working very hard herding 63 cattle. It was my first time herding cattle but I gathered the courage to do any task required of me. My husband got a job and he came back and took me to his workplace. We lived happily and in 1981 I gave birth to my first child. I later gave birth to three more children. I also joined vending so as to supplement my husband’s salary. We managed to educate all our children and they all pursued their education up to the tertiary level. I vowed to ensure that my children will have access to education because I had experienced the pain of an uneducated person.