The Sunday Mail
◆ HIV, Aids remain a mystery in rural areas
◆ Religious and cultural beliefs take precedence
◆ More groundwork needs to be done
Beauty Chivende stands in front of the hut in which her husband hanged himself.
“Galatians 6 vs 7-8: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
Beauty Chivende might not have cited the verse by name and number, but from the conviction on her face and in her voice, she might as well have been reciting the above verse.
For, she argues, she has never dabbled in anything that might, even remotely, be considered as immoral, thus she will not be bothered to undergo any HIV tests.
At 22, many her age might be considering the options that lie ahead as they finish their tertiary education. But for Beauty, at a mere 22, she is a widow – and has also lost her youngest child, her dear one-and-half-year-old Martha.
She lost her husband and lovely daughter not to HIV and Aids but because of HIV and Aids. The stigma around the affliction and subsequent ailment.
“The horror show started around August,” she begins her narration at the family’s homestead, some 10km west of Chikombedzi township. The previous night she had returned from a four-day Johanne Marange pilgrimage on the banks of Runde River.
For the next hour she narrates how she – and co-wife Mildred Mutasa – first discovered that their husband, with his first wife, had gone for HIV tests and tested positive.
The two were initiated on anti-retroviral treatment, all this behind the younger two wives’ backs.
“We first confronted our husband if it was true that he was and maiguru (the first wife) were positive. He denied outright but said they had been asked to return on the 11th for tests. We waited for that day and again on that day, they said they had not been tested and would go for tests on another day.
“But we had our own information, that they had tested positive and had actually started taking medication. So we agreed, me and Mildred (the second co-wife), to stop meeting our husband for conjugal rights, because we felt it was unfair that our husband and maiguru were getting treatment and we were not.”
That stalemate held for about three weeks. Then the first wife, Mashave Dzumbunu, went to visit her relatives some distance away. Which meant she was gone for days.
Forty four-year-old Phillip Mushonga could not stomach the third of his lonely nights and yet he had three wives, one of them the young and delectable 22-year-old Beauty.
So around 4am, armed with a log, Phillip started assaulting the youngest of his three wives who was sleeping outside because of the high temperatures common in the Lowveld.
Next to Beauty was her young daughter, Martha.
“At first I thought I was dreaming, but when I was hit again and for two other times, I jumped to my feet, only to realise that it was my husband. I asked him why he was hitting me but he was frothing, he was in a no-nonsense mood. As I ran away from him, he grabbed little Maria and started hitting her. This was probably to coerce me to come closer to him.”
Beauty ran to her parents’ home, which in village parlance is a stone’s-throw away.
Seeing the bruises that were on her body and hearing the graphic details as she chronicled the attacks on her and her daughter, her parents advised her to immediately get to the nearest police station.
Chikombedzi township, where the police station is, is roughly 10km away.
By the time Beauty had done her police report and been given officers to accompany her back to the village, little Martha was gasping her last breaths.
The manhunt was not long. They found the husband hanging in one of the huts.
And on arrival at Chikombedzi Hospital, the little girl was pronounced dead.
“It has been difficult to come to terms with how painful my daughter’s death was, and she was just some little innocent soul. She did not know anything and she was innocent. What is also difficult to understand is why our husband decided to settle for me, yet we were two who had decided not to offer him any conjugal rights,” bemoaned Beatrice.
The first and second wives have left the homestead to start new lives.
As for Beauty: “I am sticking around. I will survive the way I was surviving before this tragedy. When we buried our husband, the issue of inheritance was not discussed but I am here and will see what the future holds for me and my four-year-old Joel . . .
“According to the gospel, I did nothing immoral and I cannot be have anything wrong in my health. Only those who have gone out to seek and find immoral ways will be punished.”
Because of this conviction, she will get tested and will not seek any medical help. In any case, seeking conventional medical attention is against her religious beliefs.
“It is maiguru and our husband who were the ones to move out of our church, which saw them getting tested and being on medication. Asi mutumwa akati kana pasina chawakabata hapana chaunowana (the gospel says if you did nothing immoral, nothing bad will come to you).”
Born and bred in the Johanne Marange Apostolic Faith church, Beauty, who did primary school up to Grade Six, says she has not been to a clinic in her life, has never heard about HIV and counselling and because she was ever faithful to her husband, she has no reason to suspect that she may have contracted HIV.
◆ NB: Names have been changed to protect identities.
