The Sunday Mail
Rosenthal Mutakati
MY heart sank when I chanced upon a heavily pregnant girl, barely 18 years, who was gathering firewood with a child strapped on her back in Nyabira last Sunday.
Poverty was written all over this member of the fairer sex who, though timid, occasionally smiled, exposing yellow teeth that had not been cleaned in a long time.
Her feet soles were cracked, as she walked barefoot.
A layer of shiny dust could be seen on her legs, indicating she had bathed and applied petroleum jelly before making the trip to the roadside, where she was picking dried twigs with her peers as they buried their sorrows in religious hymns.
“I am expecting my second child with my husband, who has four other wives and I am the youngest in the union.
“Today is my turn to gather firewood, so that we can have a hot meal at home,” the girl said, while pulling her oversized and soiled white skirt into position.
She told this writer that she had not finished her schooling when she entered the polygamous union; neither did she believe in hospitals.
“My pregnancy is not registered because that is not necessary. We are led by the Holy Spirit, and we have elderly women who monitor us and provide us with the care that we need to allow for normal delivery of babies.
“We do not trust hospitals, because they kill people and that is why they have mortuaries,” she said while going about her business of gathering firewood.
Quite shocking were the young girl’s responses, showing that she had been brainwashed into thinking her religious leader held the keys to her survival.
But this young girl and her peers are not the only ones in this predicament.
44 years after independence, it is shocking that there is a sizeable number of our population that is living in bondage, all in the name of religion.
From dawn to sunset, most of these religious groups, are drilled on the need to be prayerful and submissive to men and religious leaders.
On the other end, the religious leaders treat these people as their subjects, dictating what they will eat, wear, drink, as well as who to marry and when to get married.
In most of the religious groupings, visiting hospitals and attending school are taboo.
They are viewed as unnecessary luxuries that should never be entertained if one is to remain ‘holy’.
To ensure no one violates the rules of the leaders and ensure they are followed to the letter, force is used and marriages are arranged as soon as someone reaches puberty.
But, how does one join such groupings?
“Government must act on these churches and their leaders. People are kidnapped and kept in camps, where they are brainwashed and told to leave worldly things so that they concentrate on prayer and leading prayerful lives.
“People are not allowed to mix with non-believers to avoid contamination,” said one interviewee who identified himself as Soko.
“Once one joins such churches, they are encouraged to server ties with their parents, siblings and relatives and work on their salvation,” he continued.
“The religious leaders rule with an iron fist, and whatever they say goes. Women are forced to marry early and have as many children as possible, who must never attend school.
“People are objectivised to the point of being viewed as animals of service and sacrifice, who must never worry about money, because it is viewed as the root of all evil. When one dies, he or she is buried secretly with no record kept,” said another man, who was once a follower.
Gentle reader, there is need to move with haste and ensure all citizens live freely with access to health, education and rights.
Inotambika mughetto.
Feedback: [email protected]
