Real life stories with a touch of the surreal
November has been an extremely eventful month this side of the border, especially on human interest stories.
Reading some of the sagas, one might think they’re from a made-up movie script from Hollywood yet they are real life stories involving real people in our communities.
Some of the issues of course left people angry, with jaws dropped or hearts melted depending on one’s perspective of life.
Breaking early this month was the news that a pregnant nine-year-old child had given birth, making her the youngest known mother in the country’s history.
The minor, from the Matabeleland North province, gave birth last week through C-section. A DNA test is set to be conducted on her child as police seek the identify of the man who abused this young mother.
The little girl’s father seems to be the main suspect, as he reportedly told her a ‘goblin’ would constantly visit her to insert something into her private parts. This was obviously meant to instill fear and confusion into the child’s mind whose childhood has been destroyed by this whole ordeal.
While the nation was still coming to grips with this heinous crime, it came to light that another nine-year-old had been raped and fallen pregnant in Bindura, Mashonaland Central. Two 17-year-old boys have since been arrested in connection with this horrifying incident.
Quite heartbreaking to think the lives of these children have been now changed forever.
While they will not look after their children considering their ages, the fact that they became pregnant at such early stages of their lives is traumatic enough.
Then on Tuesday, another bizarre incident was reported in Harare where a woman spent days with the corpse of her husband. When the police went to collect the decomposing body, they discovered that the lady had a grown-up son who was living in the ceiling and had been doing so for the past 14 years!
Reading about this made me think of those television programmes titled ‘Evil Lives Here’ and ‘Monster Parents’, which air on the Discovery ID channel. How do parents keep their son in a ceiling for all these years and see nothing wrong with it? The mind truly boggles!
Ending on a happier note, a 63-year-old woman from Bulawayo gave birth this week after falling pregnant through In Vitro Fertilisation Procedure (IVF), becoming one of only five women in the world to deliver through the procedure at that age.
Though not a natural pregnancy, some have likened her to the Biblical Sarah and Hannah who had children in their twilight years while others are hailing the local doctor who administered the procedure.
