A mother of five from Gweru, Zimbabwe’s third-largest city, is now destitute after heavy rains damaged her dwellings in Montrose, making them uninhabitable.
Tecla Majangara (28), said she lost all her property and food after Gweru River overflowed into her two-roomed apartment.
Majangara is among nine women who were given temporary accommodation at Mtapa Hall by the Gweru City Council. The inmates are living from handouts from NGOs.
Her situation is compounded by the fact that she is pregnant and her live-in boyfriend who is the breadwinner is rarely present.
She has five children, one of them with her current boyfriend and the other four with different fathers. Majangara narrated her predicament to Masvingo Mirror:
There were heavy rains from 9 am on Monday and this went on for the whole day. At 4 pm we heard a big bang, l think that is when the bridge which connects Gweru and Lower Gweru collapsed and water overflowed into our homes.
Suddenly the water level outside the house was up to my waist. I helped the kids out and went to high ground and everything was left in the house.
I have never seen anything like that. Water gushed into the house through any slight openings in the walls. It was terrifying (mvura yaiita kusinira kumadziro eimba sezvoita minyatso yemombe ichibuda mukaka).
Those who can help Majangara can contact her at Mtapa Hall.