A 54-year-old woman from Hwedza is living out the saying “a burnt child dreads fire” quite literally.
Remarkably, she has stayed single and has not had tlof tlof 34 years following her divorce.
In an interview with a daily tabloid, Munhuweyi shared that she is still healing from the emotional wounds inflicted by her divorce at the tender age of 20.
Her ex-husband’s departure left her hesitant to engage in any romantic entanglements, leading to a prolonged period without tlof tlof.
Munhuweyi, affectionately known as Mbuya Hwedza, supports her family by selling clothes to artisanal miners at Nyamidzi gold fields in Hwedza. Reflecting on the aftermath of her painful divorce, she recalled sleeping in the same room as her two children. Today, she shares that space with her grandchildren.
Recounting the heartbreak of her divorce, Munhuweyi said,
“I was painfully divorced by my beloved husband after having two children with him, worse, I was still an innocent 20-year-old girl. From there, I just stayed on my own, slept in same room with my kids, they never witnessed any man with me from there. It is now 34 years and I am now sharing my bedroom with my grandchildren.”
Munhuweyi opened up about her decision to abstain from tlof tlof, attributing it to her fear of being hurt again. She emphasised the difficulty of trusting men, viewing them as opportunists.
“I have had no sexual relationship with any man because, if you are really heartbroken, after being divorced the way I was, you never trust any man in your whole life. You always think that you will fall in the same pit of these vultures. Because of that fear, I just decided to stay like this, up to today,” she disclosed.
Expressing her concerns about modern divorced couples, Munhuweyi criticised their apparent lack of reflection on past experiences. She noted,
“Today’s divorced women and men are lazy to learn from really worse or best life experiences and they are different from us. Most of them divorce and automatically move on. You will even think they moved on before being divorced.”
Despite facing health challenges due to her advancing age, including high blood pressure and visual impairment, Munhuweyi has chosen to delay seeking medical attention until she reaches the age of 60.
“I now have high blood pressure and visual impairment challenges but I will only go to the hospital when I am 60 years. When I get to that age I can get free treatment, isn’t it? Ndine tsanga irikuda kunoparwa, unfortunately, one eye is quickly getting worse but this other one is still better but there is pain too,” she explained.
iHarare.com
