Her husband was a church elder at a Pentecostal church in Harare. The family therefore led a life that was the marvel of many. Then disaster struck. In 2009, my uncle entered into an extra-marital affair. He left Meneses and the children for a year with no form of support. Having no education, my aunt resorted to baking and selling buns in the community to make ends meet.
The church did not spare her embarrassment, but added to her woes by demoting her from being an elder. For them, my aunt had seriously done something wrong which justified why my uncle had left the matrimonial home. Despite all the calamities, she remained resolute in the Lord and prayed earnestly.
It only took a year for my uncle to come back home – on his deathbed. He confessed to his wife and children that he had HIV/AIDS and asked their forgiveness. An HIV test confirmed Meneses’ worst fears – she was also HIV positive.
Instead of turning her back on my uncle, she took him in and nursed him. He got sick with full-blown AIDS to the point of wearing diapers. Still she cared for him. She had forgiven her husband and life had to go on.
Only a few months passed before my uncle joined the ancestors. Meneses wished that she had died first so that she would not have to go through the pain of seeing her children suffer. Her first-born son, Paul, completed his A levels and found a job at a cotton company just outside Harare. He became the family’s breadwinner at 18, and gave Meneses much comfort. She started her anti-retroviral therapy and her son took care of all the family’s financial burdens.
One day visitors arrived in a car bearing her son’s company’s logo. After the customary greetings, they announced the news that Paul had been involved in an accident while on duty and had died on the spot.
Although devastated, my aunt continued to face life with courage. She mourned her son and continued to battle with HIV, never instance losing heart or giving up hope. She is still going strong today and continues to take care of her three youngest children. Her second-born son migrated to South Africa in search of greener pastures, and provides for the family back home.
Meneses shines out for me because of her courage. She inspires me because of the will to survive against all odds. She believes that life will give her better rays with each new day. I salute her because she has been thwarted, depressed, hurt, affected and infected. Yet still she rises – and she inspires other women.
Martha Munezhi is a demographer and is working towards a PhD. in Sociology at the University of Utah in the USA. This article is part of the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service, special series on celebrating phenomenal women.
Post published in: News