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She Had To Flee
My auntie Jessica lies dying in a hospital in Johannesburg. She was flown from Harare yesterday. She has many different ailments affecting her. From blocked heart valves, diabetes, high blood pressure , besides a blood clot and asthma . Am so proud of her for having soldiered on as she is the only sibling from my dad’s family who is still alive. I understand my father had about 10 other siblings with most of them having been born as twins which was taboo in Zimbabwe during the 1920’s and 30’s. One of the pair had to be killed. I remember my grandma saying she had to flee with the remaining 5 of her kids from Chitsungo to hundreds of miles away so she and her kids would be safe. People believed they were a curse and would bring bad luck to the family. So the last straw was when my grandfather’s younger brother murdered the twin of my aunt Christina. She was 17 . I was told they were crossing a mutanda( bridge made of one very thick, long log)My grandfather’ s young brother who wanted to rid the family of this curse walked behind my dad’s twin sisters then threw one of them into the deep raging river. That’s how my aunt died at 17 causing my grandmother to take the rest of my dad ‘s surviving siblings away from this barbarism. Grandma’s kids looked different as my grandfather was a molato or what we call mixed here in England. Grandma was very light skinned too so they just looked strange and different from everyone else in this rural setting. To make matters worse they bore multiple pairs of twins. Which put the whole family in danger of these other relatives who were very superstitious.My auntie Christna only died in 2015 . She was probably in her eighties as no one in my dad’s family knew of their real age. 5 of them survived the killings including my dad with my aunt Estelle and uncle Cephas both having 1939 as the year they were born. Then auntie Christina and auntie Jessica who is now seriously ill come before my dad who had 1940 as the year of his birth. So now do you see what I mean. 2 of the older siblings had 1939 as year of birth, then there are 2 born after them and my dad the youngest of them had 1940 as the year he was born. Thats what happens when parents never enter a classroom. They can’t even think of separating the birthdays 9 months apart. Anyway it was my auntie Christina’s wish to be buried near her twin in Chitsungo but after she died obviously she had no say. She was buried next to my grandma Haiza who am named after together with my other aunt Estelle. Their graves face the homestead where my grandma Haiza bought land and built a homestead in the mineral rich area of.Mazowe in Mashinaland Zimbabwe. Grandma Haiza is said to still visit her homestead nearly 40 years since she passed away. She got divorced too, in an era where divorces where unheard of then moved her boyfriend in, very unusual too. She was hardworking and a very strong willed and independent woman, a lot like me. Now that the lights are about to be extinguished on my lovely auntie Jessica it saddens me a lot. She is the only link I still have to my father. She really looked like my grandma Haiza too. Auntie Jessica told me she is now in too much pain. I need her here with us but it is also selfish, so will now let God be.
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