The tragedy of child-headed households

By Tererai Karimakwenda
11 october 2006

The funeral of one 16-year old girl from the Tafara high density suburb of Harare was held Wednesday afternoon. We will call her Nomsa to protect her remaining siblings. Both their parents died from AIDs and Nomsa had been under the care of her 17-year old sister. It became clear that she too was ill and started needing medical attention frequently. But things got worse for this teenager. Harare hospitals and clinics turned her away each time she went for treatment because they now require payment upfront. She stayed home, dropped out of school and eventually died without ever getting treatment.

Our contact from Tafara attended Nomsa’s funeral Wednesday and got involved with this child-headed family when they were seeking assistance with the burial costs. She told us that she, along with a group of local women, approached the police for help with transporting the deceased to a clinic to get a death certificate. She said the police told them there was no petrol in any of their vehicles but that they would turn a blind eye if they managed to find fuel on the black market and put it in the police vehicles. The women did find fuel, but refused to help the police and found someone else to assist with transport.

Zimbabweans always cook the traditional dish sadza for the mourners at all funerals. But there was none at Nomsa’s. Getting fuel had used up all the money raised by the volunteering women. We were told that the average cost for basic funeral arrangements is now Z$52,000. Those who came to pay their last respects had to walk to the cemetery over a mile away.

Our contact said there has been no running water and no electricity in Tafara since last Saturday. She explained that life has become cheap in Zimbabwe and child-headed families are everywhere. The few that she and other activist women look after in their communities are just a drop in the ocean. As the procession of mourners sang at Nomsa’s funeral, our contact said she could see fear in the eyes of the remaining sisters. One is 17 and the youngest is 13. The future they face under these conditions created by the Mugabe regime must bring fear to them all.