SEEING her from a distance, even nearer, you would never suspect she had an acerbic marriage, a
marriage that was full of thorns. Roses never existed, according to her.
She is well built.
Yes, she is well structured, dark coloured and always smart, smiling and living with HIV.
A good reminder, don’t forget to take your ARV’s on time, in right quantities and as prescribed, you
can also be like her if you are on ART and religiously abiding by the doctor’s prescription.
Bindura-based Moreni Masanzu, the Zimbabwe National Network of People living with HIV
(ZNNP+) national vice-chairperson’s three marriages were never rosy.
“I could have killed myself, had it not been for my son, who always comforted me in my first
marriage,” she told Nehanda Guardian during an interview recently while observing the International
Women’s Day.
Having grown up a decent girl, from a middle class family of Christianity background, she said she
maintained her virginity until marriage.
“We had our first child in 2001, a son and things were okay, * Gyle Koma* (not real name) my
husband was well up. We built our five-roomed house in Murehwa and acquired all furnishings
necessary for a household.
“In 2004 we had our second child, this time a girl. She had stunted growth and that’s when tables
turned. He started abusing me together with his family accusing me of being the problem causer yet
he was. I am a victim, my husband was promiscuous.
“In 2006, I then decided to get tested and was positive. I could not get medication in Murehwa. The
ARVs then were hard to get. I would go to Wilkins Hospital in Harare for collection and CD4 count
together with my daughter.
“My husband would beat me up whenever he wanted,” she narrated.
In 2007 she then decided to come back home to Masembura communal lands to her kinswomen and
men but the reception was bad.
“My brothers and parents would beat me up, telling me to go back to Murehwa to the abusive man
neither did they spare my seven-year-old son. They would abuse him.
“Then I got suicidal thoughts and decided to hang myself, only for my son to save me. Several times
that l went to the closest mountain intending to hang myself, he would follow me and tell me that he
would take care of me,” Masanzu said.
Imagine having no one liking you in a family of 75 children? Her father was a polygamous man with
25 wives.
Masanzu said she then started to sell mazhanje at Mbare Musika. She would pick them around
Masembura Mountains and take them to Mbare.
Since no one was on her side, she would use the proceeds to go to Musana Clinic with her child for
treatment up until a time around 2007 when she got a job at Maizelands Farm as a shop keeper.
There, she later met someone, who wanted to marry her (name withheld) but, she did not want.
She said the man then approached her parents and brothers and told them that he wanted to marry her
and they agreed and forced her into another marriage.
The man, she said, was a member of the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church and did not want to get
tested for HIV but wanted a child with her.
During those early days of their marriage, Masanzu said she then stumbled on him bathing and saw
that he had a sexually transmitted infection and that was the end of their marriage as she moved out
and went to Manhenga Business Centre, where she would later establish a bar and bottle store using
her proceeds from her previous job at Maizelands.
She said she also hooked up with another guy in 2011 and gave birth to her third child and second
daughter, who is now 12 years.
The man, according to her, eloped again to her place and they started co-habiting. She said he was
however abusive.
His wife later came and destroyed all her stock in the shop accusing her of snatching her husband. The
episode left her broke only for her father’s brother to rescue her.
“My father’s younger brother then came to my rescue and took me under his wings and that was my
life’s turning point.
“I then joined the Zimbabwe National Network of People living with HIV in Manhenga at district
level and that same year l was elected district advocacy committee chair. A year later, district chair
and there after provincial chair and later up to now, the network’s national vice-chairperson,” she
said.
In Bindura, women leaving with HIV get counselling from her.
She is now a strong woman, who even regrets her earlier efforts at trying to commit suicide.
While people would define success in different ways, Masanzu is a successful woman.
She has managed to send all her children to school and her two older children to vocational training
institutes.
She said has been able to manage stress, anger, abuse and stigma and discrimination in many spheres
including within the ZNNP+ itself.
“But to women either living with HIV or without, in and out of marriages l would want to urge you to
be vigilant. Don’t bow down to abusive men. Stand your ground and for your rights.
To parents, I discourage you from forcing children into marriages.
Happy International Women’s Day!”
HIV activism has taken her to different countries and recently she was in Canada for the International
AIDS Conference, where she was representing people living with HIV in Zimbabwe.
Masanzu is currently pressing the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, Senator Dr. Monica
Mavhunga, to avail the Zimbabwe National Network of People living with HIV (ZNNP+) a
reasonably sized piece of land for agricultural purposes.
“Yes, we are getting our medication without hassles, but the medication needs food. We are appealing
for a farm, where we will establish nutritional gardens and other crops, for a better diet for our
members.
“We trust the Minister of State will bear with us and give an ear and action our call,” she said.
Operating from her Manhenga homestead, Masanzu is also helping out-of-school children, mainly due
to financial constraints, to get back. She is also practising market gardening on her small plot and has
appealed to the Minister of State for a small piece of land to expand her production and improve her
earnings. She is also appealing for a borehole to support her small but vital production.
