Takudzwa Chihambakwe

SPEAKING animatedly while oozing tangible passion and vigour, one can tell that her words are coming from the depths of her soul.

Never did it cross her mind that someday she would be able to have children of her own as she had to deal with the harsh realities that besiege those deemed infertile, a choice that many at times have no control over.

Sencia Maponga’s situation is similar to that of many Zimbabweans and millions of African women on the continent.

Infertility is a major problem in families, and in most cases, it tends to affect women the most.

Due to cultural norms and the rock- solid patriarchal system that most African countries are set around, even if the husband in the relationship also has fertility problems, it is the wife who carries the burden.

Now 52- years- old, Maponga revealed to The Herald how her first marriage crumbled due to her failure to bear children.

“What many women go through due to infertility is unbearable. I was now like an animal in my thinking because I just felt nobody loved me because I was unable to bear children.

“Living without a child is something very difficult,” she narrated.

“I was first married at the age of 22 and that marriage only lasted till I was 26. I could not handle the pressure anymore, so I had to leave.

“My own father- in- law walked in on me as I was stark naked, asking me to be intimate with him as he was wondering why his son and I were not bearing children.

“I immediately left the home and started staying somewhere else with my husband, but never told him what had happened to avoid family conflicts,” she recalled.

But, the family pursuits were not over.

“My husband’s brother came to stay with us for some days and he started giving me a worrying look.

“I then asked him why he was behaving like that, and he then revealed that he wanted to sleep with me so that I could have children. I was shocked to hear this and I told him to leave.

“That is when I discovered they knew that my husband was infertile, but I had to go through all this. After four years, the marriage ended and I decided never to get married again.”

Maponga’s situation speaks to the true reality on the ground that states that in such scenarios where a couple cannot bear children, it is a 50/ 50 scenario where either partner can be infertile, and not the flawed perception perpetuated in society that women are the problem.

Twelve years later, Maponga remarried, but that did not work as well. In her quest to find solace, she then discovered that there were many like her in Southern Africa, which led her to form an organisation dubbed Hannah’s Tears in 2015.

“On a daily basis, I get over 500 messages on my phone, and other social media platforms, of women suffering in marriages due to this issue of infertility. Some are emotionally and physically abused, and it is now our task to counsel them,” says Maponga, who decided to adopt and be a foster parent, and has four lovely children.

She highlighted that there were numerous challenges in trying to address this issue in Zimbabwe as many have never been educated on it, and let cultural norms run their course.

Another issue is that while the health complications that lead to