By Salimu Ngulube

HAVING escaped capture by Rhodesian soldiers my mother and her friend Tutsirai ended up in the hands of FRELIMO soldiers.
For anyone who desired to join the liberation struggle, meeting FRELIMO soldiers was inevitable.
Mozambique was their country and they had just got their independence and were now helping Zimbabweans gain theirs.
Thus the two young girls who had chosen to dedicate their lives to fighting for freedom successfully crossed the border into Mozambique.
This would give them a chance to graduate from chimbidos into full-time liberation fighters.
They did not look back, the only important thing was to fight for the independence of the children of Zimbabwe.
For a few days, they stayed at Espunga Beira before being taken to Chibawawa Base.
Mother says at Chibawawa, the bases were divided into two.
One for women in a little town called Machazi while the other was for men.
After some time, they were taken to the main base in Chibawawa.
It was at Chibawawa that my 15-year-old mother was instructed to continue with the education that she had abandoned for the liberation struggle.
They were taught the history of countries such as Russia and China among other lessons.
Not only did they focus on education, they were also taught military tactics that included drills and bayonet fighting.
Through the guidance of Cde Bombadiare and Cde Mao, they soldiered on under very difficult conditions.
Mother experienced a lot of things that affected not only her, but hundreds of others living at Chibawawa.
She saw people who were losing toes after being affected by Jigger fleas (matekenya).
Hunger became a common thing while strange diseases killed and affected many people.
Women were mainly affected by diseases dubbed ‘Hurricanes’ that resulted in others collapsing while others would bark like dogs.
Medicines were scarce resulting in the death from diseases such as Malaria.
Mother stayed at Chibawawa from 1975 to1977.
There, she stayed with people like the traitor Morrison Nyathi and other comrades including, Vice-President Joice ‘Teurairopa’ Mujuru, Mationesanhamo and Cde Mark Dube.
While at Chibawawa, mother became a teacher of Grade Ones and Twos.
In 1977, mother went to be trained at Chimoio for six months and stayed at Chitepo College.
At the college, she learnt Political Science and this was done in preparation for a come-back to a liberated Zimbabwe.
My brave mother was there when Chimoio was attacked and she is one of the survivors.
She says the camp was attacked during the 8 am parade.
At the parade thousands of comrades were singing and mother still recalls the song which goes like “Amai Jimmy mwana wenyu makamuregerera ipuruvheya…”
Mother says as they were singing, a spotter plane crossed and many thought it belonged to the late Cde Samora Machel.
It has been more than 30 years since Chimoio was attacked and mother still has vivid memories about the events of that day.
She talks of how she was thinking about her close friend Tarisai who was not feeling well when she saw the spotter plane.
She knew Tarisai was sleeping in one of the barracks and she decided to rush there.
The barrack in which she was sleeping was one of the first to be destroyed.
Mother knew that it was the end for her best friend.
The enemy had destroyed a friend that she relied on in the harsh days of the struggle.
She did not only see her friend perish, but also a number of comrades who were caught off guard at the parade.
Without a gun to defend herself with, she felt helpless.
Paratroopers were being dropped, comrades being shot from close range and barracks destroyed.
While all this was happening, mother says she could not run.
She was confused and thought she would not survive the horror.
It seemed her struggle had come to an end.
She walked to a nearby river where one Cde Zhepe, a coloured guerilla saw her, gave her a gun and instructed her to follow him.
As they were walking, they came face-to-face with three paratroopers.

To be continued