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By Muchaneta Chimuka
After failing to have children for the past 30 solid years, a Domboshava man is living a traumatic life and to make matters worse his own family members have been stigmatizing and discriminating him.
The man who preferred anonymity has named himself “Baba Tatenda” as a way of fighting the stigma said he is very traumatised at home and in the workplace where he is being called names due to barrenness.
“I believe the problem is inborn because I have never impregnated a woman during my life time. We have stayed for over 30 years with my wife but we have no children. We consulted prophets, traditional healers and we were told that it was my wife who had a bad omen or spirits which were eating her children whilst they are still inside the womb.
“We were later advised to visit the doctors after we joined the MwanaChipo Africa Trust organisation that deals with infertility issues that when I got the relief and the problems was found in me and not my wife. I told my wife to re-marry but she refused because she loved me and we are still staying in harmony although community people say a lot of things about us,” he said.
Baba Tatenda said he was advised by doctors to take nutritious food and fertility tablets but to no avail.
“After several efforts the doctors discovered that the problem was irreversible and they referred me and my wife for counselling and we both accepted it and this gave us a lot of relief because during the past years we lost most of our wealth which include two beasts, goats, cash and some household property which we used to pay to traditional healers and prophets.
“My own parents stigmatized me as they stopped visiting me and they would openly tell me over the phone that they cannot come to my house because there are no children to play with. They would visit my sisters and brothers who resides in our neighbourhood and return to the village without setting their feet and my house,” Baba Tatenda added.
At work, the unhappy man said the stigma was also rife which prompted him to quit taking eating food from the company canteen.
“During lunch time some women and men at my workplace would come and start laughing at me saying I’m useless to women since I ‘fire empty or blank bullets” referring to my infertility nature. It really pains hence I decided to bring my own food in a lunch box from home and I would find a secluded place to eat,” he said.
In a related case, Sithengisiwe Lizzie Zulu (38) from Plumtree’s Dombodema Village but currently doing menial work in South Africa was born with a small ovary and an enclosed reproductive organ which makes it very difficult for her engage in any sexual activity even to conceive.
According to medical experts, MRKH syndrome type 2 has an estimated worldwide incidence of 1/4500 live female births but the prevalence of MRKH syndrome remains unknown due to lack of research coupled by the unavailability of resources.
MRKH syndrome type 2 is most often diagnosed in adolescence as the first symptom is most commonly a primary amenorrhea in young women presenting with normal development of secondary sexual characteristics and normal external genitalia.
Patients lack the uterus and the upper 2/3 of the vagina. Because of this, difficulties with sexual intercourse have been reported.
Pelvic pain can be reported in those with uterine remnants. As the uterus is missing or not functional, women cannot bear children but ovaries are normal and functional.
“I used to have a boyfriend but he eventually deserted me because I failed to meet his sexual needs due to this condition. I visited several apostolic sect churches for spiritual intervention because I thought that I might have been bewitched but nothing change. Recently I visited the doctors with the little money that i earned from some menial work and the scan results revealed that I have a very small ovary hence I cannot conceive.
“As a means of trying to open my reproductive organ I’m using my fingers because I do not have money to buy the ‘medical’ dilators that stimulates the opening without much pain. It’s very difficult to engage in a sexual activity because of the pain even the sexual partners would be feeling the same,” he said.
Zulu said she opted to narrate her story after she read Zerripah ‘Unique’ Amon Phiri’s Story on MRKH Syndrome and felt touched.
“I want some people who have the same problem to speak out because it heals. I had the thoughts of committing suicide but when I got the relief when I realised that I was not alone in this dilemma. I got to know about my condition at the age of 16 and I could have been assisted during that time but due to fear of stigma and discrimination I was hiding myself. This condition is making me sick and im now failing to do even part time jobs for my survival such that I can seek medical attention,” she said.
Phiri of Chegutu was born with MRKH Sydrome and her scan revealed that she had neither a uterus nor the ovaries and she is currently seeking medical attention in South Africa.
She is now considering child adoption in order to fill the gap of motherhood.
In Zimbabwe the child adoption policies have the following grounds or limitations
Who Can Adopt?
Residency: Prospective adoptive parents must be either citizens or legal residents of Zimbabwe.
Age of Adopting Parents: Married prospective adoptive parents must be at least 25 years older than the prospective adoptive child.
Marriage: Prospective adoptive parents adopting as a couple must be married.
The religious and traditions aspect has its own definition in as far as infertility issues are concerned.
Mr Heaven Munyuki the Executive Chairperson for MwanaChipo Africa Trust said he also faced infertility issues which prompted them to form this organisation that has more than 400 members country wide whom they assist with both counselling and medical services.
“We struggled to have a child for more than seven years my wife was having problems of miscarriages several times and we wasted most of our time seeking help from religious churches and we later got assistance from doctors now we have a baby girl and we are now planning to have a second one. We encourage people to seek medical services first,” he said.
Sekuru Elisha Mutanga a member of the Zimbabwe Traditional Healers Association (ZINATHA) said evil spirits are a major driver to infertility in both women and men.
“The country that we are living in very weird, no one is glad to see some people prospering in their marriages hence they use juju or magic to steal a foetus from the woman’s womb so one carry an empty stomach for nine solid months only to get a shock of life during delivery of scanning process when they are told by doctors that there was nothing.
“Some uteruses will only be carrying a lot of fluids, rats, frogs and some strange features and if women do not consult sangomas in time for cleansing they can even die. There is nothing like that to say a woman can be born without ovaries, uterus or a purely constructed sexual organ, this are the works on the devil,” he said.
He added that men who face infertility issues are the ones who are bewitched and they frequently dream while having intimate affairs with some unknown seen objects that he termed as ‘goblins or sithokoloshi’.
However, a medical doctor with the Zimbabwe Family Planning Council, Dr Moses Macheka said infertility is the failure to conceive (regardless of cause) after one year of unprotected intercourse.
“Globally it affects 10-15 percent of the reproductive aged couples. The cause of infertility and outcomes of investigations and treatment have not been assessed in Zimbabwe. Infertility can be classified as primary and secondary.
“Primary is when a couple has never conceived before and secondary infertility is when conception has been experienced before. Both male and female factors contribute to infertility. It can also be a combination of the two,” he said.
He spoke about a study done by Madiyire et al (2021) on 261 Harare women and some of their partners that shows that a combination of male and female factors was about 40 percent each. For Women, ovulatory failure was the commonest cause (25 percent) followed by tubal blockage (20 percent). For men the commonest cause was sperm defects or dysfunction (30-40 percent) .
Unexplained infertility was as high as 25 percent. Fertility also rises with increasing age (women) as fertility seems to be stable until 35 years of age , declines slightly until 40 then followed by a sharp decline after the age of 42.
The research also pin points other factors that affects both sexes which include: environmental and occupational factors eg excessive exposure to radiation, ( lead or other heavy metals and pesticides), toxic effects related to tobacco, marijuana and other drugs, compulsive exercise and inadequate diet associated with extreme weight loss or gain among other factors.
For those who need to assist Zulu so that she can get medical attention can contact her on +263 0717940400 or her South African line +267 75259351.