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TWSC Submissions
TWSC Submission: Healing from Extreme Betrayal
Everything changed when I was about 11 years old. My parents began having conflict and my father ended up moving out of our home, leaving my mother to take care of seven children single-handedly. The eldest was 13 and the youngest was still breastfeeding. I was the third eldest. My dad sold the house we were living in and left us all quite desperate.
TWSC Submission: Starting Over as a Single Mother of 5
I am a mother of five. I was married very young and had my firstborn a few days before my 18th birthday.
TWSC Submission: Rebuilding After Tragedy -A New Lease on Life
It was 2 December 2017, a normal day when we all woke up and prepared for our daily work. As usual, we gathered as a team and praised God through songs and prayed for journey mercies. This working day involved shifting from one location of work to another, so our journey of more than 200 kilometres began.
TWSC Submission: Her Name was Faith
My name is Francisca Wairimu. I’m a born-again Christian. I love Jesus. I'm an ordained pastor. I'm very passionate about winning souls. In Africa, women suffer very much and go through a lot of pain in life. I don't know where to start…
TWSC Submission: Healing from the Sudden Loss of my Sister
My name is Claire and I would like to share about my loss. I lost my sister due to postpartum hemorrhage on the eve of my birthday. It was her first child and she had a lot of dreams for her child. It's been 4-5 years but everything is still fresh in my mind.
TWSC Submission: Severe Trauma Triggered My Fibromyalgia
Growing up, I have experienced a tremendous amount of trauma, from physical, emotional and even sexual trauma. I come from a broken family. My parents divorced when I was young. During their marriage, there was constant fighting between them, and it got physical at times. Their divorce was inevitable, and so my mother, brother and I moved into a flat.
TWSC Submission: My Pain Turned Into Power
My name is Dzidzai Gugulethu Mhazo, a 30-year-old single mother. I got pregnant when I was in high school doing Upper Six. I had to sit for my examinations pregnant, and it was not easy. I had to deal with all the morning sickness and pregnancy symptoms so that no one could suspect me at school. I managed to complete all my examinations, and I passed with nine points.
TWSC Submission: My Greatest Battle Outside the Courtroom – Surviving Financial Abuse from my Child’s Father
I'm a mother of one and a lawyer. Since high school, I have been passionate about the law and advocating for people. I enjoy it now, every day. My story is one of mental and financial abuse. Even though I am a shark in the courtroom, I was manipulated by a man I once loved and almost lost my dream. My experience is proof that abuse can happen to anyone. This is my story.
TWSC Submission: When My Childhood Ended
Merida Ohame was forced to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM), and then, soon after, forced to marry a total stranger. Today, at 62, she has vowed it fight for the rights of women and the girl child. She believes that FGM has damaging effects on girls and lowers a women self-esteem, and has worked to help eradicate this practice for over 30 years. This is her story.
TWSC Submission: The Day I Lost My Baby and My Uterus
Her childhood was a complicated one. Raised in a polygamous family, Rosa’s father worked in the city while her biological mother lived in the village. Rosa lived in the city with her father and stepmother because she had an eye problem that required frequent treatment at a hospital.
TWSC Submission: Growing up Under the Shame of a False Narrative
Imagine having to live twenty years of your life believing that you have a chronic illness, only for you to find out the truth at a clinic. The following story is about 31-year-old Sarah* from Uganda who grew up thinking she was HIV-positive because her family jumped to conclusions. Sarah faced a lot of discrimination and stigma from family members and almost lost her self-este
TWSC Submission: Stepping Outside my Comfort Zone to Create my own Business
My name is Ndagire Joan and I am a graduate of Uganda Christian University, it was always been my wish to complete studies and get a job immediately without passing through challenges. This has been impossible for me ever since I graduated. It is now ten months since graduation and no job yet.
TWSC Submission: A Forced Marriage Didn't Stop me from Becoming who I Wanted to be
My name is Alice Tagwira. I was raised in Masvingo, Zimbabwe. I hold a higher diploma in business administration and I’m still pursuing my education. I am a business owner, a social entrepreneur, philanthropist and feminist. My organization She Glows was officially registered in 2020.
TWSC Submission: How I Picked Myself up After Tragedy and Heartache
Constance Gwarawaziva, a 35-year-old single mother of two beautiful children, has had the odds against her time and time again. But with tears in her eyes and determination in her heart, she has overcome by investing in herself under very difficult circumstances. She talked to The Weight She Carries and walked us through her journey so far
TWSC Submission: My HIV Status Does Not Define Me
It is not clear how I contracted the sickness because my boyfriend at the time [was] negative. But looking back, I think I might have gotten it from a razor cut [from a blade] that was used to cut my mom's sister who was already bedridden with AIDS.
TWSC Submission: Healing from a Painful Childhood
Sometimes the grown ups in our lives mess up big time and create deep-seated wounds that take years to heal from. Phoebe experienced a series of events that marred her childhood and ultimately led to separation from her loved ones and being forced into child labour. This is her story in her own words:
TWSC Submission: How my Marriage and Womb were Restored
Those are the words shared by Vimbai Ncube who was born and raised in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, as the youngest of four children. Because she was born during the wartime in 1973, the family had to relocate from Entumbane to Queens Park where her father worked as a cook for a white family. Entumbane had become the epicentre of the Bulawayo battle named Gukurahundi.
TWSC Submission: How I Learned to Value Myself After Many Years of Bad Relationships
I come from a family of nine children. My mother lost one, so we are now eight. As a teenager, we were living in a one-bedroom apartment and I didn't find the place comfortable. I had a hatred for my dad. I didn't like the fact that he would drink, come home very late and wouldn't pay attention to us, his kids. I would see other children growing up with proper care from their f
TWSC Submission: When Mama Died
While the loss of a mother is devastating at any age, one of our readers reached out to us to share her story about losing her mother at the age of eight and the series of events that transpired after. She asked for her story to be published anonymously. This is her story:
TWSC Submission: Losing my Sister
Sisterly bonds are one of the most powerful bonds. What happens when one loses a sister, especially one that had taken up the role of both mother and breadwinner?
TWSC Submission: Surviving the Loss of my Baby
My name is Thobekile Moyo. I grew up in Gwanda but later relocated to Harare where l finished my education at Waddilove School. I am 43 and currently have three kids aged 20,12 and 15 months old. Although it is difficult to talk about, l will share my story just to help someone out there.
TWSC Submission: How Believing in Myself Made my Dreams Come True
I grew up with a passion for modelling. I remember when I was doing my primary school, I would take part in modelling competitions and would model for people at home. They never took me seriously.
TWSC Submission: How Discrimination Nearly Derailed My Success
I started work as a copy typist at the University of Zimbabwe and was promoted to the post of secretary in the public law department in 1990. I was then further promoted in 1995 to the post of senior secretary at the University of Zimbabwe Centre for Distance Education, Bulawayo region, which later became Zimbabwe Open University in 1999.
I Survived
Sean Kingston in his song “Beautiful Girls” sang a line, “all these beautiful girls, they only wanna do you dirt; they'll have you suicidal, suicidal when they say it’s over....” Adults and kids sang along, oblivious to what they were singing, myself included. It is only when it hit closer to home than l could ever imagine that l understood what it truly meant to be suicidal.
TWSC Submission: Traumatized By My Own Family
My name is Flora Nkatha Mugao. I was born and raised in Tharaka, Kenya. I attended Gekondi Primary School. I was a bubbly kid and had a normal childhood in a closely-knit family. My parents were both teachers. My mum taught in a primary school while my dad taught in a high school. We had neither too much nor too little. One thing that my mother always said whenever we lacked fo
TWSC Submission: Battle After Battle
I am 34 years old and was born into a polygamist family of 24 children from five mothers. Due to our Tugen in Kalenjin culture, our parents refused to take us girls to school, and we had to look after goats and cows while our father looked for old men to marry us.
TWSC Submission: How Depression Almost Killed me
Depression has left my kids traumatized, my relationships with my colleagues ruined and my health in a fragile state. It could never had been this serious had I admitted I had a problem and sought help when I had the chance. Prevention is much better than cure; it’s unfortunate I am only realizing it now.
TWSC Submission: Finding True Love After Vowing to Stay Single
I was born into a polygamist family. We were 16 children born to two mothers and my parents struggled to provide for us because we were so many.
TWSC Submission: My Life as a Co-wife
I was raised in a polygamist family. When I was two years old, my mother remarried a man who was a polygamist. The reason why my mother remarried was because her former husband’s relatives wanted to kill her. They were mad because the dowry which my father used to pay for my mother was not his. It was supposed to be used for another woman. So, in the new home, I got mistreated
TWSC Submission: Getting Back on my Feet After Losing Almost All my Relatives
I was born and raised upcountry. Growing up as a normal child, I found myself living with my maternal grandparents. I grew up with my younger brother whom we were so close in terms of age. I grew knowing my name as Grace, but once in a while, I would go out to the market and people would call me a different name. I was young and didn't understand until I was much older.
Celine’s Journey: How I Stopped Feeding the Monster
https://theweightshecarries.com/in-depth-story-surviving-a-life-filled-with-tragedy/
TWSC Submission: Making It Out Of The Dark Tunnel
I waited almost 28 years to have my first child. I was not in a rush, in fact, I wanted to get married first. I told myself I wanted my relationship to be like my parents. They are my role models. They don't hold grudges against each other and taught us, their children, the principles of life. I wanted my marriage to work just like theirs, but it was not to be.
TWSC Submission: Finding the Courage to Leave and Start Over
I was born and raised in western part of Kenya. I lost my dad when I was only 6. Being the first born in a family of four meant working extra hard both at home and in school. It was tough, but I did all I could to make sure I helped my mother who was just a peasant farmer.
TWSC Submission: Learning to Forgive my Parents
I am a 26-year-old teacher and first born raised by a single mother. Well, I didn’t really grow up with my mother. I pretty much have been a nomad all my life, moving from one place/relative/friend to another.
Raised by an Abuser – How I Survived Extreme Abuse at the Hands of My Stepmother
I grew up with a stepmother, my dad and siblings both older and younger. The house was never short of people, which was really great. My older sisters would bake cakes and cupcakes as well as sew. Being in a house full of people was wonderful for me.
TWSC Submission: My Boss' Wife
"I was working for a private publishing company as a graphic designer and this made me to work closely with my boss, who was too nice to me. He allowed me to work through my pregnancy till the baby was born, and he called me back after the baby was born to work and I resumed.