During a recent assignment in Chisambiro, Mutoko, the NewsDay crew experienced firsthand what the villagers like many others in the countryside, face especially during the rainy season.
While farmers welcome the onset of the rainy season others dread it.
The rains have swept away bridges and damaged major roads cutting off Chisambiro area from the rest of Mutoko district.
The treacherous terrain was not only slippery, but was marred by huge boulders with jagged edges. The impassable road network in much of the district is not suitable for most of the imported ex-Japanese vehicles flooding the local market.
Negotiating the narrow winding roads during the night was a mammoth task requiring skills such as those of the crew’s driver Munyaradzi Gwanzura.
Crossing some of the collapsed bridges was a hair-rising experience and the hilly terrain did not help the situation either.
Just when we thought the worst was over, we were told that to get to our final destination we had to cross the imposing Nyamuzizi River on foot.
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From the river, we had an hour-along walk along a very narrow strip laced with razor sharp rocks. So we took off our shoes and braced ourselves for the scary trip across.
The three of us including photographer Shepherd Tozvireva, myself and Munyaradzi, heaved a sigh of relief when we arrived at our final destination –Vengai Chinyama’s homestead. Chinyama lost his wife Nyaradzo Chihowa and three children Tafadzwa (12) and twins Tanaka and Tashinga (7) in the horrific road accident that also killed 22 other people along the Harare-Nyamapanda highway last week.
The time was around 17:45hours.
At the back of our minds, we wondered how we would cross back after the assignment, in the dark and in unfamiliar territory with all its secrets and ‘monsters’.
As we returned back to where we had left our truck, we dreaded the idea of crossing Nyamuzizi River in the dark. The river banks were slippery and as the dark waters flowed down stream images of huge crocodiles lurking underneath conjured up in our minds.
At our wits’ end we held hands and stepped into the waters holding our breath. Slowly we trudged on willing our nervous limbs to get us across safely. Once or twice I stumbled, but sturdily built Munyaradzi maintained his grip and after what seemed like an eternity we finally made it across sweating “like pigs”.
Once out of the water, we put on our shoes and embarked on yet another hour trip in the thick foliage now made worse with poor light.
We arrived at where we had left our vehicle at Chisambiro township which appeared to be abandoned at around 2100hours. It was time to start our journey back to Harare, and we were extremely tired from walking, we decided to put up at Mutoko Centre around 23:30pm.
I could not imagine what the folks go through every time they visit the capital.
