Sekai Nzenza on Wednesday
January arrived with bad winds. Deaths, illnesses and bad things have happened, forcing people around here to reflect on what could have angered the ancestors to bring so much suffering in just one month. Some of us, in fact, most of us, still believe that a bad incident does not just happen. It is caused by something else, an evil, witchcraft or Satan the Devil who was kicked out of heaven for bad behaviour along with all his evil angels. Quite often, the coming of something which is traumatic gives some kind of warning in the form of a bad omen. That is what happened to Mai Seviria before she died. She was warned.

First, a hyena broke into Mai Seviria’s goat pen. It was the night when it rained a lot and nobody heard anything. The hyena had a feast, killing all the goats and leaving just the one he-goat. In the morning, there were goat carcasses stretching for a hundred or so metres. The he-goat with a long beard, stood alone surrounded by carcasses. He looked way ahead, into nothingness, not moving. He was in mourning. “A hyena will kill one goat, never so many at once. This is a bad omen. Zvinoshura,” Mai Seviria had said.

That same day, Mai Seviria saw a big python curled up in front of her granary. The python saw her or heard her footsteps because it quickly unwound itself and zigzagged its way into the maize fields then disappeared. That was another bad omen. At the Catholic Church, the priest thanked God that the snake had caused Mai Seviria no harm. Then he dismissed the snake’s visit as an ordinary event saying that in the rainy season, snakes move around a lot, looking for somewhere dry and warm.

Few days later, on a very hot day, Mai Seviria went down to the river with Seviria, her 12-year-old daughter and Isaac, the three month-old-baby boy. Mai Seviria handed the baby to Seviria, took off her clothes and stepped into the water. Everyone knew that this bathing place, although not used as frequently by the women, was a safe place, beautifully surrounded by short reeds and water lilies. Crocodiles were not known to come this far upstream. Soon as Mai Seviria stepped into the water, a lurking crocodile ferociously grabbed her leg, forcing her to fall into the water. She screamed and tried to kick and fight, but the crocodile quickly swam away with her. She was never seen again. Not a single limb or body part was found. It was such a tragic way to go. At the funeral, they buried a goat’s head, as we do, when a body cannot be found.

If Seviria was not there when her mother was attacked by the crocodile, people might have said Mai Seviria was taken away by the Save River mermaids.

In the old days, they said people who disappeared in the water came back years later as specialist traditional healers, having been taught everything about healing during their time in the underwater. Seviria saw her mother go while she held on to the baby Isaac and screaming for help.

At the funeral, Seviria repeated the story of her mother’s death over and over again, always starting from the bad omen of the goats, the hyena and the python. She believed the spirit of Satan had passed by. How else, could she explain such tragedy?

“What did we do wrong, that the ancestors should mock and laugh at us like this?” Mai Seviria’s mother said, holding baby Isaac and feeding him watery porridge. Then she wailed in deep grief. The elders went to the Apostolic Faith’s Prophet Ezekiel for consultation. They wanted to know the source of evil that lurked in the water and took Mai Seviria away to her death. The prophet said Mai Seviria made a mistake by going to the Catholic Church for prayers after she saw the snake.

She should have come straight to him for protection and cleansing. He said the Catholic Church did not fully understand the works of the Devil. The prophet also said he could have saved Mai Seviria because he would have known, for sure, that going to the river was dangerous. After Mai Seviria’s death three weeks ago, Nancy, who lives in our village homestead, received some bad news from Nyamaropa, way past Nyanga, her home village. She said four women were struck dead by lightning during prayers under a baobab tree, muwuyu, in Nyamaropa. We gave Nancy some kombi fare and allowed her to go back to her village and pay condolences. Then we heard on the radio that four Apostolic Faith women were indeed killed during a prayer session when they were out in the open valleys. Nancy came back last Friday. On Sunday morning, when Piri and I were in the village, Nancy gave us the details of the lightning strike.

She said, few days before her death, Mai Mika, Nancy’s sister-in-law, woke up from a very bad dream. In her dream, three short men were tying her whole body with chains. She screamed and tried to get away, but failed. Then she woke up in tears. The dream was a bad omen. Mai Mika called Madzimai Rozi, the prophetess from the church. Madzimai Rozi promised to pray and call upon God’s powers to chase away the bad dreams and free Mai Mika. Madzimai Rozi then asked Mai Mika to attend the prayer session on Friday. The prayers and singing went well. Then the rain clouds started to gather. All the men left, fearing the rain. But some women formed a line in front of Madzimai Rozi, wanting special prayers, kushandirwa. It was important that the women speak to the prophetess and be healed from their various spiritual, physical, family and marital problems. There were several women in line, all related one way or the other. The sky was dark and light rain was falling.

Suddenly, in one flash, lightening hit, striking four women, throwing one baby from its mother’s arms and killing all four instantly, causing serious burns to nine others. “Satan akapfuura nekweduwo Sis,” Nancy said, meaning the Devil also passed by her village in Nyanga. “That is sad beyond any form of grief,” Piri said. “How do you mourn the destruction of young mothers?”

“It is God’s will,” said Nancy. “God gives. God takes away.” Mwari ndivo vanopa. Mwari ndivo vanotora. We say these words so often, like a mantra, a prayer or a chorus, when we cannot often explain why some bad things happen the way they do. We simply cannot explain the origin of tragic events that we experience or see in life. Leaving it to God could be the only way to accept the tragedy.

“Some times, death or injury has nothing to do with a bad omen or an evil spirit. There are safe places to worship, away from the open paths of lightening. The same goes for rivers. A crocodile is unpredictable. Take no chances if you know the river is infested with them. People need education,” said Piri.

Piri, the Catholic priests, prophets and others will have various interpretations as to why Mai Seviria was killed by the crocodile. But the question still remains: Why do such evils happen in the world? Is it because the ancestors and God are angry? Or maybe, sometimes Satan, if he exists, does pass by, as he did in our village in January.

We pray that February and the months ahead bring no visits from bad omens. Back in the village, we only want steady rains, no lightning, and granaries full of good harvests.

Dr Sekai Nzenza is the chief executive officer of the RioZim Foundation.

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