The ManicaPost
Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Senior Reporter
“I have not seen her since it happened and I do not even want to see her at this moment. I am very disappointed. Considering the trouble I go through to pay her fees, I never expected this kind of thing. Boarding schools are supposed to be secure institutions, but when a boarder girl falls pregnant and miscarries at school, it becomes very painful to me as a parent”.
These were the words of a parent from Rusape whose daughter allegedly aborted a six-month pregnancy during a school vacation programme at St Anne’s Goto High School, Wedza last week. The girl (17) allegedly concealed the foetus in her trunk.
She was allegedly impregnated by a boy at the school. The man (name withdrawn to protect the identity of the girl) cut a dejected figure when The Manica Post visited his home on Monday.
Where other children have gone to school and returned with brilliant results, his daughter brought them a pregnancy or rather an aborted dead foetus.
“She was fine before she left for school, interacting normally with everyone. We never suspected that she was pregnant. I paid for the vacation school programme and she went to school with other children only to get a call from the school authorities last Tuesday advising us of the incident,” said the dejected father.
According to sources, the girl was accompanied by her mother on her way to vacation school on August 14 but she only got to school on the 18th.
No one knows where she was or what she was doing in those five days.
“When she got here, she was not her usual self and we all just assumed that she was not feeling well. On Monday, she did not attend lessons and she stayed behind at the girls’ hostels. That is where she started bleeding and the other students called the matron and other teachers,” said one of her friends who cannot be named.
“When the teachers got there, she had wrapped the foetus in a blanket and hidden it in her trunk but they found it. She was then ferried to hospital and her parents were later called and they took her away.”
So much was the father’s grief that he has could not visit her at Rusape General Hospital, where she was discharged early this week. Instead he made arrangements for her to go and stay with his sister in Harare.
“We took her to the hospital and since then, I have not seen or talked to her. We sent her to her aunt in Harare to try and protect her because had she came here; everyone knows her and the stigma would have affected her. We are just trying to protect her,” he said.
Social media has not been kind either as messages and pictures of the foetus his daughter is alleged to have aborted have gone viral.
Despite his disappointment, the father described the social media attack as unfair.
“We are only getting to hear about the details on social but some of the things being said are not true. Those who have been to see her at the hospital told me that the doctor said she did not abort, but suffered a miscarriage. The doctor also said the pregnancy was two and a half months old, not six. I am told she was carrying one child, not twins as is being said on social media,” he said.
It is reported that is not her first time that the girl has aborted.
It is alleged that underwent a similar experience in 2017. Fellow students who spoke to The Manica Post confirmed the incident but could not volunteer more details.
They said this was not the first time for the girl to abort. St Anne’s head Mr Kudzai Mutseyekwa referred all questions to the district schools inspector (DSI) Mr Ngoni Mujuru in Hwedza, who confirmed the incident in a telephone interview.
“I have received the report from the school authorities and last week, I visited the school but the child was not there for me to talk to her. She had already been taken away by her parents,” he said.
Mr Mujuru said they could not do much as the girl was unwell.
“There is a limit to the investigations that we can make at the moment but the police were alerted of the issue and we are just waiting for a chance to interview the involved parties. We will only be able to get a way forward after she is fully recovered and able to talk to us and tell us what happened,” he said.
