In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

19 Where is My Mother? Anesu Zhira In 1998 I lived in Chibi with my grandmother. They say I was a clever boy but that I cried a lot because I was lonely. One day, when I was four years old, I went to Victoria Falls with my mother and sister to join my father. When I saw the bus that was going to take us there I was frightened because I had stayed for such a long time in the village with no cars, no buses and no motorbikes. I liked playing with my older sister, but one day she woke up in the morning and started putting on a uniform. I asked my mother why she was wearing a uniform and I was told she was going to school. ‘What about me?’ I cried. ‘You’re still a baby,’ my mother replied. ’Me, me, me, I am not a baby and I need to go to school with my sister,’ I shouted. I started washing myself so that I could go to school, but she said. ‘You are a good boy but you do not have a uniform and if you don’t have a uniform they will not accept you at school.’ I cried and cried and my mother said, ‘Sorry baby, but you will be able to go to school soon.’ When my sister came back home from her first day at school and greeted me I ignored her, ‘Why should I be happy to see you when you left me at home?’ Mother told my father that I really wanted to go to school, but he said I was just a young boy. When I asked him why my sister was going if I couldn’t, he got angry and I started to feel frightened. When I was six years old my mother told me that I was going to school the next day. But, of course, I didn’t want to go to school any more. I hated the idea of going to school because up until then I had spent my time playing with my friends. I had to go, but, at first, I felt lost and I started to cry for my mother. She came to comfort me, and I started to understand and to like school. 20 Soon I was doing well at school, passing all my subjects. Then we lost my father. My mother and sister cried all the time. I was ten years old. My mother went to work in Bulawayo, leaving me, and my sister, in Victoria Falls to stay with an uncle. We never saw or heard from her again. My uncle is a fierce man and he often beats me for reasons I don’t understand. His wife then started to beat me as well, so my life has become a misery. A year later, I often dream about the happy life I used to have with my father and mother. My sister tries to comfort me, telling me not to give up. But I still often cry out, ‘Where is my mother?’ ...

Share