“I found myself walking barefoot, cold, and homeless in the middle of the night. I was scared, confused, and had tears streaming down my cheeks as I clung to my two-week-old infant while straddling my one-year-old toddler on my back, walking through the night to my aunt’s place. It wasn’t a robber or stranger I was running away from, but the father of my two children and the love of my life. The man who I expected to shield and protect me, and my children had beaten me up, burnt my belongings and chased me away from our matrimonial home only two weeks after I had given birth to our second son. The man I had trusted with my present and future had turned out to be my worst nightmare”.

Sarudzai is a 21-year-old mother of two from Nembiri village of Mt Darwin. She had eloped to live with her husband two years earlier.

“I had been enduring beatings ever since I got married and had somehow accepted that once he gets drunk, I would be beaten up and insulted for the pettiest issue. Only eleven months after our first son was born, he coerced me to stop taking contraceptives.  He said: You have to bear me another son so that you keep nursing and have no opportunity to engage in any extra-marital affair.  According to him, I was to supposed to be breastfeeding one child after another as this was what I had come for (married for). On that fateful day, I was beaten up in the middle of the night and had the children’s clothes and mine burnt in the middle of the compound. He threatened to kill me, and that is when I decided to pick up the children and the few things I could rescue from the fire and went to seek refuge at my aunt’s homestead a kilometre away. I lived there for a week, but my husband would constantly come and threaten me and demanded that we come back home. This created insecurity to my aunt’s family, and they were not comfortable to continue taking care of us. I however could not go report to the police as my baby was too young and I was still too weak to walk 11km to Dotito police station to file a complaint. A month before giving birth, I had heard about the GBV hotline (managed by Musasa) through the radio at the local clinic during one of the antenatal visits and had taken the toll-free number and vowed to use it the next time I found myself at the mercy of my abusive husband. I bravely called the Musasa call centre who then reached the Mt Darwin counsellor and alerted her of my plight. Through the support by the hotline counsellors, I got to know about the GBV shuttle system aimed at providing GBV survivors with transport to access GBV services”

The GBV shuttle service is provided by UNFPA with financial support from USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) programme and through the work of UNFPA’s implementing partner, Musasa Project. The shuttle counsellor travelled to Saru’s aunt’s place where she assessed her situation and recommended that she urgently needed to be put in a place of safety. Arrangements were made to take her to the GBV community shelter in Chiweshe. After ensuring Sarudzai and her children’s safety, the first port of call for the shuttle counsellor, in consultation with the shelter staff was to assist Sarudzai file a report at the local police station. She was ferried to Dotito Victim friendly unit (VFU) and reported her case. When her husband got to know of this development, he went on the run. The shuttle counsellor also helped her file for a protection order at Mt Darwin civil court.

 “We were taken to a shelter while the police were working on catching Chamu who was on the run. At the shelter, they assisted with clothes for the children, and I was very grateful. I also received training in income generating activities for self-empowerment so that I do not rely on my husband”.

In September 2022, Dotito VFU notified the GBV shuttle counsellor that Saru`s husband had been apprehended and it was now safe for her to return home. Sarudzai returned home to her aunt`s place and she is hoping that after court trials she and her husband will engage in couple counselling to change their marriage and bring peace to their home with the assistance of the counsellor. It is through the support of the USAID supported programme that women like Sarudzayi are slowly picking up the pieces of their lives safe from abuse and harm.