A tall, young, beautiful and fair maiden changed and transformed by the traumatic experience she underwent. Sarah a girl aged 18 had been accepted for her Accountancy degree at Chinhoyi University. She came from a family where her father was the breadwinner and toiled for the family.

Sarah commenced school with high hopes of having a bright future, little did she know what life had in store for her. Unfortunately, in her second semester her father passed away and it was a huge loss since he was her only provider.

The young woman persisted with her studies, but life got tougher by the day. Lack of basic commodities such as food, rent and sanitary wear. As the first born in her family out of five she never wanted to burden her grief-stricken mother.

With her beauty most men would have their eyes on her. Sarah befriended a guy named George who was doing his master’s degree. George proved to be a good listener and always had a solution to her problems. He was basically the superhero she was waiting for to save her city.

The charismatic and cunning slowly wormed his way into the life of the young Sarah. He paid her fees for the next semester. Little did she know that she had met the master who knew how to gamble it all and win it all. The two started dating and were romantically involved.

The young naive Sarah had fallen in love and blindly trusted George. She gave her virtue and pride to George. Sarah saw her happily ever after with him and never saw the use of contraceptives. In actual fact George would quickly dismiss the topic when Sarah mentioned the issue.

Suddenly after a month, the young lady started having cold feet as her period was 1 week late. She was in denial for a few weeks and finally gathered the courage to take the pregnancy test. She felt as if someone had poured a bucket of ice-cold water over her.

Sarah confided in her aunt of her condition. They made their way to the supposed house of George. As soon as Sarah and her aunt got to the house, they received the shock of their life. She was greeted by two women who already knew her by name.They introduced themselves as George’s wives and ushered her into the house.

Sarah’s aunt immediately abandoned her, and she was on her own. The few days she lived there; she saw a new side of George. He immediately ordered her to stop her studies. Sarah went back to her mother who gave her condition to be accepted back into the house.

With her Prince Charming transforming into an abusive monster, she saw no other way out. She wasn’t ready to give up on her dreams and goals for a man who was despotic and only wanted her as a baby machine since his wives could not conceive.

Abortion was the only right decision she could make in order to get her life back. With not much money with her, she had to act on her own. She took a hanger and inserted it and pulled as hard as she could. Sarah disposed the life she had extracted from her by burning the remains. She bled profusely and she tied cotton clothes to her legs.

Sarah suffered with the pain for days. She was accepted back home by her mother who nurses her. They were afraid to seek medical attention in fear of being criticised. In addition, as a young

 aspiring Accountant, she couldn’t bear to have a criminal record. Sarah up to date confirms that she suffered casualties due to her illegal abortion which she prefers keeping confidential.

Analysis or possible solution.

As a SA activist of Chinhoyi University l have started to educate women on the Abortion law of Zimbabwe. In addition, impacting knowledge on women having rights over their own bodies. Effective use of contraceptives as a safeguarding tool against mistakes as women we are the ones who carry the evidence on our bodies.

Article by: Tiffany Kanengoni, SA activist, Chinhoyi University