It wasn’t easy to be single, but having a son made me stronger than I was before. I wanted to work hard to be able to support both of them. Their father didn’t care and even denied that it was his child. His mother and brothers saw that Tapiwa was his son when they visited me one day. Tapiwa is what I call him in short. He grew as I took care of him from being as fragile as a breakable porcelain figure. He crawled at 8 months and walked at 1 year and a month old.

He was a very shy boy who didn’t want me to leave him. I started to be a vendor after losing my job. I sold chips, sweets, cigarettes, maputi, freezits and also second-hand clothes. Tapiwa would be on my back. He didn’t want to play with anyone. He didn’t like new faces, he cried till the person left. Tapiwa stopped wearing nappies when he started to walk.

One day I wanted to go to town, I put his nappy on and he cried. He never peed in his pants he was such a good boy, but his sister would pee in the blanket. I smacked her one day and she never peed again since that day.

“Where is Tapi?” my cousin asked when she came to visit.

“He is in the bedroom, you know how he is.” I answered.

“Tapi, come and greet Aunty,” she called out.

I saw Tapiwa peek with his head behind the door and go back. My father came and joined us. I made tea and some scones. We drank while we talked about the family. My daughter went and played outside but Tapiwa wanted to play indoors. He was shy but some said he was afraid of people.

I had to buy a lot of toys so that he wouldn’t get bored. He enjoyed eating sadza and eggs a lot. Since I weaned him, he was not as bad as Fadzi was. She cried the whole night because she wanted milk but Tapiwa never woke at night for food. He was an unusual baby and a special son. His first words were ‘Mama”, after that he could say his sister’s name.

When he was 4 he had a lump on his neck. After taking him to the clinic, I was told he had mumps. I didn’t trust the stupid nurses. My heart feared losing my son. I thought God was punishing me for not wanting him at first.

The doctors then said it was cancer. I was referred to surgeons who gave me a date for the operation. Since things were hard in Zimbabwe, they made it easy for the children less than 5 years, as long they had a birth certificate, they would be swiftly tended to.

The doctors gave me medicine to give my son. I wasn’t relieved when I went home. I would watch over him every second I breathed. When he was in pain he cried a lot. My heart pained every moment when I couldn’t calm him down. I loved him more than anything in this world.

The day came for my son’s operation. He had been sleeping badly at night; he couldn’t sleep when he was in pain. I went to the hospital to admit him the day before the operation. It wasn’t easy to see my son suffering. I had left my daughter with my parents. I hated hospitals because I saw a lot of things that made me fear the worst.

I saw a lot of people dying there. When I was young, I went to hospital a lot because I had cancer. To see my son suffering pained my heart.

***

Tell us: Could it be possible that Tapiwa got cancer because his mom had it?