Gender-based violence, Women empowerment, Disability rights, African women leaders, Social justice in Zimbabwe, Nomsa Epworth, SOVI Speak Out Voice It, kanthari leadership training, Resilient mothers, Strength on wheels, Child marriage Zimbabwe, Female social entrepreneurs, Healing from trauma, Empowerment through storytelling, Overcoming adversity, Justice for women, Stories of change, Voices of the unheard, Rise together movement, Community empowerment, Ending exploitation, Supporting survivors, How women with disabilities lead change in Zimbabwe, Empowering survivors of gender-based violence through leadership, Real stories from Epworth: women defying the odds
Nyasha Marylyn Munetsi, a survivor of gender-based violence and founder of Speak Out Voice It (SOVI), turned her scars into a powerful movement for change. Through healing circles, skill-building, and maternal care, SOVI uplifts women to rise above silence and shame. One such woman is Nomsa, a mother, a fighter, and a beacon of strength in the challenging streets of Epworth. Her story is not just about survival; it is about defying odds and standing tall on wheels.
Nomsa – Strength on Wheels Amidst the Struggles of Epworth
In the heart of Epworth, a sprawling informal settlement on the edge of Harare, resilience has a name—Nomsa. At just 33, she is a mother of four, a caregiver, a survivor, and a fighter. Despite being physically challenged and reliant on a wheelchair, Nomsa navigates the bumpy, dusty paths of her community with dignity and unrelenting courage. Epworth is a town bursting at the seams with hardship. Known for its dense population, shanty dwellings, and absence of infrastructure. It is also home to some of Zimbabwe’s most heartbreaking social ills. Teenage girls, many under 16 years line the streets in the evenings, especially one particular street known as Touch Line. Here, teen girls line up in the evenings dressed in skimpy clothes, men from various social classes are also seen coming to pick up these young women. Some men come on foot, but others come in very posh cars, all to exploit these young girls. Some of the girls are orphaned, others come from families where the parents are very much alive and able-bodied. They drop off their daughters from school and send them into prostitution to support their alcohol and substance abuse. Pure parental negligence. Nomsa, though physically challenged and a single parent, is not like any of these negligent parents.
Nomsa’s days begin at dawn; she wakes up as early as 5 am and prepares all her children for school. She gets support with school fees from a local organization. She only has to buy the uniforms and books. Nomsa survives by selling small goods by the roadside to earn just enough to feed her children. Each of her four babies has a different father, men who saw her vulnerability not as a reason to support, but as an opportunity to exploit. They came, they took, and they left, leaving Nomsa to carry the full weight of parenting, survival, and protection alone.
But the pain cuts deeper than abandonment. One of her daughters, once in school under Nomsa’s care, was forcefully taken by her father and married off to an older man in the rural areas as repayment for a debt. A bright young girl’s future was snatched away, reinforcing the brutal cycles of gender-based violence and economic exploitation that plague this community.
Epworth is a place where hardship is woven into daily life—where children are married off before they finish childhood, where drug abuse and poverty are rampant, and where women like Nomsa are left to carry burdens too heavy for one person to bear. Yet, in this harsh reality, Nomsa continues to rise. When her eldest teenage daughter was taken forcibly by her ex-husband and married off, Nomsa did not yield and accept this fate for her daughter. Instead, she contacted us, Speak Out Voice It (SOVI), and asked for help to locate her daughter and bring her back to school, and also bring the ex-husband and the man who had taken the daughter as his wife to face justice. Nomsa displays an unrelenting desire for a better life for her children. A mother determined to challenge the norms of the community, envisioning a brighter future for her children. Speak Out Voice It interviewed Nomsa to get more on her daughter’s story.
I’m currently at kanthari to strengthen my skills and gain the tools needed to grow SOVI into a force for real change. So that together, we can stand beside Nomsa and countless others like her, offering not just support but dignity, justice, and true empowerment that results in lasting change.
When we heal ourselves, we empower others to rise. When we rise together, we are able to realize a better tomorrow.
