FROM A MARRIAGE MADE IN HELL TO PHILANTHROPIC WORK

Lucia Mazhou

SHEILLA Muzambe has revealed that the inspiration behind her philanthropic work was from a marriage which was dominated by severe abuse.

The founder of Flame of Life Foundation opened up about how the abuse she suffered in her marriage motivated her to pursue this path.

“I was an average girl before I got married, then I got married to a diplomat and life changed dramatically. When such a thing happens, you would expect everything to be rosy but that wasn’t the case for me.

“I was abused physically and emotionally and I had no one to turn to as I was in a foreign land.

“Whenever I would tell my parents I would be met with the infamous saying, ‘shingirira ndozvinoita dzimba’.

“I tried holding on until a point when it became unbearable, it was also affecting my son and the children I looked after. That is when I realised I had to go.”

She added: “I found myself wallowing in depression as my ex-husband would call me an uneducated housewife who had nowhere to go and the divorce process only made it worse.

“I developed a heart problem and got diagnosed with diabetes which I am still struggling with to date.

“This badly affected my son to a point where he had to go for therapy to live through the trauma and that is what pained me the most.”

She said she was helped by a group of women who walked her out of depression.

“It is because of the help that I received, in my time of need when I had lost all hope, that I thought of creating this foundation.

“It is my desire for this foundation to be a light in times of darkness for those that need the light the most.

“As a woman you should have something you are doing and not completely rely on your husband. Work harder to fight hunger.

“My main goal is to empower women so that the children will also benefit from this.

“I believe that the struggle of a mother is the struggle of a child, therefore, if you empower the mother you have empowered the child.”

She, along with six other women, paid for the school fees of three underprivileged children and promised to pay their fees until they completed their secondary school studies.

They also donated foodstuff to the women.