Online Reporter
Gibson Mhaka
FOR nearly 30 years, a Bulawayo father lived with the pain of losing contact with his daughter after his relationship with her mother broke down. The separation happened in 1996, when he was living in South Africa.
There were no mobile phones, social media or other instant communication platforms that are now taken for granted, making it difficult for separated families to keep in touch across borders. Years rolled into decades, and the daughter became a distant memory. Then came Gogo Chihoro.
The traditional healer has emerged as a point of call for people desperately searching for fathers, children and other close relatives from whom they have been separated for years — sometimes decades.
The man, only identified as Sibanda from Filabusi, said he approached Gogo Chihoro after hearing that she assisted people searching for lost family members.
What followed, according to his testimony, was a reunion he had almost given up hope of experiencing.
“I lost my daughter in South Africa in 1996. Her mother and I were just cohabiting and later separated,” he said.
“Those were the days when there were no cellphones and it was not easy to communicate. I heard about Gogo Chihoro and consulted her.
“After a few months, I managed to reunite with my daughter.” For Sibanda, however, the reunion was too significant to leave to chance. He subsequently went to the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) for DNA testing to establish whether the woman was indeed his biological daughter.
The results, he said, confirmed the relationship. “The DNA tests were positive. I want to encourage others who are looking for their children or fathers to consult her,” he said.
His story captures a growing and deeply emotional phenomenon in which people separated from their biological families are turning to traditional healers in the hope of finding answers to questions that have followed them for years.
For some, the separation began when parents broke up. For others, migration scattered families across Zimbabwe and neighbouring countries. Some children grew up without knowing their biological fathers, while others lost parents at a young age and only later began searching for their roots.
There are also fathers who lost contact with their children following separations from their partners and spent years wondering where their children were. It is this gap that Gogo Chihoro is said to be filling.
Her clients describe her as someone they approach when conventional efforts to trace a missing parent or child have failed.
The stories surrounding her consultations are varied, but the most striking are those involving family reunifications after decades of separation. In an era where DNA testing has made it possible to scientifically establish biological relationships, the search for one’s roots can still be an intensely personal journey.
For people who have spent 20 or 30 years without knowing where their fathers or children are, the first challenge is often finding the person before any scientific test can be conducted. That is where, according to her clients, Gogo Chihoro comes in. The phenomenon raises an important question about the lengths to which people will go in search of their biological identities.
A father who has not seen his child since infancy may grow old carrying the unanswered question of what became of that child. A child raised without a father may reach adulthood wanting to know where they came from.
And a parent who separated from a partner decades ago may eventually find themselves searching for children they once knew only as babies.
For such people, the search is not simply about locating a missing person.
It is about identity, belonging and closure.Sibanda’s case demonstrates the emotional weight of such reunions.
After almost three decades, he did not merely find his daughter; he was able to establish the biological connection through DNA testing.
His experience has since become an encouragement to others still searching.
But the stories linked to Gogo Chihoro extend beyond fathers and children. Clients also approach her over family disputes, lost relatives and other traditional or spiritual concerns. But alongside the stories of family reunification are other, more mysterious testimonies that have contributed to Gogo Chihoro’s reputation among her clients.
One such testimony comes from Beitbridge, where a family reportedly sought assistance after their child repeatedly suffered from low blood levels. According to the account, the child was taken to hospital, where doctors diagnosed her with low blood levels. She received a blood transfusion and was discharged, only for the problem to recur.
Concerned about the repeated drop in the child’s blood levels, the family began looking for an explanation beyond the hospital. The child’s grandmother reportedly told the father that she knew what was causing the problem.
Then came an unusual incident one night. While the grandmother was asleep, the family’s dogs suddenly began barking and howling.
She woke up, picked up her phone and used its torch to investigate.
According to the testimony, she saw the dogs barking at what appeared to be a bird. The family believes the incident was connected to the traditional protection they had sought from Gogo Chihoro.
Such accounts form part of a broader body of testimonies from people who say they have sought the traditional healer’s assistance for problems ranging from family separation to spiritual concerns.
However, the claims remain matters of personal testimony and belief and cannot, on their own, establish a medical or scientific explanation for events such as recurring anaemia or unusual animal behaviour.
What is perhaps more compelling is the human story behind the growing number of people searching for lost relatives.
For a father who has spent decades wondering where his child is, finding that child can represent more than a reunion. It can close a chapter that has remained open for generations.
For a son or daughter who grows up without knowing their biological father, discovering their roots can answer questions that have followed them throughout their lives.
And for parents separated from their children by circumstances beyond their control, the possibility of reconciliation can offer an emotional lifeline.
The rise of mobile phones and social media has made it easier for families to reconnect, but not everyone has access to the information needed to trace a missing parent or child.Names may change. Families may relocate. Relationships may break down. People migrate across borders. In some cases, those who hold crucial information about a child’s biological identity may have died.
For such people, the search can become a decades-long journey.
Gogo Chihoro’s work, according to her clients, occupies this difficult space between family history, traditional beliefs and the search for identity. Her story also raises wider questions about how Zimbabweans trace biological relatives and the role played by traditional healers, relatives, churches, social networks and modern scientific tools such as DNA testing.
The reunion of the father and daughter after almost 30 years provides perhaps the clearest example of how these different worlds can intersect. Traditional consultation may have initiated the search, but science provided an independent way of establishing biological links.
For families still searching, the lesson from the case is clear: hope can survive even after decades of separation.
Gogo Chihoro is reportedly available for consultations in Bulawayo every Saturday at Mahatshula North, by appointment. She can be contacted on +26371420423, +263781150770 or +263777934542 (Bulawayo).
