admin
The incident occurred on Sunday at about 9pm.
Ms Petty Nyathi, who lost all her property worth thousands of dollars in the fire, is recovering at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH).
She told Chronicle from her hospital bed that she had lit a paraffin light for her week-old broiler chicks that she was keeping in the house.
“I was doing a poultry project at my homestead and I had about 150 broiler chicks that I had sourced from some people who fund poultry projects for people in the rural areas. I could not put the chicks in my kitchen hut because there was no security,” said Ms Nyathi.
“I then decided to put them in a metal tub and placed it in the lounge and I would light the paraffin light for the chicks before retiring to bed.”
Ms Nyathi said she decided to put the chicks in a cardboard box after her neighbours advised her that the metal tub was too cold for the chicks.
“A few days after I had transferred the chicks into a cardboard box I went to attend the funeral of a relative in the same area.
When I went back home at about 9pm, I met my grandchild on the way and he told me that the house was burning.
“I rushed home and found the whole house covered in thick smoke. I entered the room where the chicks were kept and I tried to pull the cardboard box but it was too late as the chickens were all burnt.
“I also tried to pull my three bags of maize that were in the house but I failed. When I tried to go out of the house, I failed to locate the door as the fire had engulfed the whole house and I got burnt on the face,” said Ms Nyathi.
She went to the local clinic on the following next day as there was no transport for her to travel that night.She was later transferred to UBH.
She appealed to members of the public to assist her with building material to renovate her house and buy food and clothes.
“I am lucky to be alive but it is unfortunate that I failed to salvage anything from the house which had all my property including my clothes.
“I would like to appeal to well wishers to assist me with clothing, building material to renovate my house and some food because I also lost three bags of maize that I bought from the Grain Marketing Board,” said Ms Nyathi.
She said well wishers could contact her on 0772 439 931.
Online Reporter