CLAD in her traditional Johanne Marange apostolic sect attire, respected church elder Spiwe Chizu (62) eyes this journalist with a mix of apprehension and caution.
As I approach her, she quickly glances around, ensuring no one is watching. With a nervous smile, she begins to fidget, her hands trembling slightly.
“My child, I am not sure if I am the right person to talk to,” she said, her voice laced with hesitation.
“I don't know anything about...that issue you are asking about.”
She takes a step back, her body language screaming discomfort.
She avoids eye contact, her gaze darting around the surroundings.
As I pressed on, she became increasingly evasive, her responses vague and dismissive.
“My husband is not around and I cannot entertain guests alone,” said Chizu as she avoided disclosing how childbirth is handled within the sect.
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Suddenly, she remembers a pressing errand, her eyes widening with a fabricated urgency.
“My child, I am so sorry, but I have to go. I have to fetch my grandson from school.”
She points towards the entrance of her homestead, situated at the periphery of the Huchu village in Madamombe area, Chivhu, a clear indication that it was time for me to leave.
The fear of revealing her sect’s sensitive matters, such as home deliveries, is palpable.
She knew that her community’s practices may be viewed as controversial and she was not willing to take the risk of being judged, ostracised or worse — arrested.
Moreover, she is afraid that the Holy Spirit will abandon her if she lets the cat out of the bag.
Her evasiveness is a shield, protecting her from the perceived dangers of speaking truth to power.
After a strong assurance that her information will not result in legal repercussions, Chizu’s tense demeanour evaporates and she nods, agreeing to share her story.
“We are not allowed to go to hospitals, it is against our church beliefs. I have never been to any hospital since birth,” she said.
“I have given birth to 13 children, three are late, but I have never been to hospital to deliver them.”
The issue of maternal health is a deeply sensitive and taboo topic within the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church, as numerous women, including young girls, have tragically lost their lives during childbirth.
The community has been ravaged by the devastating consequences of inadequate prenatal care, poor access to healthcare and preference for home births without medical supervision.
The mere mention of the topic is often met with hushed tones, tears and painful memories, as the church's strict beliefs and practices have contributed to alarming maternal mortality rate.
The silence surrounding this issue is intense, as many families have suffered unimaginable losses and the community struggles to come to terms with the tragedy and grief that has befallen it.
A June 2023 report on National Assessment on Adolescent Pregnancies in Zimbabwe by Unicef shows that religion influences people’s knowledge and practices on uptake of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) especially use of contraception.
The research revealed that most of the adolescent girls of the apostolic religion — 49% — had no access to SRHR.
Over the years, several girl children of the Johanne Marange apostolic sect have died giving birth at church shrines.
Women and girls rights activists have been petitioning the government to enforce laws that compels members of the Johanne Marange sect to seek medical attention for children.
But even during complications when giving birth, members of the Johanne Marange pin their hopes on church midwives.
“The midwife’s skilled hands, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, gently guide the mother's abdomen, palpating the baby's position,” Chizu said.
“She carefully inserts her hand in the birth canal, using her fingers to gently dislodge the baby’s shoulder, if the baby is stuck in her mother’s womb, for instance. She guides the baby out, easing a mother’s distress.”
The midwives don’t use gloves or sterilised surgicals, according to Chizu.
“If they are ordained by the Holy Spirit to become midwives, they become pure and even their hands will be clean,” she said.
“After the delivery, the umbilical cord is cut with a razor blade and we use the middle finger to measure the length from the foetal umbilicus and placental attachment of the umbilical cord, where it can be cut from. Sometimes the child dies or both the mother and child die at birth. It would not be surprising because such incidents are often foretold by the Holy Spirit. ”
When the baby is born, their health and well-being are entrusted to traditional practices, often at the expense of evidence-based medical care.
She is subjected to rituals and practices rooted in the church's beliefs and concoctions such as a mixture of lemon and cooking oil to cure a fever.
The Johanne Marange Apostolic Church's doctrine upholds the belief that infants fall ill due to the impurity of their parents, particularly mothers, according to Chizu. According to this belief, mothers who commit sins like adultery or witchcraft put their children at risk of contracting any one of the six killer diseases such as measles or polio.
If a child becomes sick, the mother is coerced to confess her supposed transgressions to “save” the child.
This twisted doctrine shifts the blame from lack of medical care to the mother's alleged moral transgression, leaving her with an unbearable choice — to confess to sins she may not have committed or risk losing her child.
“A child cannot just get ill out of the blue,” Chizu said.
“Once the mother confesses, the child is immediately healed. Church elders will take the woman, the mother of the sick child, aside and force her to confess. If she does not confess, the child will die.”
Though the journey of childbirth is fraught with peril and heartache, women of the Johanne Marange sect persevere, relying on religious traditions and communal support.
As the women’s stories unfold, a clarion call resonates, urging for a re-examination of the treacherous intersection of faith and healthcare and the urgent need for a lifeline of compassion, education and medical care to reach these vulnerable mothers and their precious new-borns.
