AGAINST the backdrop of fading local traditions, Muchaneta Malesa Vandira takes a stand to safeguard them through her new book, celebrating the significance of 'mbereko' as a cultural carrier.
Muchaneta defines mbereko as a practice, which starts off when the mother is pregnant up to when she gives birth and when she nurtures her child.
“Immersed in the cradle of community, the mbereko-carrying culture blossoms,” she said.
“When a woman is on her first pregnancy journey, she returns to her ancestral roots at masungiro. There, surrounded by the wisdom and support of her aunts, she navigates the path of motherhood. Through her masungiro experience, she's not only nurtured but also equipped with the knowledge and tools to raise a healthy child. And at the heart of this preparation lies the Mbereko — the sacred cloth that will soon cradle her new-born, a symbol of cultural continuity and unwavering love,” Vandira said.
Muchaneta said her research on mbereko culture started in 2008 when she had her first child.
“After birth I immediately carried my child and my husband who is from the Netherlands asked why I was carrying the baby that way because he had never seen anyone doing that and some people advised me that it was bad for the child’s body and hips. Some even wrote to social workers claiming that I was abusing the child,” she said.
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“We were called in for a court hearing and this posed a danger of losing the child’s custody but I told them that all was okay and I actually walked properly with the mbereko and I made them understand that it’s an African practice meant for babies,” she said.
Muchaneta said she started educating people on the matter because of colonisation people had neglected carrying children and opted to carry them in front because they think one can control a child when they are able to see them.
Driven by a desire to revive Zimbabwe's cultural practices and highlight their practical benefits, Muchaneta educates people about the advantages of mbereko.
“As Africans we forget that when carrying children helps with the development of hip, pelvis and joint development it also helps the mother to heal as well properly because when you are carrying your child at the back the belt of the mbereko then tightens the stomach and it helps in healing and at the same time it helps so that you have bonding with your child, so the child is also feeling the same way a child feels safe and it reduces anxiety,”
Muchaneta further described why children now have anxiety and fear in them. It is because mothers are no longer carrying their children, leaving them with babysitters or putting them in a perambulator (pram) and this causes early detachment between a mother and child.