“I now know how to manage conflict in my marriage by maintaining silence or physically excusing myself during altercations so that I can protect myself and ease tensions”.
Picture 1: Plaxedes Munhangu seated in her shop with the stock she sells.
A story of resilience, hope and courage in the face of abuse and conflict. A continuing life journey to empowerment through conflict management and financial knowledge in a remote rural village in Hurungwe District, Zimbabwe.
This is Plaxedes Munhangu’s story
I grew up in Hurungwe and did well in my early years of education at primary school. However, I did not do well in my secondary education as I failed my O levels. After that I joined my father in our family business to run our shop where I gained some business skills. Unfortunately, along the way I fell pregnant out of wedlock which is frowned upon in our society and as a result of this unwanted pregnancy, I was forced to go and live with my abusive husband. Since then, my marriage has faced many challenges as I have gone through a lot of violence and abuse in my marriage both physical and verbal. Though my husband is a formally employed man, he is an alcoholic and wastes our finances at household level. It was very difficult for me to ensure that our children go to school.
In 2012 I got involved in Envision Zimbabwe trainings. We were trained in Conflict Transformation, Gender and Women’s Rights and Leadership. I especially benefitted from conflict transformation trainings. As part of Conflict Transformation several things were created such as Peace Committees and Peace Gardens to reduce various forms of violence. The Peace gardens not only boosted us to gather as a community but gave us opportunity to meet as women and commune and advice each other. In later years we trained in Internal Savings and Lending (ISALs). From all these trainings I feel like I got empowered, managing finances, decision making, speaking up and participating in community matters and doing projects. I have been most fortunate to be part of this.
At household level, my husband and I built our own shop and I contributed through fetching water and making bricks towards the building of the shop. From the ISALs I engaged in various activities including cross border trading where I would go to Zambia where I buy stock for our shop to sell with items such as pots and clothing. Also, I managed to start a cooking stall where I prepare breakfast and lunch for my customers on an open fire. This empowered me to be financially independent and at the same time support the family.
While I gained skills and improvement in running my income projects .Unfortunately I still have challenges with my abusive husband and business is low due to our economic challenges in the country , however I am glad to have been empowered and to be able to look forward to an improved life. I am also aware of how to manage my household conflict, and have coping mechanisms in order to live at peace.
“I want to be financially independent and ensure the best and safe environment for my children. I have been through a lot and do not want to be a victim of circumstance, but a survivor and create the best future possible for my children.”
Picture 2: Plaxedes Munhangu at her cooking stall preparing a meal.
In my community we have been assisted with the conflict training programs because we now have a select group of people, the Peace Committee members who now mediate amongst us when there are disagreements in homes or the community. This was rarely there before Envision came through. At the same time, you now find that husbands are now more responsible and respectful of their wives. For example, after tobacco farming season, men would squander a lot of the money and leave families struggling financially. Now there is a noted change around that aspect. The community is now more sociable towards one another. I desire to see more women being more empowered to independently manage businesses and be financially stable because at times men can set progress backwards when they use money on things like drinking. I am grateful for these trainings because I see my potential for growth given my journey from the time I joined the community.