The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa Post Reporter
IF giving birth is a blessing, then having three babies at once must be a sign that you are about to lead a very joyful life.
Gone are the days when giving birth to more than one baby was considered a curse, with the babies being killed upon birth.
According to modern day African traditions, giving birth to multiple children at once is believed to be an indication that good luck is on its way to the mother.
This is the case for a 32-year-old self-confessed sex worker.
Melody Muponda, who plied her trade at Hauna Growth Point, recently gave birth to triplets.
Until January 2 when she gave birth, Melody offered her services in Manicaland and in neighbouring Mozambique.
Maybe the only dent on the good story is the fact that Melody does not know who amongst her clients is the father of the three children who are only a month-old.
She, however, believes that her recent birth of the triplets is her second chance to an honest and happy life
“We would go around with fellow sex workers to Penhalonga or Mozambique. We would get drunk, follow the money and get paid. We would spend one week in one place and move to the other and even exchange partners, so I have no idea who could be the father of my triplets. I wish there was a way to find out who he is but I am afraid I will never know,” she said when The Manica Post caught up with her in Honde Valley last week on Friday.
Melody gave birth to the triplets at Hauna District Hospital.
The newborn babies weighed between 1,8kg and 1,9kg each.
Narrating her story, Melody said in recent years she lost four children to unknown diseases.
Her husband back then was a member of the Johane Marange Apostolic Church and he followed the church’s doctrine religiously, thereby forbidding her to take the children to hospital when they got sick.
As a result, she eventually left him.
Unfortunately, she had nowhere to go and she ended up venturing into sex work.
Melody says she had to do that so that she could take care of her surviving child, her mother and her six siblings.
“I believe these children are God’s smile to me. I believe He is trying to give back to me what He took. I only became aware that I was pregnant during the fifth month of the pregnancy and never harboured thoughts of an illegal abortion.
“In fact, when I discovered that I was pregnant, I was over the moon because losing four children had left me depressed. I believe that is also one of the reasons I had turned to sex work,” she said.
Melody said despite being pregnant, she continued with her work to fend for her family while subjecting herself and her unborn children to the horrors that come with sex work.
At six months, she was shocked to find out through an ultrasound scan that she was carrying two boys and a girl.
After adjusting into the good news, she waited eagerly to hold her three babies in her arms, with the three coming into this world on January 2.
“There are four of us staying at this house. We stay here because it is very cheap. It is also near the joints where we do our sex work. The place is convenient. Even if I finish work at midnight or later, I can still walk back home alone because it is only a few metres from all the popular bars and bottle stores.
“We can hear the sound of a bus or a car arriving from Harare or Mutare from here and we rush there looking for clients,” she said.
The house where Melody and her friends stay has been christened ‘PaGirls High’ by neighbours since sex workers who have lived there since time immemorial.
Rentals for rooms at the house are US$10 per month. There is no electricity connection and the ladies have to conduct their business in the dark or using candles and solar lamps.
Melody feels that this is not the right environment to raise her three bundles of joy.
She says she is ready to start afresh and quit sex work.
She is appealing to well-wishers to help her with decent accommodation and some capital so that she can start an income generating project that will help her look after her children.
“I would really appreciate if I could find someone who could help me escape this kind of life because I no longer want to be a sex worker. I need to look after my children, but I have nowhere to go,” she said.
She is also appealing for clothes and food for her children.
In an interview, Melody’s mother, Mrs Alice Mangofa (46) said although she wants to assist Melody in taking care of her children, she cannot do so due to lack of accommodation.
“Just like Melody, I was married at 14 against my will, but my husband died while I was still young. I moved back into my brother’s house who unfortunately cannot look after myself, my six other children, as well as Melody and her four children. I appeal to well-wishers to assist Melody with decent accommodation for herself and the triplets.
“I am grateful that the Lord has gifted me with three grandchildren at once. Despite being poor and not being able to look after them myself, I am overjoyed as a grandmother. God has restored what He had taken and that alone should be celebrated,” she said.
Mrs Anna Marimbire, a member of the Hauna business community and Zanu PF’s Mutasa DCC Secretary for Heath and Child Care, donated some baby formula for the new-born babies.
Mrs Marimbire said there is need for more donations as the babies consume almost a kilogramme of baby formula every two days.
“She cannot feed and satisfy all of them at once, hence the urgent need for the baby formula. We are appealing to well-wishers to assist Melody. She wants to reform, but this can only happen if we help her,” she said.
Those willing like to assist Melody Muponda can contact her on 0783626755.
