The ManicaPost
Post Correspondent Kudakwashe Chidziya
“IT WAS like a miracle, she was rescued from the epicentre of a whirlwind, which ushered her out of the flood waters. We had searched her for an hour without any clue of where she was alongside her two dead brothers. It was unbelievable to see her emerging from the whirlwind; that could only be God’s answer to me – the same manner he answered Job out of the whirlwind”.
These were the touching words of Emily Chingwashu (33) as she narrated the miraculous survival of her daughter Atidaishe Chingwaru (4), from the furious Cyclone Idai, which ravaged Chimanimani a month ago.
The little girl was rescued an hour after being swept away by flood waters that enveloped Ngangu Township. As houses were submerged in floods, people fought for dear lives and the search for relatives intensified.
The innocent Atidaishe was nowhere to be found.
It was only after about an hour that a strong whirlwind emerged, and miraculously, out of it emerged the little girl.
Atidaishe was seated at the epicentre of the miraculously whirlwind.
She was calm, relaxed and unhurt.
“It was like a miracle, I could not believe my eyes. We searched for Atidaishe and the other children, but failed to locate her before she appeared in a whirlwind.
“She went missing together with her brothers Adore (14) and Ashley Chingwaru (10), whom we all found dead. We never thought the little girl would survive.
“She was not even crying, though she looked confused, when she emerged from the whirlwind,” narrated Mrs Gloria Chirara, who took custody of the little girl when the storm subsidised.
While the incident appears stranger than fiction, most Ngangu residents, though shocked, confirmed it.
Mrs Chingwaru said the incident was a testimony of God’s all-conquering power.
“I never thought she was alive after realising that her brothers had died. I am grateful God kept her alive,” she said.
Apart from losing her two sons, Mrs Chingwaru lost all her valuables and livelihoods. Mrs Chingwaru is among the 12 families currently housed at Ngangu United Methodist Church building.
“Nothing was left, but a void in my heart. My house was swept away and the place I call a home now is the Ngangu United Methodist Church where I am residing with my daughter,” said Mrs Chingwaru.
