Zawadi Mussa Ntaliligwa who got married 16 years ago to her husband Pili Shaban told YEN.com.gh that although they did not argue, he walked out on her and left her with eight children.

The woman who lives in the southern highlands of Tanzania with her eight children is reported as saying that although Pili Shaban never told her why and where he was leaving home, she suspects it must be as a result of fear of her pregnancy with triplets. 

Zawadi recounted how her husband picked his belongings and left them in May 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic crisis forcing her to pick up manual jobs to feed the children before she gave birth to her triplets in January 2021. 

“I think he felt the pinch of what this new pregnancy was going to cost us. We never had any arguments; we have been living peacefully together for 16 years. It must have been the pregnancy. He left on May 29 in 2020 and he took everything including my clothes,” she said. 

“I gave birth to my three children in January, the first two who came out were sons and the last one a girl, came out under duress. She had her hands and legs tied by the cord. I actually thought she was dead because she was not doing anything or breathing. A midwife came, poured cold water on her and tried to resuscitate her but nothing happened and we came to the conclusion that she was dead until ten minutes later when she sneezed but no sound came out.”

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Zawadi who now depends on the benevolence of others and doing menial jobs which includes going to till people's land the whole day to get money to take care of herself and eight children single-handedly lost one of her triplets on the second week of February 2021. 

“I used to take my 10-year-old child to accompany me to these manual jobs. The other two who are five and two years old would remain behind and protect our humble home,” she said. 

Despite the situation she finds herself in due to her husband’s shirking of responsibility, Zawadi is more than willing to accept him without hesitation when he possibly returns because he remains the father of her children.

“I beseech men to take care of their women so that they do not leave them in such poor situations like the one I am currently in. If he decides to change and come back then we will continue with our marriage. I never have those anger issues.”