Lisper with her daughter Levette, who had been swept away by the rains but she was later found alive and she was reunited with the rest of the family.
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Resource ID
5918
Access
Open
Orientation
Landscape
Date
23 March 19
Submitted by
Christian Aid
Funded by
Member/Other
Country
Zimbabwe
Appeal Name
Cyclone Idai
Appeal Code
A022
Phase
PJA
Theme
Need
Subject
Child, Female
Visability
Eye Contact
Credit
KB Mpofu/ Christian Aid
Caption
Lisper, mother of Levette, who was rescued from a tree, speaks in her home.
Lisper said, "I can say this storm had different phases. We survived three phases without much drama. Things got worse on the fourth one. The mudslide and water changed course started coming our way.
We were in my verandah, many families had gathered there. I didn't even know some of the families. I only knew about five families who were our neighbours.
After a few moments of watching the mudslide approach, I decided that (me and my kids) should run. I put the little baby on my back, and held the other two by hands. When we reached the gate, I realised that the durawall had collapsed, under pressure from the water and I held on to a metal rod which had been supporting the durawall.
A few minutes later, I heard my eldest daughter (Levette) call out my name. She wanted my help. At that moment I had to make a quick decision, whether to go help her and risk losing the other three, or look after the other three and let her go. I chose to save the lives of the other three, it wasn't an easy decision. She called me five times. After those five times, she was gone. The water swept her away. After about 30 minutes, things got a bit better and the men who were outside the durawall came into the yard, we were literally covered in mud, and sinking.
I told the men that Levette was gone. The father rescued us from the mud and put us on higher ground and they went to look for Levette. He came back a while later to say I saw her, she is trapped on a tree and I think she is dead. He further took us to another spot on higher ground, and told us he was going to get Levette's body. I begged him not to go because I didn't want to lose them both but he insisted.
He said he also wanted to go help another family that he has seen trapped. While he was helping another family, two hours later. He heard someone call his name, a boy called Takudzwa had found Levette alive, but she was badly injured. While he was gone, we had given up on finding her and had started mourning. We were praying and crying. It wasn't easy for me because last year, I lost a baby, so I started questioning God why he had taken my daughter this time again. At the same time, another part of me kept the hope alive. That God is able to do something. Some sort of miracle, maybe. I was switching between hope and despair. One moment I was in despair, that I had lost my eldest daughter, the next moment I believed that something could yet happen.
In the morning, I saw my husband come looking for us, because we had moved to another house at the invitation of some woman. My husband came bearing the good news that Levette had been found, she was rescued by a young man called Vincent. He took her down from the tree.
When Levette came home, she did she didn't remember much, her last memory was of her calling my name near the gate. And the next thing she was on a tree, and her mouth was full of mud and water struggling to breathe. Shortly she vomited the water and mud, and was able to start calling for help. That's how Vincent heard her and came to assist her after about three hours of being marooned on that tree.
We went about three days without medication for her, and we'd wash her wounds in salt. Four days later, a doctor came to Chimanimani Hospital and she got treated. She is still recovering. As for me, I'm still struggling. Most of those people that I was with on my veranda are gone, that haunts me. Everyday.”
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Public: Lisper and Levette