Zimbabwe Mother Finds Daughter In Mozambique 13 Years After She Disappeared From Crèche At Age Five

After 13 years of heartbreak, unanswered questions and fading hope, a mother living in Mutare, a city in eastern Zimbabwe, has been reunited with the daughter she feared she might never see again after the girl surfaced in Mozambique and appealed on social media for help finding her family.

Tariro Mahumba, who disappeared from a crèche in Sakubva’s OTS section in 2013 at the age of five, was this week traced to Madeira, Mozambique, where she reportedly revealed that she had been kidnapped from Zimbabwe and subjected to years of abuse, according to Herald Online.

The dramatic breakthrough followed an appeal by the now 18-year-old, which circulated on social media and triggered a frantic search for her relatives. The search ultimately led to her mother, Mrs Georgina Muchekadzose, of Fairview, Mutare.

For Muchekadzose, who had spent more than a decade living with the uncertainty of not knowing whether her child was alive or dead, the phone call confirming Tariro’s whereabouts was an emotional turning point.

“When I talked to her, I immediately knew she was my daughter. She also recognised me,” an emotional Muchekadzose told The Manica Post on Wednesday.

“She has not changed. Her face is still the same. She looks like me and her brothers. I am so happy. The fact that she remembered my name and her brother, Ngoni after so many years is very touching.”

The reunion, however, has also reopened painful questions about what happened to Tariro and who was responsible for her disappearance.

Muchekadzose said Tariro vanished in 2013 while attending a crèche operated at a church in Sakubva’s OTS suburb, where the family rented a room.

On the day she went missing, Muchekadzose had travelled into Mutare’s city centre, where she earned a living by cooking and selling sadza.

“When I returned home, I was told that Tariro could not be found. We searched everywhere, but there was no trace of her,” she said.

The disappearance was immediately reported to the police, but investigators failed to uncover any leads that could explain the child’s whereabouts.

As the years passed without answers, suspicion initially fell on Tariro’s father, Mr Tonderai Muhamba, who had crossed into Mozambique on the same day the child disappeared.

“At that time we had separated, and I suspected he had taken her. He strongly denied it and nothing was ever proved,” Muchekadzose said.

The circumstances surrounding Tariro’s disappearance remained unresolved for years until her recent appearance in Mozambique and subsequent appeal for assistance.

According to her mother, Tariro has now recounted some of the hardships she allegedly endured during the years she was away from her family.

“She told me she was beaten almost every day and had run away twice. The second time, she fled because the people keeping her were threatening to kill her,” Muchekadzose said.

The account has added another painful dimension to a case that had remained a mystery for more than a decade, while the family now faces the challenge of ensuring that Tariro can safely return to Zimbabwe.

Despite the emotional reunion, Muchekadzose said bringing her daughter home has proved difficult because of the formal processes involved.

She said Mozambican authorities advised that the official procedures could delay Tariro’s return and that she might need to travel through Chipinge to collect her daughter in Espungabera.

For the struggling mother, however, the cost of making the journey is currently beyond her means, leaving the family hoping for assistance to complete what has been an extraordinary 13-year journey from disappearance to reunions.