Maria Zefanias Gulele's Story Part 1
After Mozambique became independent from Portugal in 1975, a brutal civil war between the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) and the rebel forces of the Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo) broke out. Women and children were kidnapped by rebel soldiers and forced to move with their captors. Children as young as twelve had to carry weapons and food while walking in front of the rebel soldiers during patrols, and were used as human shields and living landmine detonators. Maria Zefania Gulele, now aged 37, was one such young girl. She was captured in Vilanculos, a small coastal village in the Inhambane province, 720 km north of the capital Maputo.
During a reconnaissance patrol, Maria stepped on a landmine and was gravely injured. Her captors left her bleeding and mutilated in the field where she fell. Fortunately, Frelimo soldiers found her when they investigated the cause of the explosion. They took her to the ramshackle hospital in Inhambane, where both her legs were amputated above the knee. Maria Gulele: another landmine statistic, another innocent casualty of a futile ideological war. During her rehabilitation Maria proved to be a courageous survivor who was determined to fight for her independence. Although forced to use her hands to drag herself through the blisteringly hot sand, she refused to give up, and managed to teach herself the art of braiding and hairdressing. When she returned to her hometown of Vilanculos, she borrowed ten dollars to buy the basic equipment she needed to start her own business as a hairdresser.
keep checking back to find out more about Maria...