A trip to harvest grasshoppers in a nearby village nearly ended in tragedy for a Limpopo family after a mother and her two daughters were trapped on a river “island” for three days.
Thizwikoni Mahosi and her two daughters, Phophi, 16, and Murunwa, 18, were trapped by the Mutale River last Sunday and had to be airlifted three days later.
The three had gone to Matatani village to harvest grasshoppers for food last Saturday.
“We spent the whole Saturday night catching locusts and we slept in Matatani,” said Mahosi, a traditional healer.
Upon their return home last Sunday afternoon, they discovered that the Mutale River was flooding and they could not cross back to their village. They then decided to go back, but could not cross the second river. They found themselves trapped on an island between the Mutale River and a stream going to their village.
They decided to sleep on a small spot on the muddy ground, which was not covered with water. They did not have any cellphones with them, but the uncooked grasshoppers in the packets.
They spent most of the night shouting for help, but nobody could hear them as most people in the nearby villages were also dealing with floods.
“On Monday morning, we kept shouting for help and eventually, one person came and went on to call others. But they realised how angry the river was and the floodwater was very powerful. There was nothing they could do to help us,” recalled Mahosi.
The neighbour called the police, but they too could do nothing.
“They [police] came and took pictures of us while we were stranded. But nothing happened from there on Monday; we waited in agony with the hope that help was on the way. But the day went into night, and we spent another night trapped there, she explained,” Mahosi told Sowetan.
She said every time they saw movement from afar, their hopes would grow, only to be disappointed again.
It was only on Tuesday afternoon that help came. A team of rescue workers came, but they also could not get into the river as it was still flooding badly.
“I believe that God exists. Because even the clothes we wore felt like blankets. We were feeling warm. We didn’t even feel hungry. We spent three days without eating anything. I don’t know how we survived. I told myself, I will not question God.
“I thought maybe that day we were going to be swallowed by the raging river and we wouldn’t make it. I had accepted. I was fearing for my life and my children’s lives,” said Mahosi.
