Girl Who Vanished From Mutare Crèche At Age 5 Found In Mozambique. She Is Now 18

Mutare woman has been reunited with her daughter after 13 years, after the teenager surfaced in Mozambique and made an appeal on social media for help finding her family.

Tariro Mahumba, who went missing from a crèche in the OTS section of Sakubva in 2013 at the age of five, was this week traced to Madeira in Mozambique, where she reportedly said she was kidnapped from Zimbabwe and subjected to years of abuse.

The breakthrough came after the now 18-year-old’s appeal was shared on social media, sparking a search for her relatives which led to her mother, Georgina Muchekadzose of Fairview in Mutare.

For a woman who had spent more than a decade not knowing whether her child was alive or dead, the phone call changed everything.

“When I talked to her, I immediately knew she was my daughter. She also recognised me. She has not changed. Her face is still the same. She looks like her brothers and me. I am so happy,” Muchekadzose told The Manica Post on Wednesday.

“The fact that she remembered my name and her brother, Ngoni, after so many years is very touching.”

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

On that day, she had gone into Mutare city centre to cook and sell sadza.

The disappearance was reported to the police, but no leads were found. Suspicion initially fell on Tariro’s father, Tonderai Muhamba, who had crossed into Mozambique on the same day. He denied any involvement.

The family searched extensively, including consulting traditional and spiritual healers, but found nothing. When Cyclone Idai hit in 2019, Muchekadzose feared the worst.

The breakthrough came on Tuesday night when she received a call about a young woman in Mozambique claiming to be her missing daughter after an appeal appeared on social media.

The family sheltering Tariro said she had escaped from the house where she was being held. They said she had escaped once before at the age of seven but was found and taken back.

Muchekadzose said her daughter described years of hardship and abuse.

“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,” said Muchekadzose.

Despite finding her daughter, Muchekadzose faces another hurdle – bringing her home.

She said Mozambican authorities advised that formal processes could delay Tariro’s return and that she may need to travel via Chipinge to collect her from Espungabera.

For the struggling mother, the trip is currently beyond her means.

Language is also a barrier. After spending most of her life in Mozambique, Tariro now mainly speaks Portuguese and remembers only a little Shona.

“The people helping her found me because she remembered my name and her brother’s name. She only remembered part of our surname, but it was enough,” Muchekadzose said.

To back up her claim, she produced Tariro’s birth records and family photographs taken shortly before she went missing.

Tariro, born on 28 March 2008, was just five when she disappeared.

“I still do not know who took her or why. All that matters right now is that my daughter is alive,” said Muchekadzose.

Muchekadzose said she intends to update police at Dangamvura as authorities on both sides of the border work to bring the family back together.