Ruvheneko Parirenyatwa posted a video on YouTube announcing her pregnancy and she immediately went viral for mentioning that she used unconventional methods of conception.
The video was posted 3 days ago and it already has 78,000 views. People are really fascinated by Ruvheneko’s pregnancy.
Ruvheneko’s pregnancy reveal has caused a debate across all social media platforms. Even the self-proclaimed “free spirits” and “modern souls” find themselves scratching their heads and wondering how they really feel about Ruvheneko’s approach to motherhood.
In the video, Ruvheneko says that she has reached a point where she doesn’t believe that she can find someone to first marry and then have a family with. She says if it happens down the road she would consider it but waiting for Mr Right was not a factor she allowed to stop her from having a baby. She also shared about discovering she had many fibroids and how this increased her sense of urgency to be a mother.
Ruvheneko does not disclose the details behind how she finally conceived even though she mentioned freezing her eggs and finding a sperm donor. She says that she believes some of the details of her journey are not meant for the public.
Responses to Ruvheneko’s video are as varied as the people that have posted in the comment sections. Some people understand and applaud her for her openness as they believe that this will inspire many other women in society that are in Ruvheneko’s situation. Some have failed to understand Ruvheneko’s approach and say she is encouraging women to take up wrong ideals that are not natural to the beliefs and culture in Zimbabwe.
The idea of freezing eggs and artificial insemination is not new to most Zimbabweans. We see it being done in movies and some people may have had to consider it when they fail to have children in relationships and marriages. Yet Ruvheneko is the first woman in Zimbabwe to publicly share her experience and that is new. Some people find it hard to understand why she chose the option to be a mother without a man.
There are a lot of issues at play when one thinks of the reasons why Ruvheneko’s video has caused such a huge debate. The issue is not that she will be a single mother because there are single mothers everywhere in Zimbabwe. Neither is it an issue that she will be pregnant out of wedlock because pregnancies out of wedlock are also quite common in our society. If she had chosen to adopt people probably wouldn’t have kicked back as hard either.
The issue is that Ruvheneko has boldy publicly declared that she does not need or want a man. And according to our beliefs and culture, men are necessary. The general fear is that with her influence many women will also follow in her footsteps and that will change a lot of dynamics. Relationships will function differently and women will take on new attitudes towards family and marriage altogether. What does that mean for religion as well? Those are the underlying fears that drive the anger of some people.