Clara's story of pain and survival
After leaving her first marriage due to her husband’s infidelity, 33-year-old Clara Katongo of Lusaka’s Shantumbu area in Chieftainess Nkomesha’s chiefdom met a man she believed was a “heaven-sent husband.”
However, she later found herself fighting for her life after suffering severe physical abuse at the hands of her second husband.
Clara, who got married at 19, spent more than five years in her first marriage. However, things began to fall apart when her husband proposed to her niece, who had been helping her babysit her child while she worked as a maid.
The situation worsened after she discovered that her husband had impregnated her niece, a revelation she received with shock.
After informing her mother about the situation, she was advised to keep it a secret in order to protect her husband and the family at large.
Later, she decided to confront her husband about why he was sleeping with her niece a claim he vehemently denied despite it being the truth.
This left Clara with no option but to abandon the marriage, but she was sadly diagnosed with HIV at the age of 19.
"I asked my husband why he was sleeping with the two of us knowing that we are related, he said it is not true, but I saw the situation, when someone is having an affair with your husband, they lose respect, insulting me, that is why I decided to take her back to the village in Kasama," she laments.
"The relationship between me, My Mother and My sister is sour, we do not talk to each other anymore, this is how my marriage ended," she recalled.
Clara stayed single for about four years and in 2021, she found what she believed was true love and married for the second time.
However, it did not last, as she endured daily pain at the hands of her husband, who often came home drunk.
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We would like to warn our sensitive viewers that the following post contains a graphic image of Clara, who sustained severe injuries after being assaulted by her husband.
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"This man [second husband ] used to beat me and my children despite promising my daddy that he would take care of me and my children until my mother-in-law took the kids, and this really pains me a lot, because my children are suffering.
"I gave birth to this premature child at seven months, because of my husband beatings".
She said, "my husband used to sleep with knives, hammer, pickax, and other machetes under the pillow like a man who is going to hunt wild animals ,which he could use when beating me."
She further explained, "I remember one the day he came home at 02 hours, with a pickax and started breaking the door, that is how I started shouting thief! thief! but no one came.After he broke inside the house he hit my face, and broke my hand."
"I fainted and just found myself in the nearby hospital after regaining my conscious, that is how the neighborhood effected a citizen arrest on him and took him to the police.
The matter went to court where he was sentenced to six months imprisonment.
Clara complained, “I was widely condemned after my husband was jailed for almost killing me, but I wondered what crime I had committed.”
"Auntie, is it a crime to have HIV, she asked ? whilst being interviewed , is it a crime to love a man like I did, why is the society blaming me for doing what is right,she further questioned?”
She narrated, “my husband [second husband] used to tell me that he was going to kill me, and that it is better my mother and his to lose both of us.”
She has since asked for protection fearing that her husband who is jailed will kill her once he is out of prison.
In Zambia, GBV remain rife with women often being primary victims of the vice in many instances.
In the third quarter of 2025 ,the country recorded a total of 9,899 GBV cases, compared to 10,782 cases during the same period in 2024, a Zambia Police statement issued in early November 2025 stated.
Zambia is joining the global community in commemorating the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV), with this year's campaign focusing on ending digital violence against women and girls.
The theme, "Unite to End Digital Violence Against All Women and Girls," highlights the growing concern of online abuse, including cyberbullying, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, and online harassment.
The campaign, observed from November 25th to December 10th, aims to raise awareness and advocate for the elimination of GBV globally.
The event was launched in Kitwe on the Copper Belt by Minister of Lands, Sylvia Masebo, who represented President Hakainde Hichilema.
Below is a clip of Clara sharing her experience with gender-based violence (GBV). For her safety and privacy, we have blurred both her and her child's faces.
Ends………………..
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