Goblins immobilise pupils

VILLAGERS of Tsholotsho are still trying to come to terms with a mysterious ‘ailment' that has left about a dozen school children unable to walk after attacks from mysterious creatures.

The bizarre attacks have been happening since March this year and the affected children are from Magama Mission Primary School. The school is in Ward 13 of Tsholotsho District in Matabeleland North province.

Victims of the attacks are between the ages of five and 15 years – all school children that live in villages around the school, according to Ntulani village head Vincent Hadebe.

Hadebe told the B-Metro that some parents of the affected children had even tried taking them to hospitals such as Mpilo in Bulawayo but the inexplicable ailments could not be treated with modern day medical diagnosis.

"There are about 12 children who are affected by this condition and what happens is that when it starts, the children convulse as if they are being choked by unknown creatures. This makes them feel weak and unable to walk.

"These attacks mostly happen when the children are on their way to school or coming back home. We suspect that these goblins that attack the children are located someplace along the way to school because the affected children are all day scholars," said Hadebe.

The traditional leader said the incidents started in March and means to try and bring a stop to the attacks had not been successful.

"This started in March and this condition affects children between the ages of five and 15 years. The children are scared of going to school and some of our intelligent children failed to write their end of term examinations due to this problem.

"At first, we were taking the victims to Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo for treatment but all our efforts were in vain as none of them barely recovered.

"We then sought permission from our traditional leaders to invite traditional healers for assistance," he said.

The numerous traditional healers that have come to try and get rid of the problem claim to have ‘fished' out strange creatures that include snakes, monitor lizards, human waste, a baboon and three monkeys from a number of homesteads in the area.

"There are eight victims who are currently recovering and they have started going back to school while four of them are still affected," added Hadebe.

Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education communication and advocacy director Taungana Ndoro said they had not yet received reports about the incident.

"We have not received any information regarding the case in that particular school. However, we usually receive such cases and we use a multi-sectoral approach.

"This is through engaging the traditional leaders and the head of the school to assess the situation as we do not have the expertise to deal with such matters," said Ndoro.