Women, biblical texts and COVID-19 in Zimbabwe : navigating the mental health terrain

Abstract

From its onset in Zimbabwe, COVID-19 disrupted the mental health of many Zimbabweans. Its quick transmission and viciousness caused fear and panic as people tried to ensure their safety from infection. When lockdown was first declared as the death toll slowly climbed up, it became clear that a number of people would suffer from mental health problems mainly because of isolation, failure to take care of the sick loved ones as well as stigmatization of those who got infected and recovered. In most cases, name calling resulted from ignorance of how to treat those who had recovered from the disease. While recovery was celebrated, the recovered patients were labelled as ‘vaya vakamborwara neCOVID’ (those ones who once suffered from COVID) or ‘pamba peveCOVID-19’ (the home of the COVID-19 sufferers, sic). As infection cases soared and hope seemed to be lost, many people turned to religion. The genderedness of the pandemic became clear as women suffered the most, both as carergivers for the sick as well as from Gender-based Violence (GBV). In such cases, the deployment of biblical texts took centre-stage in most Zimbabwean societies and beyond as women tried to make meaning of their situation. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to investigate how biblical texts were deployed by women for the sake of taking care of their mental health in a threatening environment. The intention is to establish the many ways that religion becomes a useful resource in pandemic contexts particularly for the mental wellbeing of women in Zimbabwe. This is largely a qualitative paper which utilizes in-depth interviews of women in Harare’s Central Business District (CBD). The African Womanist Approach informs the study.