By MILDRED KATONGO? –
A WOMAN of Kalulushi District, who disappeared from home leaving her four children on their own, has been located in another township and cohabiting with a lover.
Sharon Bwalya, 37, left her four children, among them a six-month-old baby, on their own, forcing them to seek refuge from neighbouring houses where they had to scrounge for food.
Ms Bwalya said she left her matrimonial home for fear of losing her life to her husband who constantly beat her even on petty issues.
“I left home and everything including the children because I was fed up and I feared that I would be killed because my husband is always beating me even over small things,” she said.
Ms Bwalya has vowed not to go back to the matrimonial home but that at some point, she would take all her children with her.
Her mother, Beauty Mwamba also narrated that after the Times of Zambia reported the disappearance of her daughter, she was located in Kandabwe Township in Kitwe where she was staying with another man.
Ms Mwamba, who expressed disappointment with her daughter’s behaviour, said she took in her grandchildren who were left to fend for themselves.
She said the family searched for her daughter for two weeks and did not report to the police because it was not the first time she had disappeared in unexplained circumstances.
Ms Mwamba said she found her daughter at another man’s house whom she said was her new found husband.
She said she has made efforts to call for a family meeting with her son-in-law to reconcile them, but the couple had maintained that they wanted to go separate ways.
“My daughter has insisted that she will not return to her husband because he physically abuses her and does not take care of her, while my son-in-law  has also refused to take her in,” she said.
Ms Mwamba said she had since taken custody of her grandchildren even though it was not easy to look after them because she did not have a stable income.