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Parents’ painful narration after losing four offspring
Well wishers console a relative of four family members, who died on Thursday in a road accident after their car was involved in a head-on collision with a lorry in the village of Mapatano in Chalinze District, Coast region. PHOTO | MICHAEL MATEMANGA
What you need to know:
- The accident that occurred in Mapatano Village, Bagamoyo District, killed four siblings, who were travelling to Ugweno in Mwanga District, Kilimanjaro Region, for the burial of relative
Mwanga. “They have left us alone; we have lost the children,” laments Ms Lilian Msuya, 73, a mother of four children, who died in a road accident that occurred in the wee hours of Thursday, in Coast Region.
The accident that occurred in Mapatano Village, Bagamoyo District, killed four siblings who were travelling to Ugweno in Mwanga District, Kilimanjaro Region for the funeral of a relative.
The dead are Ms Sia Msuya, 51; Neech Msuya, 48; Dayana Msuya, 47; and Dr Norah Msuya, 42.
While Neech worked as a senior executive with Absa Bank Tanzania Limited, Dr Norah served as a lecturer at Mzumbe University Dar es Salaam Campus College.
Dayana worked as a businesswoman, while Ms Sia was an employee of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).
Sharing her painful narration at her Ugweno home yesterday, Ms Msuya said she had lost all of her four children.
“It has been very bad luck that I remain childless,” she narrates, amid cry interruptions from mourners.
“I have nothing to do, leaving everything in the hands of God. We have been robbed of all the support as they were our hope as we are getting older,” she adds.
Further, she said they greatly loved them as parents, “We are really missing our children. We are leaving everything in the hands of God.”
The deceased’s father, Mr Hashim Msuya, 75, who is a retired district commissioner, said the family’s pillar has fallen.
He said after marrying Lilian in 1972, he was blessed with four children, who painfully succumbed to the Coast Region accident.
He also said a child he got before marriage, Ms Mwamvua Msuya, 55, is the only one remaining.
“It is a huge loss to be compared with any other in the history of my family, though I thank God,” said Mr Msuya, as tears streaming down his cheeks.
“It is a heavy and unbearable loss. It has been so sudden and a big blow. Losing all the four elder children, oooh dear me, it is so sad,” he narrated.
Further, he said, “All my four children had their own jobs. I thank God that I managed to give them education at the university level and got employed.”
“They extended cooperation to the family and I really depended on them.
“Their death is a huge loss as I’m now left with only one daughter as my offspring,” narrated Mr Msuya.
According to him, he received the news of their loss with a huge shock because they expected to meet in the next few hours as they were travelling for the funeral.
“We expected to exchange ideas about something that hasn’t happened. It is a huge blow because they were also the pillar of the family,” he said.
Mr Msuya said Dr Norah was expected to become a professor in 2024.
In Dar es Salaam, the family spokesperson, Ms Aminata Juma, said the farewell will be made today to Neech’s body remains at the Lugalo Military General Hospital for the burial slated for Sunday.
She said members of the family will then return to Dar es Salaam from Ugweno for the burial of the three sisters; Diana, Sia and Dr Norah slated to take place at Tegeta’s Kondo Cemetery in Kinondoni District, Dar es Salaam.
