A woman, who narrowly escaped death when she was struck by lighting, is still haunted by the horrific incident while recuperating at home.

Still reeling from shock, Gudani Kwinda (22) of Makonde-Makolongwe, north of Thohoyandou, says she couldn’t believe that she had cheated death by a slight margin, since most victims of a lightning strike never escape alive. Ironically, the lighting that struck her also destroyed two trees, which kept on burning for three days.

A mother of one, Gudani said she was coming back from the Mudaswali River to do some washing when the lighting nearly took her life away. She explains: "The sun was very hot and I decided to go to the river to have some washing as we do not have tap water around. I did my washing without any suspicion and the trouble started when I was on my way back home. Suddenly, it became cloudy and windy, but I continued pushing my wheelbarrow home."

Gudani says heavy rains started pouring, with thunder and lighting, while she was about 200m away from her home. "When I approached a muvhambangoma tree, I saw a big flash of lightning from the sky, coming straight to me, hitting me on my head. I don’t know what happened thereafter because I only found myself in a bed at Donald Fraser Hospital. When I came back to my senses, I noticed that there were scores of people praying for me around my hospital bed. They told me that they thought I would never survive because of the seriousness of my condition when I was taken to the hospital." The lucky survivor says her left leg and right arm are still affected by the incident, as she cannot use them properly. She could not understand why it happened that way.

She says that she is not sure whether it is a natural lightning or a Ndadzi (mysterious bird according to folklore sent by witches, which is accompanied by lightning). "I haven’t done something to deserve this. If it is a natural lighting, I was just unfortunate but if it is a Ndadzi, I don’t know why it was sent to me. The real Ndadzi never strikes twice and I am happy because I have survived."

Gudani ‘s mother-in-law, Joyce Mbedzi (47), said she was called by neighbours to the scene, immediately after the incident. "I found Gudani lying on the ground as if she was dead although there were no visible injuries on her body. I called her by name but she could not respond. We made a short prayer before she was taken to hospital, asking the Lord to spare her life and we are happy that she has survived."