"Be Strong": Zimbabwe Woman Shows Hard Life After Leaving South Africa

• A Zimbabwean woman shared a video of her early morning garden routine, revealing the demanding reality of rural life back home
• The video gained traction amid a wave of Zimbabweans returning home following anti-immigrant unrest in South Africa
• Viewers from across Africa related to the exhausting daily grind she described in her clip

A Zimbabwean woman known on TikTok as @mamaflora076 posted a video on 10 June showing her early morning garden routine in Zimbabwe. The clip captured rows of leafy green vegetables growing in reddish-brown soil, with on-screen text explaining that she wakes up before 5 am to water the garden, and that everything must be done before 7 am.

Life after South Africa

Her post resonated deeply, coming at a time when over 108,000 Zimbabweans had returned home following the mid-2026 anti-immigrant unrest in South Africa. Many left under a June 30 "self-deportation" deadline, arriving back with little more than the clothes on their backs. The government launched a reintegration programme focused on farming, bricklaying and domestic work, but long-term economic stability remains uncertain for most returnees.

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For many, the garden in Mama Flora's video is not just a morning chore but a lifeline, the kind of subsistence farming that thousands of returnees have had to fall back on after years of building livelihoods abroad.

Netizens share their thoughts

The video on her TikTok page drew hundreds of comments, with people from different countries sharing how they related to the same daily grind:

@blkchyna said:

"Not only in Zimbabwe, even here in South Africa."

@Nobuhle Mbotho wrote:

"At least you have fresh veggies, clock it."

@Deep Cleaning profession commented:

"Not only in Zim, but it also applies to every village in the world."

@thokiee said:

"Be strong, as long as you stay in peace."

The warmth in the comments reflected something bigger than one woman's garden. Across the continent, people recognised the quiet dignity in her routine, waking before dawn, tending the earth and carrying on with no promise of rest.

Watch the early morning garden routine that got people talking here:

More on Zimbabweans returning home

• Briefly News recently reported on a Zimbabwean man who left South Africa with a single embroidery machine and built it into a business worth R500,000.
• South African women visiting Zimbabwe claimed the country had no winter, sparking pushback from locals who pointed to colder regions like Mutare and Nyanga.
• A Zimbabwean woman showed off the rural home she built after a decade living in South Africa, with many applauding her family's fresh start.

Source: Briefly News