A 71-year-old man has spent 55 years barricaded inside his home, avoiding all contact with women. He has lived as a hermit, never having a romantic relationship or any interaction with the outside world.
Callitxe Nzamwita, a man from Rwanda, has built a 15-foot fence around his home to keep others from coming near him, including women and members of the public.
Nzamwita explained that his fear of women approaching his home was the reason he chose to isolate himself. He expressed that he felt ‘really scared’ at the thought of anyone coming near him.
Despite Nzamwita’s fear of women, they have been the ones helping him to survive. Local women purchase his groceries, but he does not allow them to get close to him or enter his home.
Nzamwita explained that he built the fence and locked himself in his home to keep women away from him, saying, ‘I want to make sure that women will not come close to me.'”
A local source added: “Strangely, even though he fears women, we are the ones who help him get food and some things he needs. When you try to help him, he doesn’t want us to come close or talk to him.
“Instead, we give him things by tossing them into his house, and then he comes and picks them up. He doesn’t let us get close to him, but he still takes what we offer from a distance.”
If he spots a woman on their way to the property, Callitxe promptly shuts himself inside and locks the door behind him.
Nzamwita’s fears of women are consistent with gynophobia, a psychological disorder that causes an irrational and extreme fear of women.
Symptoms can be triggered merely by thinking of women. Panic attacks, tightness in the chest, profuse sweating, a rapid heartbeat, and difficulty breathing, are all listed as potential symptoms.
Feeling faint and stomach troubles when near the opposite sex are other symptoms of gynophobia.
Despite providing for his daily needs, the women in Nzamwita’s village are unable to speak with him due to his fear of women. He flees from their presence whenever they approach.
