WINDHOEK – Windhoek City Councillor Fransina Ndateelela Kahungu donated N$1 000 towards the purchase of a wheelchair for an 11-year-old boy who suffers from hydrocephalus.
Kahungu reacted to a video circulating this week, in which the boy’s mother Ester Abraham, a resident of Hakahana, said her boy Herman Cornelius needs a specialised wheelchair as he is bedridden and unable to sit or move on his own. Abraham said the local hospitals do not have such wheelchairs in stock.
According to Abraham, the specialised wheelchair can only be obtained from South Africa at a cost of N$17 000.
In the video the mother also pleaded with good Samaritans to donate diapers, milk, bedding or whatever they can.
The boy gets a monthly government grant of N$250 which is hardly enough to buy a packet of diapers, milk and other needs.
Cornelius was born a healthy baby, a last born of three siblings. He was diagnosed with hydrocephalus at the age of five.
This is a brain illness in which there is an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain, which requires a medical check-up every once in a while. Cornelius’ condition has been for long costly to his family, especially his unemployed mother and father who does odd jobs to put bread on the table.
Councillor Kahungu, who visited the mother this week, said she was moved after watching the video. “N$17 000 is not difficult to collect if we put our hands together,” said Kahungu who gave the mother N$1 000 in her personal capacity.
Abraham expressed her gratitude and wished Kahungu strength.
In December, New Era published a story of the Chinese embassy donating N$20 000 to help Cornelius. When asked what the money was used on, Abraham responded that they used the money to buy nappies, milk and for transport to the hospital.
She added that her son who does not eat solid food only sucks Ensure, which is costly.