Festus Hamalwa

OIPAPAKANE - Elizabeth Joseph (43) who was bitten by a snake in 2015, is urgently reaching out to the public for financial assistance.Despite social grants she receives from government, she appeals to good Samaritans to help in finding better medical care so she can recover from excruciating pain.

 She also needs money to put food on the table. “I would appreciate any help, but in my situation, I will also need a tap of water in the house and a conducive bedroom since I sleep in a hut,” she added.

Joseph narrated how her life has become a living nightmare because she is in the process of having her left arm and leg amputated and is gradually losing her sight.

“This year, my other leg started swelling up and later turned black,” she said. Joseph, from Oipapakane village, told of how she was bitten by a snake while working at a recycling company based at Omafo in the Ohangwena region.

“I was collecting cans under the tree. Then a snake bit my hand. Immediately, the arm turned black and I was taken to the hospital for treatment,” she remembered. As a mother of four children, Joseph said she has become hopeless and doubts she will ever recover from the pain as more and more of her body is swelling and turning black.

“I don’t sleep at night. Sometimes I want to commit suicide. It is not easy for me to fight this battle,” she lamented. Joseph explained she stays alone in the house when her children go to school.

“I have to wait for my children to come back from school to cook for me. It is not easy to be a disabled person,” she narrates. In addition, she said she sleeps in her wheelchair as she is unable to lift her swollen leg onto the bed. She describes how almost 50% of her body has turned black and says at first glance, people think she is dressed in black clothes. But the worst is the pain, which she says feels like her entire body has been set on fire.

Also speaking to New Era, Joseph’s firstborn Penehafo Johannes said they accepted her mother’s situation. “What else can we do? We left her in God’s hands. I still believe that one day my mom will recover completely,” she said. Johannes, who is upgrading her grade 12 results, said her mother’s situation gives her the courage to study hard.

- fhamalwa@nepc.com.na