WINDHOEK- Two years ago, forty-one year old Julia Shilongo lost her sight ‘mysteriously’ and has since been unable to do much to take care of herself.
Speaking to New Era on Friday from her home in Mix Settlement, situated some 20 kilometres from the city centre, a distraught Shilongo who walks around with a stick to feel for objects in her path, said she is frustrated about how her life turned out because she cannot do much to help herself.
“My illness is mysterious because I woke up one morning, two years ago and I could not see. I had gone to drink tombo (traditional fermented brew) the previous night and in the morning when I woke up I felt as if somebody had tied my legs. I could not stand and when I opened my eyes I could not see,” Shilongo narrated her story.
Shilongo said that her friend took her to the Katutura Hospital where she was admitted for days after which doctors discharged her. there was nothing more that they could do to restore her sight, although she had partial sight, said Shilongo. Shilongo’s health passport seen by New Era indicates that she is blind.
“The doctors told me that they could not see what is wrong with me. When the nurses discharged me they told me to go to the north and see a traditional healer as there is nothing more they can do for me,” a sad looking Shilongo said. Her main problem, she says is that she cannot do much to help herself.
“I am so frustrated. I cannot see and I can hardly help myself. I can’t even go to the tap to fetch water and my partner complains about my condition especially when he is drunk. Even if I use water to bath he has a problem with it,” she adds.