Culture, Health & Society
to be named, acknowledged that visiting donors and well wishers won’t have much time at their disposal to interact with all the patients. “Most of the people just drop-by on their way to Chigona hill for prayers so they won’t be having much time to interact with our patients,” she said. The elderly male patients made my day as they all seemed to have uniform requests, if it wasn’t one asking for a scud (beer) or cigarette, then he wanted help in getting him a wife, or a dollar. Inside their neat single rooms lay a well spread single bed, a table by the corner and a wheel-chair on the other end. On why the other rooms did not have proper beds, the nurse-aid said that every patient had unique needs. “Others have to sleep on a mattress only because they find it difficult to get
off the base bed on their own, especially at ni ght, while others are not given beds due to bed-wetting,” she explained. All the same, the sparkling floors and clean bedding presented decent living conditions. Each one of the patients had a story to tell about how they ended up at the centre, and showed appreciation for the loving hands which feed them.
... ???? t? c??? f?? ?u?? pa???nt? ?n? ???r? ?h? ha? n? ??it???? h??e? t? ?e???? t?...
To break the monotony, they go to church on Sunday. This is a day they look forward to since they get to participate by arranging chairs, interact with worshippers from nearby communities and with those from the Mother of Peace
orphanage. For them, the Sunday routine is a welcome diversion from spending the day huddled on the veranda corner or by the bed. Mutemwa started as a leprosarium in about 1937.It grew into a huge leprosarium with around 1000 patients. The advent of the Dapsone drug led to the Rhodesian government’s decision to close the place in 1962. All patients were now to be treated in the comfort of their homes. However, about 200 patients had no suitable homes to go back to. Others still feared segregation from their families even if they were to return home, while others were from nearby countries such as Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique. Lazarus Mabviko, a beneficiary still living at the centre today is from Mozambique. Mrs. Grant, who also resides at the leprosy centre,
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The Parade - Zimbabwe’s Most Read Lifestyle Magazine
February 2013