MWENYA’S DIARY

By Mwenya Mukuka

When Angela Musonda (not real name) was admitted at the University Teaching hospital in August 1997, with severe nose bleeding, she did not know doctors were going to diagnose a totally different ailment that would change her life totally and later lead her to the graveyard. Her mother had rushed the 22-year-old from Chibolya compound to the hospital via Kanyama clinic to have the excessive bleeding, the swollen head and other complications that appeared immediately after she delivered. Doctors managed to stop the bleeding but the other complications became worse that she was in hospital for seven months without change. After further examinations her, doctors suggested HIV test be done. Her mother after hesitating for some days, she consulted the husband to Angela, he was so arrogant and never wanted to hear anything of that nature. He accused the parents to his wife of ‘fabricating’ stories that he made their child sick. As far as he was concerned, he was done with Angela, after all he had moved on and now living with another woman. After getting Angela’s belonging from her husband, Angela’s mother went to consult her brother who suggested that the test be done to determine if indeed it was HIV that was a problem with her. Angela couldn’t make a choice due to the degree of her sickness.  The results were positive:  Not only was she HIV positive it was discovered that her heart valves were not functioning properly. According to the Uncle, Maurice Chunga, the Doctor told them ‘one of her valves known, as Mitral valve was not allowing oxygenated blood to move freely from the left atrium into the left ventricle.’ This kind of condition is known as rheumatic heart disease, which is a permanent damage to either one of the four heart valves – mitral, pulmonary, aortic, and tricuspid - as a result of rheumatic fever. In this case, the damaged heart valve either does not completely close or open when blood flows through it. “When they told me about the results, I was very much shocked. My mind was full of thoughts of where we were going to get the life prolonging drugs (ARVs). We didn’t have the money, it was really a double tragedy for me and my family,” Says Angela’s mother while holding Mabvuto (Angela’s son). By then Cabinet had not approved the free provision of ARVs.The family had no money for the heart disease and the ARVs. The only hope for the heart problem Angela has laid in the promise from the ministry of health that it was going through procedures sending her to South Africa for specialised treatment. The baby needed some Lactogene, for the mother was now so ill that she could not breast feed. The family had no money for that. ‘ I wish we never knew the problem my daughter had, it makes feel bad.’ Angela’s mother said amidst some sobs and tears dropping from her white oval shaped eyes. Angela was in and out of the UTH for six months while relatives tried to arrange for money for her to access the ARVs. Herbs couldn’t do any change on her. She lost weight so much. The Doctors after seeing that her condition was not improving she was transferred to a hospice. She just spent two weeks in the hospice, and on the 13^th of May 1999, she died. ‘It was so sad to my niece’s light skinned body, pretty face, which sent many men off their feet, stopped functioning’ Her uncle told this writer. Angela’s husband never showed up at the funeral. The Mbuya’s (traditional cousins to late Angela’s family) tried to locate him only to discover he had moved house to Choma with the woman he had married when Angela was still sick. At this point, the young boy Angela was keeping let the cat out of the bag. He said Angela was a punching bag. She was bitten each time she questioned why her husband could be moving out with other women when he had her. When she kept quite the situation was worse, he would say ‘you don’t care about me, why are you not asking where I slept, so ill kill you to’. The boy echoed what Angela’s husband would say. Angela couldn’t report him to the victim support unit or the family. She kept quite. All because she was afore warned that the man she was marrying was marrying was bad despite his good outward appearance. Besides that warning, she didn’t report the domestic violence was that she really wanted to be called a ‘Mrs’ somebody as she saw unmarried women in her neighbourhood not respected. After Angela’s burial, when relatives were searching in one of her handbags there was some STI medication, which suggested she had suffered sexually transmitted Infections possibly from the husband. Although Angela said at one time that she had seen some signs, of plunging herself into danger she never thought she would die of HIV/AIDS related illness. The hardest and most shocking part came when, five years later after Angela was laid to rest till God comes at the old Leopards cemetery, her husband resurfaced. Wanting to have Mabvuto. Mabvuto was now a big boy, thank God when he was taken for HIV test, it was negative. Angela’s husband appeared and claimed the child. After hesitation Angela’s family forgave him after he paid admission of guilty fee of 200,000 Kwacha. He was cleansed and got the child. The other reason that caused them to let go the Mabvuto was that they didn’t have enough money to send him to school. Six months later, Mabvuto was no more. He was run over by the speeding as he was selling roosted groundnuts. When Mabvuto’s grandmother went to the funeral she was amazed at getting the story of mistreatment that the young boy went through. How he was victim of beating from his father for failing to tell him where his stepmother had gone to at times. The burial of Mabvuto marked the end of the unspoken domestic violence.