Paralysed bus crash victim seeks help

FOURTEEN years after she was paralysed following a road traffic accident, a 62 year old Bulawayo woman is appealing for assistance.

Ms Margaret Moyo was injured while on her way to her rural home in Plumtree in 2003 when a Dokotela bus she was travelling on plunged off a bridge into Gwayi River.

She suffered a broken spine which has rendered her unable to move from the waist downwards ever since.  Ms Moyo used to work in Botswana, but stopped following the accident.

The woman who lives in a hallway in Mabutweni suburb, said she was appealing for well-wishers to assist her to go through physiotherapy as she has not given up on walking again.

She also requires food and other essentials.

Ms Moyo said she would be grateful if she can also be provided with accommodation at a place like a church or some premises which her family can look after.

She said she approached Dokotela Bus Company for compensation to no avail.

"Life is hard, as you can see, we live in a hallway. I cannot call this a room because it is the passage to every other room in the house, being central. I cannot move, so I use this peanut butter bottle to urinate in and that bucket over there to relieve myself. This room is the bathroom, kitchen, toilet, bedroom and lounge all in one. My husband was retrenched from work and life is just unbearable," she said.

Ms Moyo said her family had become nomads as they are often evicted due to her condition.

"People cannot bear my condition and almost every two months we have to secure a new place to stay. People fear the health risk that my condition brings. No one can be ok with a person pooing in the house. I am confined to this bed and it is hard for my husband and daughter to lift me onto a wheel chair because of my weight," she said.

"If I didn't have kids I would have given up because it is so hard, so painful," said Ms Moyo in a bedside interview.

"They're my motivation; they are what is keeping me going."

She said she used to enjoy doing her household chores and worked in Gaborone for her family but she can no longer manage.  She now uses a wheelchair and has limited upper-body movement.

"I wish I could afford physiotherapy because I still have hope that I will someday feel better and be able to stand on my own feet. I also wish for my own space that I will someday call a home," she said as she tried to force a smile on a weary face.

Ms Moyo's husband, Mr Mehluli Mpala (64) narrated how much his family's life changed for the worse following his wife's disability.

"We were both employed but she was the major breadwinner as she worked in Botswana. I lost my job and the little pension that I get is not enough for paying rent. My wife tries to make some reed vases for sale but she tires easily of late due to her deteriorating condition," said Mr Mpala.

"I feel sorry for my daughter who has had to give up her childhood and dreams to help me take care of her mother. We assist each other to lift her off the bed to the floor, bathe her and help her when she needs to relieve herself. It's unfair for the landlord and other tenants because we live in the open space that has doors to their rooms. The smell can be unbearable, and I feel that at times we are asking for too much if we expect people not to complain."

Well-wishers can contact the family on 0774 780 751