•members of the KHS assist Catherine to use the walking aid.

By MAYA NTANDA –

SIXTY-EIGHT-YEAR-OLD Regina Sakala of Kawama Township, could not hold tears when members of Kitwe Hindu Society (KHS) presented her family with medication, assorted food and blankets worth K30,000.
Ms Sakala, who has been burdened by a mysterious disease that has continued to ravage members of her family for the past eight years, was in a state of disbelief after receiving visitors who had come with the good news of buying medicines for her four ailing children.
God has answered her prayer for help to her children who have been found with a condition that affects the nervous system.
In tears, before she was comforted by her guests who requested her not to kneel before them because they are all family and have to assist one another in time of need, Ms Sakala still kneelt down and asked God to bless everyone.
“I did not expect all this, may the Almighty God bless all of you,” said Ms Sakala amid sobs.
She was also grateful to Government for providing funds which were used to buy a family house in Kawama Township.
The Sakalas are born normally then at a later stage weakness and numbness creeps in, eventually leading to failure to see, talk and walk properly.
Ms Sakala’s husband Green, and three other children died from the same disease.
In 2009, medical experts assessed the family and that the condition affected the central nervous system.
The medical personnel prescribed some medicine and advised that the family gets social support and mobility.
In February this year, she appealed to the Government and other well wishers through the Times of Zambia, for assistance to enable her four children acquire medication which they had not taken since August 14 last year.
She said for the past four years, her children have been receiving assistance from the social welfare department and other well wishers.
Ms Sakala said her children had been taking medication, prescribed by the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), funded by the social welfare department and other well-wishers for the past four years.
Due to unavailability of funds, the patients namely Elina Sakala, 57 and her siblings Catherine, 52, Stephen, 40 and Isaac 36, failed to undergo routine reviews at UTH which are scheduled every six months.
After the publication of the article, the KHS came to the aid of the family by donating a three months consignment of medication for each patient.
Presenting the medicines at the Sakala family house in Kawama township, KHS chairperson Kaushik Desai sympathised with the situation that the family was in.
Mr Desai said it was not easy for Ms Sakala to nurse her four children at the same time.
“The Sakala family’s situation is really sad, it is not easy having four patients at the same time and in the same house, we can only imagine,” he said.
Mr Desai said members of the KHS were compelled to donate to the family after the Times of Zambia published their plight.
He urged the newspaper to continue highlighting issues affecting members of the public because it was one way of uplifting one another’s lives.
Mr Desai said the members would further assist the family every month by providing them with food stuffs and was also looking at how best they can be assisted in undergoing reviews from home than travelling to Lusaka.
Elina and Catherine were also grateful to KHS for the gesture and informed the group that they could not see and walk properly.
The two sisters who could not hide their joy also asked God to bless everyone that had played a part in ensuring that they received the much needed medication.
Other donated items included walking aid equipment, blankets and a wheelchair contributed by the Sathya Sai organisation of Kitwe,