Day my daughter got burnt
Published On July 1, 2016 » 1711 Views» By Davies M.M Chanda » Features
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IT HAPPENED TO ME LOGOSome of you might have experienced the incident TIMOTHY KAMBILIMA describes, but whether you have or not is not the point; the point is keep an eagle’s eye on what’s on the stove – and the children out of danger – all the time.

HAVING moved from one rented house to another, we finally made up our mind to move from my birth place – Chililabombwe- to the once- upon- a- time great town of Luanshya on the Copperbelt in 2009.
It wasn’t easy to get settled in Mpatamato the former Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) Township due to the closure of the mines then.
I am saying it was difficult to find money as I had over borrowed from banks to buy a house; and what my wife ldah, a hair stylist was making from her business wasn’t enough to supplement the borrowings.
What she made was almost 80 per cent less than she used to make in Chililabombwe.
Well, after some time with Roan member of Parliament Chishimba Kambwili in the opposition at that time, fighting for the reopening of Baluba Mines, President Rupiah Banda’s Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) attracted the current Chinese investors who brought life to Luanshya.
Money was now in circulation and miners’ children were able to pay extra tuitions to cushion some of us. Enough about that.
Coming to what happened now on Sunday 25th January, 2015 when mother Zambia was witnessing the swearing in of its sixth Republican president Edgar Chagwa Lungu at National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka, I was home with my family following the proceedings on the public broadcaster ZNBC Television.
It was gratifying to see Zambia again demonstrating how her democracy had grown from the time plural politics were re-introduced in 1991.
We had a family lunch and around 16:00 hours I went to Roan Township to collect my school module from my workmate a Mr Singoyi who had earlier called me.
As I was exchanging greetings with Mr Singoyi, I received a call from my wife that our second born daughter, Trinah had been burnt at home.
From her tone, the matter was serious and I had to dash back immediately.
Strangely, however, when I tried to call her back, the phone was off.
I then got on a taxi back home and kept on trying her number as the taxi ‘flew’, but all in vain.
Before I could reach home I received a call from area councillor Gershom Mpundu that he, my neighbour, my wife and Trinah were almost reaching Roan General Hospital.
Oh my God! I was now in a desperate situation, imagining the worst.
By this time, the taxi had already passed the road to the hospital and I ordered the driver to make a u-turn and he obliged.
In no time, we arrived at Roan General Hospital where I found my daughter admitted in the children’s ward.
The girl was in excruciating pain as she kept on crying.
She was in agony.
After some time my wife explained what had happened. I learnt that my wife’s niece Jane had put water on the cooker to prepare porridge for our twins.
She then asked Trinah to remove the pot from the cooker and the boiling water accidentally dropped on her body.
The left shoulder and her back were scalded by the hot water, leaving large red lacerations.
Although this was tragic enough I shuddered to imagine what would have happened if the hot liquid fell on her head.
After the explanation I was very upset with Jane’s decision to let my nine year old girl to remove the hot water from the cooker.
My wife said that she also didn’t know nor could she understand why our niece did that.
From January 25 to Friday January30, our neighbours’ niece Marjory and I took turns in spending nights at Trina’s bed side because our twins were just about six months old.
My wife would be there during the day.
With the tender caring and dedication of the nurses on duty that week, the recovery process was very steady and we continued with the treatment at home after she was discharged.
After sometime, my wife narrated how her phone fell down and disintegrated in the confusion and panic that ensued after the incident.
I now understood why her phone went unanswered when I tried to call her.
Incidents like this are very serious and sometimes a family cannot handle them alone.
In this regard, I thank my neighbour Bana Musuba, Councillor Gresham Mpundu who assisted with transport and the taxi driver Sunny who partly put aside commercial interests by not adding any extra charges for u-turning.
Marjorie, too, deserves special thanks for forsaking the comfort of her aunt’s home and spending nights at my daughter’s bedside.
It was not Jane’s intention to cause the unfortunate accident and I have since forgiven her.
Time is the best healer!
The lesson in this is, keep an eye on pots on the stove and mbaulas at all times especially when there are children in the home.
More importantly, keep the young ones out of harm’s way.
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