• Ms Tembo busy selling outside City Market where she has been trading since 1976. Picture By STANSLOUS NGOSA

By STANSLOUS NGOSA-
BALANCING medication, hospital visits, and blood tests has become her way of life besides trading at Lusaka’s Soweto market.
At first she found it very hard, but slowly, she is accepting her situation because she has no option.
Rosemary Tembo 56, of Freedom Township in Chilanga was recently diagnosed with a kidney disease, diabetes, and hypertensive.
“Having been diagnosed as having a kidney disease, I was in a state of mental limbo! Not knowing what to expect. At first I found it very hard to accept the fact that I have a kidney disease and to adjust a number of things in my life is difficult,” Ms Tembo said.
Ms Tembo, one of the traders at Soweto market since 1976, was diagnosed with a kidney disease three months ago and yet she started having symptoms of the ailment five years ago.
She never knew what was causing the pain because she did not bother to find out
Although Ms Tembo never had her kidneys checked, she knew something big was wrong in her body as she would experience pain in the chest and abdomen.
She started experiencing the pain in 2009 which she cushioned by taking pain killers.
But three months ago, at her stall at Soweto market, she developed diarrhoerea and rushed to the lavatories where she collapsed and became unconscious.
She was rushed to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) where she was diagnosed with the kidney disease, diabetes and hypertension commonly known as BP.
Ms Tembo was admitted to the UTH for three months and since then she has been frequenting the hospital for reviews and further examinations.
She has been put on daily medication which she says is proving to be expensive as her income cannot support both medication and the family.
Ms Tembo is married to Edward Tembo who is not doing anything to help with the family because of poor sight.
She has seven children, two are doing Grade nine while the rest are not doing anything.
The husband is a former driver at the now defunct United Bus Company of Zambia (UBZ). He also worked as driver at Zambia Wildlife Authority and other Government departments before he retired
“Because of his poor sight, he can no longer do anything, therefore I have the burden to look after everyone,” Ms Tembo says
On a good business day, Ms Tembo earns around K150 while a paltry K50 on dry day, which is not enough to cater for her medication and supporting the family.
Ms Tembo also depends on well wishers to meet her needs because she is popular at the trading area.
A mention of Bana Tembo at Soweto Market, every trader knows her and this is what has somehow made her life a little bit more easy, but not with the new challenges of medication.
However, she admitted that business is tough nowadays because the market is saturated with assorted merchandise compared to the past where there were few traders.
In order to ensure that she earns something ‘reasonable’ she is engaged in the selling of both fresh and dry vegetables.
“I wake up at 04:00 and leave Chilanga for Soweto market in order to catch trucks selling fresh vegetables at wholesale price which I also resell at retail to marketeers around 06:00 hours. Thereafter, I move to the other stand where I sell beans, kapenta and other small items,” Ms Tembo explains.
However, her biggest worry is how she is going to sustain her business with her medical condition.
It is against this background that she is appealing to well wishers to help her boost her capital so that she can re-stock her grocery at home which the husband built.
She says her husband could take up the responsibility of selling in the grocery while she maintains her position in order to increase their income and subsequently meets the medical bill and support at home.
“I am still undergoing reviews and further examinations, so I don’t know how I am going to foot my medical bills. Moreover, every time I visit the hospital, I am given a prescription of some medicine to buy which is proving to be difficult,” Ms Tembo said.