• Rebecca’s belly looks like an expectimg woman

By CHRISTINE MWAABA –

SHE looks like she is on the brink of giving birth because of her mysterious condition which has left her sad and not being able to take part in activities that every child her age would love to participate in.
Rebecca Nyirenda of Kanyama Township, a grade seven pupil at Nazareha Community School in Lusaka has spent the last two years of her life looking like a woman who is expecting due to a mystery condition that has made her abandon school.
15-year-old Rebecca’s health problems started in 2013 when she was in grade five. This condition has greatly affected her education and social life as she finds it difficult to socialise.
When asked how she felt about her condition by this writer, with tears flowing from her eyes , she  said she feels like she is in a dream from which she will wake up and find herself normal again.
Rebecca’s condition started two years ago when it was discovered that her stomach was growing like that of a pregnant woman and she also started gaining weight.
She woke up one morning with crippling abdominal pains thinking it was probably indigestion but then this turned out to be something that continued for a few days and then months.
“I felt movements in my stomach, it was as if there was something moving from one position to another and this happened for some months until I could not ignore it any longer”, she said.
Rebecca’s father Innocent Nyirenda said after her daughter experienced a couple of pains for some time her belly started getting bigger and bigger and her condition was getting worse.
It was at this point that Mr Nyirenda decided that his daughter seek medical attention at Kanyama Clinic where she was told that the health facility could not deal with her condition as it did not have scanning equipment to see why her belly was growing like that of a woman who is expecting.
Rebecca was referred to the University Teaching Hospital for further medical examination.
Rebecca took several tests at UTH to determine the cause of her bloated stomach.
But sadly her father was told that there was nothing in the stomach and in addition the other alternative was to operate on her upon payment of K1,000.
Mr Nyirenda said because he was unemployed at the time, he could not afford K1,000 that was required for her daughter to undergo an operation.
“This is painful as the father of the girl because I could not afford that amount of money required. I got a job recently as a guard in Makeni where my salary is K250 per month”,  he says.
“ Right now I am puzzled with this problem because I have no idea what is happening to my daughter, there are times when I feel she can just drop dead because I do not have the money to help her get this urgent operation before her grade seven exams this year”, he said.
Due to the size of her stomach, Rebecca has resorted to wearing clothes worn by a pregnant women which include putting on a big size school uniform.
Rebecca says she is scared that she will die because her family has failed to raise money for her to be operated on.
“I want to write my exams but I am worried because I can fall sick any time as I experience pains from time to time” she says.
During an interview with this author in one of the class rooms at the school it became clear that the young girl has been leading a miserable life for the past two years, this is because her friends have always suspected that she was pregnant.
The expression sympathy was evident on their faces when it dawned on them that their friend had a serious medical problem after all.
Unexpectedly, as the interview continued some of her school mates came forward and insisted that they needed to apologize after knowing the truth.
Rebecca responded by saying “it is okay I knew you did not know the truth but next time do not judge people before you know the truth”.
Rebbecca says she spends most of the time alone at school to avoid being asked too many questions by her school mates.
“People stare at me strangely and disapprovingly saying that I am too young to be pregnant and that I should take my case to court for defilement because most of them think I am expecting including my friends at school”, she says.
She says most of the time people tell her to stay home until she gives birth that’s when she will continue with her education.
Rebecca is one determined young girl who regardless of her condition wants to achieve her dream of becoming a nurse so that she can help people in similar situations.
To accomplish her dream she is calling for a benefactor to help fund her treatment as quickly as possible so that her misery can end and she can write her exams in the next three months.