By CHRISTINE MWAABA –
STRESS and anxiety have become the order of her daily life because of the unknown condition that has left her with no option but to live in isolation to avoid any further impact of stigma.
She does not know how old she is. She lives a day as it comes and has evidently resigned herself to fate.
What has afflicted the old woman is noticeably an unusual growth on the neck that she has to endure in her old age.

. Kabunda

Martha Kabunda of John Laing Township in Lusaka has a strange abnormal growth that has affected her outlook and how society perceives her personality.
This has now forced Ms Kabunda to always keep indoors.
In an interview recently, she explained that she still has no idea as to why her neck has developed this abnormal growth.
However, questions as to why she has not gone to any health centre would definitely pop up from those that see her.
A personal visit to her house will certainly answer the question raised by all the concerned.
Ms Kabunda can barely take 10 steps and that does not make it easy for her to go to the nearest Kanyama Clinic.
Ideally, residents, especially, the elderly should be able to conveniently access public health services.
But then it seems society is forgetting its aged by not assigning outreach medical services to the homes of those that are unable to make their way to health facilities such as Ms Kabunda.
The stress that people who are aging experience should be of great concern to policy makers, social workers and the society.
Ms Kabunda’s attempt to seek medical attention has been a challenge because of the distance she has to walk to get to the nearest clinic.
This setback has become a health limit for her to get the care she needs to retain perfect health in her life.
Ms Kabunda’s life is also bundled up with the reality that she has no children and has only one surviving relative to take care of her in her agonising condition.
She noted that what is more difficult is that the uncle who takes care of her is in fact way older than herself and can barely manage to provide all the household needs.
Ms Kabunda explained that her ability to have a sensible future now entirely depends on her uncle who, unfortunately, is unable to manage all the necessities that a person in her state needs.
“My uncle is too old to do any physical work and raise finances that will help us survive,” she says.
Ms Kabunda’s day to day living is also determined by the help that she receives from some of her neighbours and well-wishers.
She adds that living and coping with the condition has become atrocious and distressful that it interferes with her ability to lead a normal life.
Ms Kabunda thought the growth was like any other illness that would fade with time, but it turned out to be a different story.
The abnormal condition which started as a very small growth has all of a sudden increased in size and the extent at which it is growing has ultimately made her refrain from day to day activities.
This is because she cannot move her neck freely to do any work.
Ms Kabunda explains that she is often afraid of the rate at which the growth is advancing.
The growth has overwhelmed, worried and made her avoid daily activities.
Ms Kabunda says life has now been centered on fear that one day she might drop dead or if taken to any hospital she may die.
“I have heard stories of people who have been operated on and have died and this is why to a larger extent, I opted to stay home because it frightens me to go to the hospital.
“This is why I have restricted myself to staying in the house and it is by the grace of God that I survive otherwise, life has not been easy because as you can see, I live in a one-roomed house with my uncle,” she says.
Ms Kabunda’s condition has also been a cause for concern among her neighbours.
One of her neighbours is Lohitya Mushya, who has known Ms Kabunda from the time the problem started.
Lohitya explains that Ms Kabunda’s growth was quite small when it started until recently when strangely, it started growing in size.
She says for the past few years, the growth had not been advancing at a fast rate except that lately, it is now clear that the problem is becoming worse.
“I have stayed with ba wesu (Martha Kabunda) for a while now and she can hardly have three meals in a day because both herself and her uncle do not have enough money to sustain their lives since the two are too old to work,” she says.
Ms Kabunda’s life has been overtaken by anxiety.
Her unexplained condition raises questions as to why the burden of elderly people who are not financially steady is still not well thought of by communities and the society at large which, ordinarily, should have a way of providing assistance and health services for the elderly.
Assistance to Ms Kabunda can surely facilitate a successful and better way of living as she grows old, thereby improving and extending the days of her life.