Massive body woman finally gets help
ALEXANDRA - Help has finally materialised for Alexandra's Busisiwe Zulu (54) who has been trapped in a massive body for nearly 20 years.
Zulu is suspected to have developed elephantiasis. Unable to walk or get out of her house, her plight was highlighted by Alexandra News several times.
Tearfully expressing a sigh of relief on this development, her daughter Mbali Zulu (33) said her mother was taken by a team of medical and health practitioners of the Christo Strydom Nutrition to their base in Cape Town on 11 February.
“Her ailment had progressively worsened since 2012,” said Zulu. “She would no longer get out bed, bath herself, had become recluse and despondent about life. I am told by the organisation that her condition is improving gradually and she is losing about two kilograms a day due to treatment that includes healthy dieting. They update us on her condition daily.”
Zulu who depends on temporary employment for survival and upkeep of her other siblings, laments the abuse and stigma her family has been experiencing from some members of the community during their ordeal.
“My niece who looked after my mother most of the time was emotionally stressed resulting in her failing Grade 9 last year,” she said. “Also, I have had to close my crèche which was the only source of income for the family besides my mother’s disability grant, as parents withdrew their children thinking that they and their children would contract the disease from my mother. Thank God, I hope this intervention is for the best for our mother and us.”
The traumatic experience of nursing an ailing parent for so long has taken its toll on her and her siblings. “I was 12 when she developed her condition and am now 33. We appeal for counselling support to stabilise our emotional condition as we anxiously await her return.
“We can’t afford to be with her during her treatment in Cape Town.”
Zulu also thanked Linda Twala, a local social entrepreneur who provided them with food parcels periodically, and social workers, community development workers, local publications and others for their unceasing support and exposure during their predicament.
