A TWELVE day search for her husband came to a sorrowful end for a woman of 15 Miles yesterday when authorities broke the news that her spouse was on long list of people who had died of Cholera at the National Heroes Stadium, currently serving as the Cholera admission Centre.
Lillian Lungu a 38-year-old house wife of Lusaka’s 15 Milles will now have taken up the responsibility of fending for their four children and her seven step children.
Even though a tent has been pitched up and chairs taken outside their house as per tradition for a funeral, the discovered photograph is the only reminder of how her beloved looked before passing as she won’t be able to send him off because he was buried eight days earlier.
Her husband, Adyson Lungu, 42 was a bus driver operating within the Lusaka routes.
Before the sunrise of January 5, 2024, he had left for work as per usual routine, but on this day, he never returned home.
Lilian only received a call from her husband’s friends who informed her that he was vomiting at work and was rushed to Chingwere level One Hospital by his colleagues.
Tearfully, Lillian recounted to Kalemba that Immediately after his admission, he was tested positive for Cholera and was among the first 1000 patients to be admitted at the National Heroes Stadium Cholera Center.
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And since that day, Lillian had been torn in between emotions and choices, to continue looking for her husband or either look for funds to cater for 11 children in her custody while her husband, the family bread winner was out of sight but admitted to National Heroes Stadium Cholera Centre.
On January 12, 2024, Lillian was found outside the stadium standing hopeless and drenched by the heavy downpour relying on the sun to dry her clothes.
She said that for eight days, she and her husband’s younger brother had been coming to the center without a sign of seeing her husband and with the frustration of delayed updates since his admission.
“I have been coming here for over a week now to check for my husband. I don’t know whether he is alive or dead because I have never been given a chance to go inside and check for him. I spend transport everyday from 15 miles to here with food, hoping I will see him but there is nothing. My husband was the one providing for our home, I am unable to provide for the family now because I spend my entire day here now,” Lillian complained.
But unknown to Lilian, her husband died two days after his admission and only discovered yesterday.
Her Husband was among the 27 deaths that the country recorded on January 7 and was already buried by Government.
“After 12 days of searching for him, I discovered today (Yesterday) that he is dead. We were allowed to check for him at the inquires and he was no where, then a nurse asked me for his picture and I showed her his driving license. That is when she confirmed that he died on January 7 and was already buried by government. I even found his picture among those who died,” Lilian narrated between sobs.
The national Cholera death toll currently stands at 397 since the outbreak last October, government will today commence the administration of the Oral Cholera Vaccine Hotspots areas with the first being at the United Church of Zambia Church, Katambalala Market Road in George Compound.
Cholera is real, get vaccinated, and prevent it by always washing your hands with soap and safe clean water before touching or eating food, after using a toilet or changing baby’s nappies.
By Buumba Mwitumwa
Kalemba January 16, 2024
