TEARS ON MY PILLOW #Stories4Health

I turned and tossed  in my small bed  in the deep ours of thenight, the only light i could see from the moonlight. My stomach was growling the hundredth time that night i am sure, that is what happens when you eat a small chunk of sadza and vegetables. It is not because i am on a diet or anything, we have little food and i am sure the mealie meal we have can only last us a day or two. Things has been a little tough in the country, adding the lockdown to it makes it even worse. I live in Mufakose, Harare with my grandmother who is hypertensive. Everyday she takes nifedipin pills for her hypertension which costs 1 Us dollar a packet for a week. It might seem like it’s not much but when you are a student who relies solely on hustling it is a lot of money. Thinking about things that need money in our family makes me sob a little bit, we need money for food, medication, sanitary wear and data for my e-learning. My sobs became a little bit loud, I am just a child and having so many responsibilities on my shoulder is not easy. My gogo does not go to work because of her age, we have a tenant in our house who has not been paying rent ever since the lockdown was announced. I am not complaining or anything, if anything i understand as more than half of the people in Mufakose are not formally employed and with the new regulations of staying at home no one has money to spare, rent has become a luxury people cannot afford.

It has been two months since the national lockdown as a precaution to the famous COVID-19 that has claimed lives worldwide especially Italy. On my school breaks i go to South Africa to buy clothes and shoes to sell at school and home. The small business has managed to put food on the table for me and grandma but with boarders shut down i cannot really do anything. I have used all the profits i had on food and grandma’s pills. Anyone who lives in Zimbabwe will tell you electricity is expensive and it is a luxury we cannot afford, i cannot even talk about gas, for a month now we have been using firewood to cook. Trying to do school assignments with a candle is not an easy task, haa no one should go through this kind of life. We do not have tape water so every morning i have to go to the local borehole. People in my community are taking COVID-19 seriously i must admit,at the borehole everyone will be having a mask and maintaining social social distance.

As i am researching my google, i get a message from netone, my data  had been depleted. Data has become so expensive in Zimbabwe, why could my school not provide data like any other university hayii this is so stressful. I try to purchase bundles and realize there is no more money in my bank account. The only money i am left with can maybe last gogo and i two weeks tops i thought. Action was needed and fast but what could i do, to travel you needed a permit and only the formal sector has been recently opened. For the past two months we thought we would get relief funding from the government but nothing has come. What worries me the most is the fact that gogo cannot take her medication on an empty stomach and i fear for her health if she is to be exposed to the virus as she is old and already has hypertension.

Early the next week morning i woke up with determination, i would not sleep and wait for a miracle to happen. I put on an old dress and a pair of worn out tennis shoes. I took a mask that i had made using my old skirt and secured it in place. I then took piece of soap to wash my hands as i could not afford sanitizer and i was ready for the road. I decided to use the last money we had to buy tomatoes and vegetables in Mbare musika which is a huge market and sell to make a small profit. As i got to the bustop i was just thinking about the fact that i did not have travelling documentation and if we were to encounter police i would run the risk of being arrested. As i was still in my thought an old truck pulled over and the driver said ten dollars Mbare, this is journey we used to pay one dollar for but corona had changed everything. In no time we were packed at the back of the truck with no even a millimetre between us, goodbye social distance. That is when it dawned me that if someone has the virus we were at a risk of exposure and main concern was gogo because her age and her medical condition. Endangering is one thing i would never want to do. Luckily for me that day we did not see any roadblock otherwise that would have been a disaster.

I still have fear of the virus but hunger makes me break the lockdown regulations exposing myself to danger. I try by all means to be safe by washing my hands with soap and always wearing mask. I still go to Mbare and r]everyday i am at the risk of being caught with the police without documentation but what can i do, we cannot starve, assignments need to be researched and that need data and gogo certainly needs her medication. Now and there the police come to my area enforcing the lockdown rules and at one point i got my tomatoes taken from me but i cannot give up, i press on. I pray that soon this nightmare would be over so we can go back to our liver.

Mufakose- a small high density area in Harare

Gogo-grandmother

Mbare musika-a huge wholesale market