It has been 3 months now since Faith Mathiya, has been sick from unknown disease causing her to be absent from school and escaping mock and other class assessment.
The reporter of the story paid a visit to her house to see her condition since there is only one week remaining before the Primary School Leaving Certificates (PSLC) commence but unfortunately Faith was not at home.
Faith stays with her grandparents identified as Nkhondiwa at Juma 1 village in tradition authority (T/A) Juma in Mulanje district.
According to her grandparents, Faith has been sick for over three months now from a disease which they do not have an idea because she has never gone to the hospital since the beginning of her sickness.
“We did not take faith to the hospital due to lack of money to pay the hospital bills since the hospital which is near us is a private one but we took her to Azamba (Witchdoctor) who just increased the sickness in her,” her grandmother explained.
She added that after the sickness got worse faith was taken to a village man who injects people in the village for her treatment where she was given an injection but the sickness has refused to go away.
When she was asked why she did not take faith to a public hospital, this is what she had to say: “It is far to go to Namitambo health centre and at such i will need a bicycle to ride in order to get there for her treatment.”
Grandmother Nkhondiwa said Faith has gone for prayers in Masikili village for her deliverance, a village which is far away from her home than Namitambo health centre.
She said Faith’s grandmother went to town for work and ever since then she has never come back to check for her children nor giving them support.
“Janet is the name of Faith’s mother, she has three children from different fathers and right now she is in town for work, I do not know what kind of work she does there but whenever I call her to explain about the child’s sickness her answer is that she has heard and she will come but up until now she has never showed her face,” she explained.
From the interview that Nkhondiwa had with the reporter, it shows that most people in the village believe in Azamba that they have the solution to their health issues whenever they experience health problems.
This has been proven in a sense that at the same compound there is another woman an aunt to Faith who has been sick for over a month now but has never gone to the hospital for treatment, she only went to Azamba and the pastor at Masikili where Faith was by the time the reporter visited.
Faith is a standard 8 candidate at Namulenga Girls Primary School, who was once a CAMFED beneficiary some school sessions ago but left out in the program due to some issues.
