Lisho Mushongo, 29, is one of the seven people out of 23 who survived the suspected poisoned porridge.
“When we got the residue, each household had their own container. At my household, we pounded ours, and the others did the same at their respective compounds. We had a small amount of maize meal that we cooked and only added a bit of the meal from the residue, which caused our children to go through pain, including myself and my wife.”
Despite surviving the ordeal, Mushongo says he went through a lot of pain, which he still feels to this day.
“The day that my firstborn died, I came home and shared the news, and I went to sleep. When I woke up around four o’clock that’s when I started feeling pain, and they took me to the hospital on Monday. At Nyangana Hospital, I was vomiting and feeling dizzy until Tuesday, when I was transferred to Rundu. My body was swollen from head to toe for almost a month, which is another illness. I was told that my liver was damaged, and now I go for follow-ups.”
Mushongo is no longer able to perform heavy work as a result.
He says even children who survived have health complaints now and then.
“The child was complaining of pain on the side of his stomach. He kept complaining about it, and later he started crying, so we took him to the hospital. They gave him medicine, and he slept. They also kept him for observation for a few hours, but he woke up and said he was feeling better. The doctor gave him medication to drink at home.”
He said only God knows why he survived.
“This incident took away our peace, it took away our confidence, and we have become passive. There’s nothing we can do; this is not a good experience. Even if you want chores to be done, there is no one to send.”
Other survivors are 27-year-old Libertina Shishugho, Hamutenya Shishugho, 13, Bernhard Shishugho, 12, and Sylvester Kambinda, 11.
The little ones are two-year-old Joseph Mungamba and one-year-old Bertha Mushongo.
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