Help me eat well so i can live and not die
A 39-year old visually impaired man who is battling skin cancer and high blood pressure has appealed to members of the public to help him buy special diet so he can leave longer, find a woman to marry, have kids and be a happy man.
Gideon Moronga who was born in June 1984 in Gowa, near Jao flats in the Okavango district says since he lost his eye sight four years ago due to an eye disease, glaucoma his life has been a challenge.
“I used to hassle and put food on the table, but as you know finding a job when you are disabled is almost impossible. I have been rendered destitute and the only income I have is the P700 food coupon from government and a P450 cash amount for relish,” explained Moronga.
Moronga explained that with his deteriorating health condition he has been recommended to eat special diet, which comes at an additional cost, “The P700 coupon is far from enough. Making it worse is that we cannot buy from big supermarkets such as Choppies, Spar and the like, we have to purchase from the small trade stores owned by Batswana, basically we buy from tuckshops and the prices are way way too high, the P700 grocery from there is nothing and they rarely stock the special food, the brown rice, olive oil etc and if they do, they are ridiculously priced.”
Moronga further explained that as of the relish money, he only get to spend P10 for relish every month because “From the P450, I use about P190 on taxi to go to the hospital and P250 to fill up the cooking gas. I have doctor’s appointments at least three times a week and for me to reach Letsholathebe hospital from Shashe ward where I am staying, I take a taxi, special.”
This month Moronga skipped the doctor’s appointments due to lack of transport money and says, “Maybe I will go again when the pain becomes too unbearable. I also need to save little money for food.”
Moronga has a skin cancer and high blood pressure problems hence he needs a special diet.
Moronga started having eye problems when he was only eight years of age. He was attacked by an eye disease, glaucoma that caused him to quit school.
Then a young orphan under the care of his unemployed older siblings, Moronga learnt to hassle and help feed his family at a very tender age.
“It was not easy for us because we have always been poor. Our parents did not leave riches for us, but we still had to survive,” said Moronga.
He added that, “I started doing businesses, and one fateful morning in January 2010 I woke up to a complete blindness, my life had never been the same since,” further explained Moronga.
Moronga says he yearns to have a wife and children of his own but he is frustrated by his condition that has subjected him to many failed relationships.
“Women come and go. My relationships last for two months or so and I am always the one left with a broken heart.”
Women, he explained, dump him, not because he is failing to love them, but because he cannot provide for them as all he has to spare every month is P10.
WHAT IS GLAUCOMA
It is a group of eye diseases that can cause vision loss and blindness by damaging the optic nerve.
The symptoms according to the doctors can start slowly and unnoticed hence a comprehensive dilated eye exam is important at an earliest stage.
