Boseja Spar donates food and water connection
Her two legs have been amputated below the knees and her eyes are slowly losing sight but this 44-year-old mother of seven is determined not to allow her life’s challenges to pull her down.
Having lived in dire need for most of her life, Katana Tjopohambo of Disaneng ward in Maun has appealed to members of the community to help her build and stock a tuck shop so that she is not reduced to a destitute status.
“My two legs were cut at the hospital in 2011 due to cancer. My life has never been the same since,” explained Tjopohambo in an interview on Tuesday this week when Boseja Spar store was handing over a donated standpipe and food hampers to her.
Born in Kareng , Tjopohambo was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2008 that slowly killed her cells She was admitted at Letsholathebe memorial hospital in Maun in April 2011 and booked for amputation, “My legs died while I was still alive.
They became like dried biltong but I did not want to lose them. I cried while lying in hospital and refused to undergo the operation. I was admitted in April but only gave in a month later as the pain was unbearable. On 28th June, 2011, the legs were cut below the knees.”
Having to learn to walk on artificial legs, Tjopohambo said he decided to stay with her siblings in Maun and later applied for a residential plot and with the help of government’s social services, she built a two and half roomed house, “That is how I settled in Maun and became its permanent resident.”
She added that with six children under her care and with absent fathers, life increasingly became a challenge for her, “I cannot work because these artificial legs are too heavy. I only wear them when I go to town, here at home I crawl around when I do household chores.”
She added that another challenge is that she is slowly losing her sight and that is limiting her ability to earn meaningful income, “I could rear chicken in the backyard but that will require a lot of physical exercise so the only thing that I believe would be more practical for me is a tuck shop hence I am appealing to those who can to help me build and stock a tuck shop, that way I can crawl there every morning and spend the day there selling goods to neighbours.”
Tjopohambo further explained that raising children as a single parent is another big challenge for her, “The fathers of my children do not want to help out only the father of the youngest [8 years old) occasionally assist, but his limitations are in that he too is unemployed.”
On Tuesday this week Boseja Spar connected a water pipe for Tjopohambo and additionally donated some food hampers to her.
The store that was opened last year June indicated that a local non-governmental organisation, Okavango Human-Wildlife Conflict Foundation approached them with the request to help the woman.
Speaking at the same occasion, professor Joseph Mbaiwa of Okavango Research Institute in Maun noted that it is commendable that Spar has made this humanitarian move.
In the same breath the professor called on businesses in Maun to go an extra mile and through Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) bring meaningful developments to communities in which they operate.
“Maun is developing fast and part of that is due to growing tourism industry. When I relocated to Maun in 2000, Maun’s population was around 5000 people and today it is more than 85,000. The village is now a gateway to Okavango Delta,” noted Mbaiwa.
His point was that with the growth of the village comes development in terms of infrastructure among others and booming businesses and that such businesses should give back to communities, “In other countries CSR translates into big development such as FNB stadium, the likes of ABSA premiere league and time has come for us to see similar developments in Ngamiland, for example Spar Stadium or OW shopping complex, primary schools and others, those are the kind of CSR projects we want to see,” said Mbaiwa.
