A story of a diabetic child from Lesotho
My name is Kabera Munya. I am 10 years old. I was first diagnosed with diabetes when I was 8 years old, I am a T1G patient, I use insulin, my life depends on it, this is my story during this time of COVID-19.
In 2017, more than 2.1 billion children were affected by non-communicable diseases (NCDs) globally?. NCDs, a set of diseases resulting from the interaction of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioural factors, present a significant burden on individuals, communities and economic resources. Children affected by NCDs often face a lifelong challenge to manage and treat their conditions the cases of these diseases are on the increase in Africa, although the exact cause of the increase is not known, many children are growing up managing these conditions.
During the lockdown as a result of COVID-19 restriction I ran out of insulin. I went to the hospital to get it, the nurses told us to go back because they didn’t have protective clothing and couldn’t help us. We had no option but to buy at the pharmacy, I could afford, but, what about children without parents, only God knows.
Police stopped us many times on our way and we had to explain every time that we were coming from the hospital. It’s so embarrassing when you are sick. In addition, when I had to go to the hospital for my monthly check up, the queues at the hospital were too long, we arrived at 5 in the morning and left the hospital at 4pm. This is not a good experience, I was hungry, tired, frustrated and I wanted to go back home and leave my insulin behind but I knew I was going to die without it.
I am requesting the government to supply insulin to hospitals and school clinics and where there are no clinics at school. In addition, I want to request the government to provide mobile clinics with insulin, test tubes, lancets and alcohol subs.
We also need counselling at school for children with diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. I want to know that, every African knows about diabetes. Today people know about HIV and COVID 19, we are diabetic and nobody is saying anything about us. Hear us, we also need help, we are suffering, Diabetes is a killer disease, Africa must rise and help us.
1st of December every year world Aids day is celebrated, do you know anything about the 14th of November? 14th of November is world diabetes day, we need that day to be celebrated for the sake of children.
Source: True story as narrated by Kabere during the 16thCSO Forum Children Forum in June, 2020
Photos credit: www.dreamstime.com
