In the Garden of Life, things can be a sham, especially when served with a cold, ruthless, and cruel reality. This is true for Anek Filda, a 57-year-old widow from Laminto village, Kal-ali Parish, Paicho Sub-county in Gulu district, whose everyday life is a knuckle-to-knuckle battle to either be locked into life’s submission hold or fight till one breaks free.
Anek Filda lost her husband in 2001, and the widow was left with two children to raise in an economy-flexed society. To boost her family’s odds of survival and change the entire course of her children’s future, Anek engaged in all sorts of manual work to meet her goals.
She plowed lands in terms of acres in the shortest time of three days and dug pits to ensure that her children attended school.
As time went by, 15 years down, Anek’s body began to submit to the relentless locks of body pain as a result of the hefty years of tilting and toiling but still didn’t give up.
Out of her hard work, she managed to pay her son, Stephen, up to senior two when her health deteriorated so quickly. The hands that once laboured tirelessly to provide for her family now lay helpless, trembling at the stroke of her illness.
With the limited financial resources she had, Anek came seeking medical help at St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor. She used to weed people’s gardens and use the money to transport herself and foot her medical bills.
This went on for three years until this year when her condition worsened and she couldn’t do anything anymore. Her son, her only support, had to leave school and take over from where his mother left, digging and doing casual labour to put food on the table and help with the mother’s daily needs.
We met with Anek after a concerned attendant with whom she shared a ward asked her to reach out and seek help from the administration of the hospital after seeing her sobbing all alone.
When we asked her how long she had been in the hospital, she broke into tears, and after a moment, she said she had been in the hospital for a week, with no one to help her.
“My son has been the one helping me with everything; I have ruined his studies with my sickness. We are all alone. He remained home to work and bring some money for the medical bills,” she said sadly.
Anek said she does not know which of the pains is squeezing life out of her most – whether the pain of her ailment or the pain of being taken care of by her son who should be in school.
The matter reached Rev.Sr. Nyanmungu Mary, who is in charge of the Lacor Needy Project, an unfunded program designed to help the less privileged and incapable of paying their medical bills. Her bills were waived and she can now receive free treatment at the hospital.
In a world where Anek once felt invisible and alone, she now feels part of a community that cares deeply; the program has given her faith in humanity.
The Lacor Needy program supports more than 100 patients, mostly women, children, and the elderly. This program resonates with our mission to provide quality, affordable, and sustainable healthcare to the needy.
