Kemirembe is a 49-year-old mother of five and shared that her husband died in 1998. He left her with a grass thatched house, and through hard work, she managed to construct a three-room semi-permanent house to shelter her children. Her house though, was washed away by floods early last month due to constant rains in the country. She is currently struggling in putting up a temporally one because she wasn’t financially prepared for the disaster.
Her firstborn is 30 years old and joined a technical institution immediately after completing primary school class seven, the second born is 27 years old and dropped out of school from secondary school class two, her third born is 25 years old and got married after primary school class seven. Her fourth is 23 years old and is in secondary school class four while her last born is 22 years and dropped out of school from primary school class seven. Most of her children are casual laborers and can only offer minimal support to her.
At Rushoroza Hospital, she presented with a history of lower abdominal pain plus menorrhagia. If not treated through a total abdominal hysterectomy, she could have chronic pelvic pain that will stop her from doing her daily activities, severe anemia secondary to menorrhagia leading to possible heart failure.
Kemirembe is a small-scale farmer who grows a variety of crops for survival. Her husband used to own and raise livestock such as cows and goats. He had many of them, she told us. Kemirembe managed to pay school fees for her children by selling the cows and goats and now is left with no animals.
Kemirembe shared, “I had lost hope. May my prayers be answered. I look forward to putting more effort to farming in order to be able to take good care of myself in a few years when I grow older.”