Mabila Mathebula
There is an English hymn that was written by Irish hymn writer Cecil Frances Alexander in the 19th century, The World Looks Very Beautiful. The hymn writer was full of joy and hope when she looked squarely at the world.
The world now looks amazingly different from Alexander’s world with little or no grace. It is far from the revelatory new heaven and the new earth. Call the roll of world events hitherto: devastating floods abound around the world, the Russian-Ukrainian war has shaken many economies globally, the Israeli–Palestine conflict has destroyed families and livelihoods, the former Dutch prime minister handing over power on a silver platter to his successor, Dick Schoof, the looming US elections, the change-of-gear scenario in the UK government and the operationalisation of the government of national unity (GNU) in South Africa.
If Alexander were alive today, perhaps she could have written the following hymn: The World Looks Very Scary. The new world is like a raging hurricane against which the old order can no longer stand.
Though the world has renounced imperialism and colonialism as a way of life, there are other ways to enslave a country and its people by making them economically dependent. Democracies have failed to solve the problem of unemployment, poverty and social dislocation and must give way to a new world order.
It is easy to be obsessed with world events when one is not faced with a malignancy or the death of the loved one in the family. When someone who is nearest and dearest to us is terminally ill or shockingly departs from this world, you question yourself about the meaning of life and living.
In my view, livelihood is about generating income in order to satisfy one’s basic needs. On the other hand, life is about taking care of the needs of our fellow men. Sir Winston Churchill explained these concepts succinctly: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Mercy Khashane had mercy on her late husband, Ndwamato Khashane, when she donated her kidney to him as a token of her love 20 years ago.
Mercy debunked the African myth that human organs were often associated with nocturnal activities as well as the manufacturing of African medicine. She thought it prudent to donate her kidney because her husband had to undergo dialysis three times a week.
Dialysis is a treatment that filters and purifies blood when the kidneys are no longer able to perform this function naturally. There are many causes of kidney failure and there are mysteries that have not yet been unravelled by medical science. For example, Goodpasture’s syndrome. The most extreme cure is the removal of both kidneys and a life of dialysis three times a week. No one knows the syndrome's causes or why it strikes mainly young, healthy males.
Most people do not know that dialysis is one of the most expensive treatments for the state – R450 000 per person annually. If the state embarked on awareness campaigns about kidney donation, more people would start donating kidneys to needy kidney patients. That would save more lives and save more money for the state.
The money the state spends on dialysis could be channelled towards pressing needs such as housing and education. Mercy Khashane is very healthy and she is blooming with beauty after donating her kidney to her husband 20 years ago. Many people think that a donation only refers to money or old clothes, little do they realise that they could also donate their organs to give other people a second chance in life.
Many people’s accomplishments are the results of efforts on the part of many and Mercy’s are no exception. She was assisted in her journey by Matsie Pooe, who was a community and psychiatric nurse and midwife, and Violet Hlekani Khosa-Zitha, who was a community nurse, midwife and a specialist in nephrology (the study of kidneys).
Any doctor or nurse devoted to nephrology will tell you more about how complicated this human organ is. It has been said that if St Paul were alive today, he would not have been knocked off his horse by a lightning bolt on his way to Damascus; he would have been a nephrology resident struck speechless by the awesome complexity of a kidney.
Mercy was devastated last week when she learnt of the death of Hlekani Khosa-Zitha and she was afraid that her conscience would reproach her throughout her life if she did not go to her family to pay her last respects. There are very few people in life of whom you can say: He or she changed my life. Hlekani did. She was a compassionate, God-fearing woman as well as family binding force.
Her feelings for the poor, the elderly, the disabled, kidney patience and the unemployed were instinctive. She dedicated herself to her patients, the poor and the needy as well as the downtrodden, regardless of their age, colour, creed or ethnicity.
The family, neighbours, and former colleagues have been deprived of this great talent, dedication and sensitivity of a gifted person who would have greatly rolled our people uphill during these tumultuous times.
Hlekani was orphaned when she was very young and she grew up in the dusty streets of Soweto but she never allowed her situation to determine her destiny. She refused to act like a victim in a situation that she had never created. Her determination was bolstered after she read an article titled Orphans Lead the World by Paul Tournier, the Swiss physician and counsellor. Tournier cited the following people who were orphaned but catapulted into greatness: Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, George Washing, Napoleon, Queen Victoria, Hitler, Stalin and Castro.
Being orphaned is devastating and emotionally depleting, but Hlekani kept her vision strong and bright. She had been a God-fearing woman from a tender age and embraced Hermes Trismegistus’s philosophy throughout her life that God is a sphere whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. With the passing of her parents she realised that she had reached a cul-de-sac. She also realised that when she could not make sense of things, she had to go inside and find out what was real, what she could believe in and what mattered in life.
After school she was employed at Irvin and Johnson as an administrative official. She never enjoyed working in the corporate world, she preferred the nursing profession. She thought it prudent to join the nursing profession at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.
She sampled a number of the departments and she ended up at the Baragwanath Renal Unit before she went to rest under a cherry tree after escaping the hum of the market. May her soul rest in peace and may she rise in glory at the sound of the trumpet.
Author and life coach Mathebula has a PhD in Construction Management