KALKRAND: While her friends are playing in the dusty streets of Kalkrand, 12-year-old Benoni !Oxurus is confined to the boundaries of her house and left to play with her minor siblings only, because her lipless face is deemed unsightly.
!Oxurus was nine-years-old when she woke up with a rash on her upper lip, a rash that would turn into a permanent scar three years later, needing her to undergo face reconstructive surgery in Cape Town, South Africa.
Narrating her daughter’s fate to Nampa recently, 35-year-old Deline !Oxurus said on 17 December 2019 she took her child to the local clinic, where she received medication. However, after the continuously itchy rashes failed to getting better, the local clinic referred her to the Mariental District Hospital two weeks later.
Deline recounts that after five months of visiting the district hospital, Benoni’s rashes worsened, spreading all over her mouth and nose area, which prompted a referral to the Katutura Intermediate Hospital in Windhoek on 20 June 2020, where
she received her first operation.
‘When we reached Windhoek the doctors told us that a spider bite caused her rashes and was seen by two doctors who performed her first surgery, a resection of infected tissues, skin and muscles on the upper lip,’ she said.
The devastated mother explained that since receiving the first surgery, her daughter has been going between the hospital and home, resulting in five operations done on her mouth area since June 2020, with the last surgery done on 06 April 2023, which left her with the disfigured, isolating look.
The unemployed mother of six said she is currently in limbo when it comes to her daughter’s health, which has left her feeding on soft foods through straws since the fourth surgery in November 2022.
‘The child can’t eat properly. She can’t open her mouth and she only eats soft food such as soup and instant porridge,’ she said.
She stressed her child’s facial appearance is unpleasant to many people including the school, which she left in 2022 while in Grade 5.
‘The teachers barred her from school because her face is unpleasant to other learners,’ said the mother.
‘I want her to be finished with her scheduled referral surgery in SA, so that she can go back to school. She was supposed to be going for afternoon classes now but she doesn’t want to go because she is shy and the kids are teasing her at school. She wants to be fixed first,’ she said.
Shying away from the camera, an emotional Benoni says; ‘I don’t feel good. I feel bad when I look at myself in the mirror and I want to go back to school. I want my mouth.’
Her current health passport shows that her last admission to the hospital was on 16 October 2023, at Katutura State Hospital, when she was diagnosed with mucormycosis, which is a serious but rare fungal infection caused by a group of moulds called mucormycetes.
Mucormycosis is considered the most aggressive and potentially fatal invasive fungal wound infection to occur in the trauma setting, despite aggressive therapy; these infections are challenging
to control, with a fatality rate approaching 96 per cent in immunocompromised patients.
Hoping to restore her daughter’s once beautiful face, the mother of six said in 2023 she wrote a letter to the ministry requesting for prompt action towards the treatment.
The uncertain mother stressed that currently her child’s dignity restoration is in the hands of the Government through the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
‘The state maxillofacial surgeon, who has been attending to her since 2020, informed us in November 2023 that she will be going in December to South Africa… but that never happened,’ she stressed
!Oxurus explained that she is frustrated at how the state hospital is not treating her daughter’s treatment as a matter of urgency, stressing tat the doctor is yet to call the family about the trip to South Africa.
‘I am the one ever contacting the doctors. They make no effort to check up on her,’ she said.
Her health passports indicating her last appointment in November 2023 says she is schedule
d for an operation in South Africa and currently awaiting quotation as well as for all arrangements.
While waiting to hear from her specialist, Benoni has been teaching herself at home how to draw and write, and continues to take medication to manage the pain.
Her eating pace has slowed as she cannot open her mouth fully and she takes 3 to 4 soft meals per day. The condition has also affected her voice, which is barely audible.
Deline, who is an unemployed mother, said they are currently surviving on her government grant, which is hardly enough, further explaining that the daughter’s father is not involved in her upbringing as he is currently in prison.
Efforts to get comment from the Katutura State Hospital proved futile, as questions sent to the Superintendent regarding Benoni’s case were not replied to by time of going to print.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency
The Border Management Authority (BMA) announced on Sunday that it processed over five million travellers through South African borders over the festive period.
‘The 2023/2024 festive season was a remarkable time where a noticeable increase in the movement of persons and goods entering and exiting the Republic of South Africa was experienced,’ said Commissioner of the BMA, Dr Mike Masiapato.
He said between 6 December 2023 and 18 January 2024, the agency lawfully processed 5 096 288 travellers across 71 ports of entry.
The latest data shows a one million increase in travellers compared to 2022/2023.
‘However, this number of travellers is still one million less than the pre-COVID-19 average numbers of about six million travellers.’
Of the 5 096 288 travellers, 216 594 used private vehicles, 21 502 mini-bus taxis, 6 443 buses and 55 765 trucks through the movement control system.
In total, more than 13 050 aircraft were processed at international airports and approximately 709 vessels at seaports.
About
407 vessels underwent crew changes using the off-port limit mechanism in the maritime environment.
According to the data, OR Tambo International Airport (ORTIA) served the largest number of travellers, which was around 993 759.
The Lebombo land port of entry to Mozambique came second with 755 066 visitors, followed by the Beitbridge land port of entry to Zimbabwe with 745 563 travellers.
Compared to the 2022/2023 festive period, ORTIA, Lebombo, and Beitbridge recorded an increase in traveller volume of 22%, 24%, and 25%, respectively.
‘As you may recall, we increased our human resource capacity and the operating hours in some selected ports of entry which do not operate on a 24-hour basis.’
The BMA mandate is to facilitate and manage the legitimate movement of people and goods across 71 ports of entry of which 52 are land, 10 are international airports and nine are seaports.
Their work covers areas of immigration, port health, environmental and agricultural biosecurity, including access control and gene
ral law enforcement at the ports of entry and border law enforcement areas.
‘Although our primary job as the BMA is to facilitate the legitimate movement of people, we also have to deal with individuals who attempt to illegitimately move through our ports of entry and the border law enforcement areas.’
He told the media that the agency detected about 15 924 individuals who were attempting to enter South Africa without requisite documentation.
‘In this instance, after intercepting them, we took their fingerprints, declared them undesirable and banned them from re-entering South Africa for five years and kept the record in the Biometric Movement Control System and got them deported,’ he explained.
The majority of interceptions occurred at the Lebombo land port of entry with 6 808, followed by 1 891 at the Beitbridge land port of entry.
Meanwhile, 6,455 travellers were denied entry into South Africa for being undesirable, including those who committed crimes in other countries and appeared on the Interpol r
ed list.
In addition, about 4 626 travellers were refused entry for being for having invalid passports, fraudulent visas or failing to produce valid yellow fever certificates.
This means 27 005 people were deported while attempting to enter South Africa illegally.
During this period, the agency also observed an increased detection rate of the undesirables due to the utilisation of the Biometric Movement Control Systems (BMCS).
The Commissioner raised his concern at public transporting companies that continue to transport illegal migrants.
During this period, the BMA imposed about 98 administrative fines to various conveyancers especially bus companies to the value of R3 540 000 for transporting illegal migrants at the cost of R15 000 per person.
At the same time, they collected about R9.8 million in outstanding fines from about 25 bus companies.
‘In this regard, they have committed to ensuring that valid passports would be required from all travellers when procuring cross border tickets and for enterin
g into the bus on travel day.’
Source: South African Government News Agency