Living with tragedy

LAST year when Irene Uiras (29) returned from her domestic job to her shack in the Greenwell Matongo informal settlement she did not know that her life would change forever, leaving her badly scarred and her eldest son murdered.

Uiras had broken off her relationship with the father of her two sons two months earlier. That Wednesday evening when Uiras returned home, she opened her shack and heard her ex calling out that he wanted to talk things over.He convinced Uiras, their two children and her aunt to go into the shack so that they could talk. He then closed the door, picked up a petrol can and doused Uiras with petrol.’I screamed out and asked him what he was doing when he flicked a lighter and set me alight,’ she recalls. Her nephew kicked the door down and she ran outside where he emptied a bucket of water on her, but to no avail.She rolled on the ground to extinguish the flames but the stones hurt her and when she got up, her ex doused her once again with petrol and set her alight for a second time. She ran away and some men from the community brought more water with which they finally extinguished the flames. She kept on running and hid in another shack while her ex was running around outside, calling her name. He then doused Rino (5) and himself with petrol and set them on fire. He also picked up Raimund (2) by his T-shirt, wanting to throw him into the flames, but the T-shirt burned off and the boy fell to the ground. He got up and could be saved, sustaining burns to his back and neck.The man and Rino died in the following days. Raimund had to spend six months in hospital and Uiras is still in the Katutura Hospital, a place which she has not been able to leave for the past two years. The wounds on her arms, chest and back have not yet healed and are still open and susceptible to infection.She is desperately in need of skin grafts but with burns over 80 per cent of her body, she does not have enough skin left to be grafted onto the burns.She also needs an operation to cut the skin on her neck and arms so that she can bend them again. Because of the burns the skin has tightened and restricted her movement.He doctor suggested that she should collect money and seek help in South Africa, as there is nothing that can be done for her here.Staying in hospital until she heals on her own could take years.I really need help as I want to get up and out of here. I want to go back to work and take care of Raimund,’ Uiras told The Namibian. Raimund is now living with his grandmother at Swakopmund.The Windhoek Alte Feste Lions Club has opened an account for Uiras to collect donations.The details are as follows: Nedbank, Independence Avenue branch, account number: 119 000 7576, reference: Uiras burn victims.