Regina Komdombolo’s labour of love

REGINA Kondombolo is a remarkable woman who’s been looking after mentally impaired people for the past 22 years. She is a registered nurse who was working in the psychiatric ward of the State Hospital when she injured her back and could not work fulltime anymore.

She didn’t want to sit around at home doing nothing, so she approached two doctors at the ward and started providing daycare for patients discharged from the hospital.’I knew that often the discharged patients would roam the streets until they ended up in the hospital again,’ she told The Namibian.With the help of the doctors and a benefactor who donated a minibus, the families of the patients could drop them off at the bus stop where Kondombolo would collect them and look after them during the day. In the evening she would then take them back to the bus stop for their families to collect.Her benefactor left the country after Independence, and Kondombolo could not keep up the service without funding.Another problem is that some families just dropped off patients and never came back for them, so Kondombolo had to move into the hospital to take care of them fulltime.SAFE HAVENIn 1990 the two doctors and a social worker approached the German Lutheran Church, which bought a house in Katutura for Kondombolo and her patients. The Hephata centre was started and today 10 people live in the safe haven. The church still pays her salary and helps where it can with food, clothing and other necessities.Some of the patients have been with Kondombolo from the beginning, like Sabina Meyer who came to her as a young girl.’In all these years I have never had a holiday or a day off, as these people need constant attention and help. I cannot leave them,’ she says.A typical day for Kondombolo starts at about 06h00 when the patients wake up and need breakfast.Kondombolo and her helper Elizabeth Kheibes, who has been with her for a year, then start to wash the bedding and carry out the mattresses to dry. ‘We have to do this every day, as they all wet their beds.’ FUTURE WORRIESThe patients are then bathed and the house cleaned. Some of the patients help with sweeping and other chores in and around the house. After lunch the patients take a nap. In the afternoon they watch television while Kondombolo prepares their dinner. They love soap operas on TV and often have discussions about their favourite shows.’Then we go to sleep and tomorrow morning we start all over again,’ Komdombolo says.She was supposed to retire a few years ago, but she cannot out of fear for the future of her patients and Hephata.’It is not like in the olden days when I started to do this. I did this to keep the people off the street, I wanted to do some good for my fellow human beings and I did this in honour of Florence Nightingale and not for money.’ She has placed several advertisements in the newspapers in the hope of finding a person who would be willing to carry on with the project and take care of the patients. There were a few people who expressed interest, but some of them changed their mind when they heard how meagre the salary is. Others left after spending some time with the patients and realising that they were not up to the job of caring for mentally impaired people.Komdombolo, therefore, started teaching Kheibes the ropes and hopes she will stay on so that she can take that long-awaited and well-deserved holiday sometime in the near future.While The Namibian was doing the interview, a patient who had just come out of the bath went behind the house to relieve herself. She messed on herself and her clothing and had to be bathed again. ‘This is how it goes here,’ Kondombolo said.’The washing machines never stop washing and neither do we. We can clean now either the house or the patients and we will have to clean again in a few minutes.’Sometimes when I cannot get out of bed, Zenobia, one of the patients, will get up and make tea and breakfast for the others. She will then call me to hand out the medication. I often rely on her to cook the food and she knows how to cook up a storm in the kitchen.’ There is a huge need at Hephata for cleaning materials, soap and detergents, but all donations are welcome. If you can help, phone Kondombolo at 081 278 5778 or (061) 27 2133.