Woman ostracised for elephantiasis
CHARLENE Moses from Hout Bay was born with elephantiasis, a condition resulting in her limbs swelling to enormous sizes. She lives in constant pain and has been ostracised by some of her family and some people in her community.
Moses said her condition has also caused one side of her brain to be larger.
“I am 45, but my body feels like 80. I try to keep myself up and about but it is so painful.”
She said at school she was bullied and forced to leave in Grade 9. But she is constantly taunted by children and even some adults in the community.
“It’s painful because they know me for so long and I did nothing to them. One time a boy passed me and said ‘yoh, you look creepy’, but sometimes you can’t handle it. In 1992 I tried to commit suicide.”
Moses said she lived on a disability grant as she is unable to work. Her sister also supports her financially.
“There were times when I was okay, I went dancing. But I just can’t stand how it is now. Sometimes I can’t bath myself; when my sister comes home on weekends she will help me.”
Moses said one Hout Bay resident offered to take her to a specialist.
“When I put pictures of me on Facebook I saw it for the first time in my life and I burst into tears, I never see it from the front. I thought I look like an animal.”
Moses said the doctors at the clinic she visits told her in 10 years “my leg will be bigger and wider”. She said she was looking for medical advice to make her life easier as the doctors told her there was nothing to be done. – Staff Reporter