MOHAMED ASMAL
● It is during the pre-dawn sehri meal during Ramadan that Amina Asmal misses her husband, Mohamed, the most. “It’s God’s will. He knows best.” Mohamed, 66, died on April 15 in Umhlanga Hospital, Durban, of multiple organ failure after testing positive for Covid-19 the week before.
He owned International Hardware in Verulam and provided food hampers to those in need during the pandemic.
“We aren’t exactly sure how he got it — we think it may have been from touching money. He started getting headaches, was coughing, then had fever. We thought it was probably the virus and so we stayed at home and I looked after him for about five days,” said Amina.
“But he got worse. He stopped eating, developed memory loss and then started hallucinating. When he couldn’t breathe, I called the ambulance and we rushed to hospital at 4.30am on April 14.”
Mohamed, who had diabetes and hypertension, was put on a ventilator as Amina “sat outside the hospital and prayed”. He died the following day.
Dealing with the stigma around the disease — as well as the fact that she and her eldest son also contracted it — were as hard as dealing with the grief.
“My son wasn’t able to go to his father’s funeral. But we can’t sit back and be victims. This is a test of our faith in God.” Amina now fears for her community. “People are walking around and carrying on as if they don’t know about coronavirus,” she says.
“I want to appeal to people to take precautions. I understand people are hungry and need to work, but if they are not careful, they will lose their lives.”