Spiked Online Media caught up with a survivor of COVID-19 who paid tribute to food consultant and expertise, Rumbidzai Mukori, but chose to remain anonymous.
Below is the testimony:
A moment of reflection..
Feeling abandoned nearly destroyed all the hope in me, but that’s when I realised it’s a mistake to ever look for hope outside of one’s self. I thought family and friends were going to help me fight the coronavirus, but they’re justified because no one would ever want to associate with someone they know might give them something that can kill them in a very short space of time.
To ignore the symptoms and people’s advice are the mistakes I made. I told myself it’s a general cough, I’m so strong and the flu doesn’t kill me, which is what I never said again when I got infected. It was there in my body. It was real. The pain was unbearable. I’m still amazed my chest didn’t break into pieces.
With the way I love chicken wings, I never wanted to see them near me. I lost appetite. I lost the sense of taste. Everything I’d put in my mouth was tasteless. Food was the last thing on my mind yet the body needs food for upkeep. The headache, oh oh my God. I’d wish I could remove it and place it somewhere not on my body.
Even though I thought I was not to see the coming month, I saw God’s hand in my life. Talking about this, it means my life was preserved but fighting the after-effects was and is not easy. Even after people knew I’m now covid free, they’d just treat and see me as someone infected. People make it look like it’s a lifetime thing, but one can really be affected and still survive depending on the approach used in approaching it.
I was caught up with questions almost everyone never wants to be asked. You’ve lost weight, Why? Are You Okay? Are you sick? Don’t you have food to eat at home?. Explaining could even make it worse, one would think I can infect them even through text messages. I ended up being depressed when I thought it’s time to celebrate recovering from the disease, but either way, I had to face and defeat it.
A strong immune system is what I needed to win the fight, my bad I realised it after being infected.
Limited knowledge of the foods to help boost immunity made it hard for me to keep with how I was being the disease’s advantage. People really have to eat well, eat healthily, and mostly eat local. African foods are good for us, but most of the time we abandon them and surprisingly we look for them when we fall sick.
In fighting this, I believe my faith kept me alive. I could smell death approaching every second, but in my mind, I told myself I was going to survive. Steaming became a daily routine, the bitter-sweet taste of Zumbani I only got to realise it after I’d recovered. Above all, I realised the importance of African foods.
Strong immunity is of great importance, with or without any diseases. I greatly thank Coach Rumbie, the founder of @Fully Enrich. She helped so much and enlightened me on the importance of African foods. We should really utilise what we have.
From an anonymous.
Contact us Rumbidzi Mukori on the following details:
fullyenrich16@gmail.com if you need someone to talk to or send a message on (263)716936098 for support on your road to recovery.