Death of Shortie

I reached over and gave her cold hands a long hard squeeze. She looked sadly into my eyes and struggled to respond with a weak smile, indicating that she had understood and appreciated my well wishes. Somehow, both of us seemed to know that it would be probably the last time that we meet. I gave her one last concerned look before I closed the door of the caddy. Please let her survive through this, I muttered under my breathe as I watched the caddy drive away.

“CHI!!!!!”, Esther welcomed me into the kitchen in her usual way, hugging me as if I were her life-size Teddie bear. We had bonded within the first few days I arrived at Golden Gate. Perhaps it was because I would always greet her, in my broken Sotho, with a bow in respect, or maybe it was because I had bothered to find out her name and called her Esther rather than Shortie (her nickname as everyone knew her by – she's below 1.5m). Despite our inability to communicate in English or Sotho, we often laughed and hugged each other when we met. I quickly adopted her as a mother figure in this new foreign environment.

Thus, I felt a surge of anger when I heard how she died.

Esther had been feeling very weak and breathless for a few days before she was driven to the nearest hospital at Phuthaditjabah. She had been in and out of hospital, and doctors could not give an explanation as to what was wrong with her. Her family went to visit her last Thursday. They found her bed empty and was puzzled. Upon asking the nurse on duty, they found out that Esther had already passed away on Monday. The nurse claimed that the hospital did not have the contact numbers of the family, and thus was not able to contact them. When they searched the case file, Esther's family pointed out the contact numbers that were written clearly in the documents... ...

I was horrified.

How can a hospital not even take the slightest effort to inform the family of a patient who has died? And this was the nearest hospital that we (people living in Golden Gate) have to depend on if anything happens to us???!!!!! I hope I never have to be hospitalised when I am here, or even seek medical treatment at a hospital or clinic.

I hoped that Esther passed away peacefully, and that it wasn't because of the negligence of the doctors/hospital, but the fact that she was already old. The kitchen now looked strange without her around. Although the new staff is friendly and we exchange smiles and greetings, it is just different from Esther's daily yo-i've-not-seen-you-for-a-long-time-and-i-really-miss-you hugs.

Bye, Esther a.k.a Shortie . You will be remembered.