Rosita Mabuiango, the woman who was born on a tree during Mozambique’s devastating floods in 2000 has died.
She died in Hospital Rural de Chibuto in the Gaza province on Monday from anemia, and her family told Sowetan that the days preceding her death were as dramatic as when she came into the world.
Not only did her desperate family have to approach strangers and ask them to donate blood for their dying relative but those people demanded to be paid for their blood.
Then after she died, the mortuary at the hospital was not working, which necessitated her burial just a day after her death.
Mabuiango’s was buried on Tuesday at 2pm.
Her grief-stricken father, Salvador, told Sowetan his daughter had tried to cling on to life but eventually gave up as she was not getting better. Salvador recalled her words − “Father, I am dying. I can’t see any change” – as her conditioned worsened at Hospital Rural de Chibuto in the Gaza province, where she was being treated.
According to Salvador, his daughter was admitted to the hospital in November, as she was weak and her legs were swollen. He said the hospital told them she was anemic. She was treated and later discharged but was soon readmitted as she was not getting better at home.
Mabuiango was born on March 1 2000 when her mother went into labour on a tree she had sought refuge from while floods swept through their tiny village of Chokwe. She and her mother were rescued by the SA National Defence Force members who were in Mozambique to assist with rescue efforts.
Salvador said doctors informed the family his daughter needed a blood transfusion. “The hospital did not have blood for a transfusion, and as a family we went around asking people to donate blood. However, they did not want to do it for free; we had to pay them,” he said.
The 76-year-old father said the people who agreed had to go to the hospital to check if they were a match and their blood also tested.
Some of them knew about Mabuiango’s affliction and offered to help but still wanted to be paid. “They knew Rosita but said they could not give their blood for free. It’s really painful. They knew she was dying but still wanted to be paid. I’m still shocked.”
The distraught father said he paid six people about R6,100 but all in vain.
His other daughter, Telia, said her sister had been sickly over the years. She confirmed that when doctors said she needed blood, she and her father went around approaching people to donate.
She was also not okay that the people wanted money in exchange for helping save her sister’s life. “I felt bad that they wanted money. My parents had to take money from their own pockets to buy [the] blood.”
According to Telia, there’s no other mortuary in the area, so they had to collect her sister’s body on Tuesday and bury it the same day. “We were told that the hospital mortuary is not in working condition and can’t keep the body cold.”
Mabuiango leaves behind her 6-year-old daughter, who is to start school this year.
