For the family of the late Emmanuel Ugwu of Umuebiem, Agbamere
community, Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, there is new
hope in their mentally-challenged mother, Victoria, who was hit by a
vehicle becoming sane again.
The accident, which occurred at Ugwuawarawa in Nsukka, would have
sent the 62-year-old mother of four to her grave, but instead it served
as the beginning of her healing process from the protracted mental
illness that bedeviled her.
For well over three decades, Mrs. Ugwu, popularly known as Mama
Nnenna, has literally become mad, and many times gone stark naked as a
result of her ill health. The woman who has been staying at Total
Roundabout in Nsukka, attracted the attention of Daily Sun when for over three months her whereabouts could not be accounted for.
A source revealed that after the accident, Mrs. Ugwu was rushed to
Bishop Shanahan Hospital, Nsukka, by the driver of the car that hit her,
though she refused all medical attention given to her by the hospital.
However, when Daily Sun visited her at GRA, Nsukka,
where she is currently staying, she has changed from the dirty mad woman
who specialized in collecting all sorts of dirty cloths and tying them
around her waist, leg and head to a mentally stable mother. She was busy
sweeping her room and cleaning her environment.
Mrs. Ugwu spoke in an emotive and hear-breaking voice: “I am here
suffering; I don’t know what I did to people that I am put in this kind
of condition. I believe that what is happening to me is not ordinary.
Somebody did this to me”.
When asked about the whereabouts of her husband, she said she has not seen him and could not tell where he was.
On further enquiry to ascertain what actually was wrong with her, Mrs
Ugwu, a mother of six, though two out them were said to have passed on,
said her problem started about 30 years ago and wondered why she was in
such an agonising situation:
“I was down there (pointing at Ugwuawara side) picking food in a
dustbin when two children met me and asked me to stop picking anything
there. But later they asked me to continue picking. Then, I continued
but I did not know when a vehicle came and hit me. It knocked me down
and ran over me.”
She could not tell where she was taken to. It was gathered that the
driver of the car, who was said to be on evangelism mission, rushed her
to Bishop Shanahan Hospital, Nsukka, where she was admitted for medical
attention.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Ugwu was said to have left the hospital days
later and found in a heap of refuse almost dead. Her neighbour, Mr.
Paulinus Ezeaku, and his wife quickly took her out from the dirt to her
residence.
Mrs. Ugwu’s daughter, Nnenna, explained that “what happened to my
mother can best be described as miraculous healing. I have never seen
such a rapid healing. I am so happy that she is now recovering though we
are currently facing challenges of getting money to buy her drugs
regularly.
“Her drugs cost like N15,000 monthly but presently, I don’t have such
kind of money. Even her feeding is becoming increasing difficult for me
because I am the only person staying with her. I am just a staff of
Nsukka Local Government Area and you know the salary is not forthcoming
regularly.”
Asked where she has been when all these years her mother was ill: “I
have been with my uncle. Each and every time I came around Total filling
station and saw her tattered and picking refuse from dumpsites, I
always felt so bad. It was always heart rending and too difficult to
imagine.”
Ezeaku said: “Her problem started as far back as 1984. She started by
taking her children to the streets and refuse dump to pick some food.
When her husband’s relations saw what was happening, they took the
children away from her and she came back to stay with her husband who
was then a driver with the local education authority.
“Few years after this, her husband disappeared and I alerted his
relations about the development and they started looking for him. Later,
they found him dead somewhere in Nsukka and took him to his village and
buried him. Mrs Victoria continued living here all alone amassing all
sorts of refuse to her house since all these three decades.”
On her present situation, Ezeaku: “When we went to see her at the
hospital after the accident and discovered that she couldn’t receive any
medication from the hospital, I reported to the police for permission
to take her back to her house and also to treat her using both orthodox
and herbal medicines. I was given the permission and I brought her back
here and since then, she has been getting better by the day.
“The only problem we have now is finance. I am a retired director in
the Nsukka Local Government Education Authority. I have not received my
gratuity neither has the government paid me pension since 2014 I
retired. For this reason, I have no money to continue taking care of her
medically and otherwise.”
Ezeaku, however, said some philanthropic individuals and
organizations including the former Cathedral Administrator, Catholic
Diocese of Nsukka, Rev. Fr. Uche Obodoechina, Vicar General, Monsignor
Thaddeus Onoyima, Station Council, STC, GRA Women Wing Nsukka , Nsukka
Legislative Council, among others, have made donations toward the upkeep
of the woman, pointing out that since then, nobody has been willing to
help her financially: “Her daughter, Nnenna is too young to carry such
financial burden.”
He explained that for some weeks now, Mrs. Ugwu has not been taking
any drugs due to lack of finance to buy the drugs, pointing out that she
equally needs advance medical attention for further healing. He
expressed optimism that Mrs. Ugwu’s problem would soon be over.
He said since the signs of insanity like hallucination and
soliloquizing have stopped; and she was able to take her bath, use
chewing stick in the morning and could exchange pleasantries with
people, her future would be bright.
He, however, noted that the woman still requires continuous treatment
as the sickness has stayed longer in her. “The drugs for schizophrenia
and that of feeding is costly.”
Mrs. Ugwu is a native of Otuocha, Anambra State and a Grade 11
teacher, having passed out from St. Monica’s Teachers’ Training College,
Ogbunike, though the situation she found herself could not allow her to
go into teaching profession fully.
It was also revealed that she has been battling with mental
instability for the past 30 years and has lived the greater part of her
life on the streets, fending for herself under the rain and scorching
sun.
Descriptively, the usual place she could be seen is between the Mobil
and the Total filling stations at Nsukka, precisely along the road
leading to Nsukka Local Government headquarters where she was usually
seen taking soft drinks. But her “quarters” is at the Nsukka
Magistrate/High Court premises.
