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Auxilia Katongomara, Chronicle Reporter
A GRADE Zero pupil from New Lobengula suburb in Bulawayo sustained severe burns when she torched herself while playing with matches.
Vannessa Alisidamba (5) was rushed to Mpilo Central Hospital with serious burns on the chest, back , abdomen and thighs.
Her dress, sources said, accidentally caught fire after she repeatedly lit match sticks.
The minor was rescued by neighbours as she ran out of the house in flames screaming for help.
Her parents were not at home.
A neighbour, Mr Welcome Moyo, who assisted the burning girl, said she emerged from her parents’ home at full speed with her dress and body in flames.
“I saw her running screaming for help as she was looking for her mother who had left the house a few minutes before the incident.
“We managed to remove her dress and poured a bucket of water on her to stop the flames,” said Mr Moyo.
“She was evidently in pain. We applied margarine on the burns and called her mother to rush back home.”
Vanessa’s mother, Ms Soneni Tshuma, who is a hairdresser, had left home to pick up a client from the bus stop.
Gogo Miriam Banda, a neighbour said: “She was putting on a long dress and when I asked her what happened, she said she was playing with match sticks and that’s when her dress caught fire.
She said she tried to put the fire out but the material on her dress was flammable and she could not contain it resulting in her rushing out to seek assistance.
“It’s fortunate that the house did not catch fire because her sibling was sleeping in the same room she was in when her dress caught fire,” said Ms Banda.
Vanessa’s father, Mr Bruce Alisidamba told The Chronicle that his daughter was in pain and could not narrate what happened.
“The only narration we got was from the neighbours, we haven’t spoken to her, she can only utter the words mummy, daddy. I cannot say she is stable, she is in pain. She has burns on the back and chest. Her abdomen was saved by her panties and her thighs are also bandaged,” he said.
Mr Alisidamba said doctors inserted a drip through a vein on Vanessa’s neck as they failed to locate a suitable site on her limbs due to the serious burns on her hands and legs.
Mr Alisidamba, who is a landline phone technician, appealed for assistance in buying medical sundries.
“It’s very hard for us, we have to buy SSD cream for the sores as well as bandages and it’s applied at every dressing. It’s very expensive, we have been buying 100ml and they want about 500ml.
“I have also bought a catheter and urine bag for her but as you know, prices have shot up and we are really struggling to buy all the things required especially the bandages which are changed often,” he said.
— @AuxiliaK.
Online Reporter