Online Reporter
Fadzayi Maposah-Correspondent
OCCASIONALLY I look up words that are considered to be very common, just to refresh my memory.
Mind you, remember that I am getting old. As you read this article, I am older than I was when you read my last article last month.
Now we are in the month of July. Six months of the year are done and dusted. Be kind to yourself.
There were some people who were all over social media, asking how far with the resolutions, and I responded that most of them are still work in progress. The good thing is that something has been done.
I have learnt through some online forms that record progress as you go through them.
Since I was born before technology, I used to think that the line that goes green as you submit information changes at the same percentage. But no, the forms are very different. For some you submit two or three items, and it becomes green, while others wait for you to get to the last line till before it becomes green.
Green is the indication that the bulk of the work has been done. Being in the seventh month of 2026, we are into the second half of the year. Best wishes for the second half of the year.
Build up on the good things that you have been doing since the beginning of the year. Let go of the things that you have been telling yourself you should stop. Even slowly letting go is a good thing, it is indeed a start. All the best!
Back to my dictionary moment. The word that caught my attention was hero. A hero is a person who in the opinion of others has special achievements, abilities, or personal qualities and is regarded as a role model or ideal.
I work in an environment where each day I have the opportunity to see heroic moments that I am sure that the ones who are doing them do not understand or refer them as courageous moments. As far as they are concerned, they are simply doing what should be done, and they work whole heartedly.
Those who have had a close relative in hospital will be able to relate to the heroic moments that I will share in this article.
Having a family member admitted to hospital takes its toll on the patient and the relatives.
Whether one has had many relatives admitted to hospital, each time that happens, it hits differently. There are family members who take it upon themselves to do the errands for the person in hospital.
They run with prescriptions from one end of the hospital to the other. They contact people who may know where certain medication can be obtained. They make it their business to ensure that the medication has been received and passed to the ailing relative.
The same person can also be assigned the role of booking and coordinating tests and scans as and when they are required by the doctor. At times, the same person is the next of kin of the admitted family member. With each unknown call that they get, they ready themselves to hear what the hospital has to say. As they hear someone ask if they are so and so, their mind races all over as they wait for what the other person has to say.
The contact person has given out their number so many times, in some instances they have filled in forms and left their details. All they know is that their number is all over and they try to keep their cellphone charged so that they are always reachable.
Since they are in contact with the ailing family member, they are deemed to have the latest information. Besides their phone being busy with calls informing that test results are ready for collection, relatives will also call to check how the patient is.
Not all the people who call will be civil. While others will commend and appreciate the work that the runner is doing, others will question if there is something more that can be done.
Usually such people will not say what needs to be done. It is like they want the already burdened family member to think of what needs to be done and how it should be done. The runner needs to be monitored, and is usually seen as strong.
Since they do not complain as they go about their duty and role, everyone assumes that all is well.
I saw the two of them seated on the concrete bench in the hospital grounds. They looked alike and I concluded that they could be siblings. The man was eating some buns and the woman held a soft drink.
Gently she rebuked him as he tried to attend to the message that had come through on his cellphone that was between them. It might be important, the man said.
No, the woman argued, she had seen the name on the message alert, and the sender could wait, she said.
The man said he would take her word and continued to munch the buns. He admitted that he was tired, but there was nothing he could do.
He needed to eat quickly he said, he looked at the time on his watch, the results were supposed to be out soon. The woman held out the soft drink to him. He took some gulps.
His mother would beat him for eating so fast, the woman said. He laughed, but not all the strain left his face. He carried heavy responsibilities on his shoulders. He was the “runner” and he just had to ensure that information, medication and test results were moved from one person to the next.
With a month to go to celebrate our heroes, let us be on the lookout for people who simply going about their roles and responsibilities, and in it all being courageous as they get things done.
#365daystoHeroesDay
