At first she found it hard to tell her relatives and friends that she worked at an old people’s home, taking care of the elderly.
HAZVINEI MWANAKA
She would lie that she worked at a nearby school as a secretary like most of her peers did at the time.
Today 58-year-old Constanzia Severino Mkize is among the few who have dedicated their lives to supporting the aged at Society for the Destitute Aged (Soda) in Highfield.
Never one to shirk from responsibility, Constanzia is a passionate worker, carrying the burden of looking after the elderly on her shoulders.
She has touched the lives of many at the home. The elderly at the home see her not only as the matron, but as a daughter and granddaughter.
Having been at the home for 28 years, Constanzia started working there when she was just 30 years old on August 26 1986 as a general worker until in 1988 when she graduated to be a matron, a position she still holds.
She smiles wistfully as she walks down memory lane, narrating the events that led her to the job 28 years ago. And one can easily notice the transformation in her eyes, which are already becoming watery.
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“A friend of mine, George Charambarara, introduced me to Soda when he was still the chairman. It was a male-dominated environment, so there was need for a female worker, especially for hygiene purposes. This is when the opportunity came and I have never looked back.
“I didn’t have the courage to tell my family and friends of my new job. I was afraid they would discourage me. So I just lied that I worked at a nearby school as a secretary, until I invited them one day,” she said.
“To my surprise,” she added, “my friends were very supportive and they actually encouraged me to continue with the job, a responsibility I still cherish,” she said.
A holder of a higher level Foundation in Business Studies and a Red Cross certificate from St John’s Ambulance, Constanzia said she has always dreamt of being a nurse.
“We used to go to a nearby hospital when I was a kid with my friends. I mostly admired nurses’ uniforms and badges, but I didn’t know that God had other plans for me,” she added. Constanzia believes her job was God-given.
“My grandmother used to say I was different from her other grandchildren, and there was something special within me and I only realised that when I was at Soda,” said Constanzia.
She said being a matron comes with a cocktail of challenges as every day comes with its own different challenges, meeting different people with diverse characters which requires that she be accommodative.
“The elderly take me as their granddaughter as I am friendly to them. I also treat them as my own parents.
“They used to say to me, ‘you will never have another book of life besides us’, and that I was supposed to learn from them.
Actually, they have taught me a lot about life,” she added. Constanzia added that even though she is the matron, she performs different tasks at the home from being a general worker right to supervising.
“I got the promotion because I can do any kind of work here, such as cleaning toilets. As a worker, I do anything that concerns the elderly here,” said Constanzia.
As advice to those who aspire to work at old people’s homes, Constanzia said one has to be dedicated and have the zeal to care for older people.
“As they say, ‘charity begins at home’. One has to start by showing love to their own parents before trying to show respect to the elderly here. To be an effective carer, you should be someone who is willing to share your love with the aged. As you know, old people change their moods, at times they act like children and you just have to be patient and adjust to their ways,” she said.
On people who forsake their parents, Constanzia said there is no good reason for one to act that way.
“At times we just have to put ourselves in their shoes. when one gets older they need special care and that has to come from their own children before other people chip in because nobody knows how much they suffered to raise their own children.
“Just give them what you have and even if it is a little, it matters to them,” she said.
Constanzia said true to her earlier dreams, she is still practising nursing.
“I am still using the skills that I acquired during training at Red Cross. I can dress wounds and take care of other less serious ailments. However, when one gets sick, we ferry them to hospital and we use the prescription from doctors. We always make sure that they take their medication on time,” she added.
Nonetheless, she said that despite being the veteran she is, she also faces challenges in the day-to-day running of the home.
“As we all know, older people have contrasting personalities and at times they quarrel so as their supervisor I have to be in between and try to settle their differences amicably.
“Some let go easily, but others take time. They need to be understood,” Constanzia said.
John Waneta (62), one of Constanzia’s co-workers who started working at Soda in 1989 — three years after Constanzia commenced her duties — was unreserved in his praise of her.
“We relate very well. We do not have a boss-worker relationship, but she is actually like a sister to me. She is very passionate about her work and as long we work with her, we definitely know that older people here are in safe hands,” he gushed.
John Ndiwo (78), one of the elderly people at Soda, said Constanzia is a loving woman who shares with them what she has. “We have never slept on an empty stomach, she makes sure even the little we have, we share. She is like a granddaughter to us but as for me, she is like a mother to me,” he said.
Married and a mother of four, Constanzia said in her spare time she is usually in the garden at Soda or with family and visiting friends and relatives, a lesson she said she learnt from the home; the importance of family and friends.
As a parting shot, she recalled inspiring words that she got from a certain lady who was once a beneficiary at the home.
“Though she is late now, her words are still vivid in my mind. She used to say, ‘prepare your life, prepare for tomorrow, in life you have to plan while you are still able, save money and do not be wasteful,” she said.
