My extended relatives avoid me and tell me I can't do anything to earn money because of my health condition. But I know I can. - Ms Kesaia Nawalu
30-year-old Kesaia Nawalu is a mother of two girls ages 9 and 7. She was born and raised in Suva where she first met her husband. Then they decided to move to Ba Town in 2013 and now reside in Clopcott.
According to World Health Organization, epilepsy is a chronic noncommunicable disease of the brain that affects around 50 million people worldwide. It is characterized by recurrent seizures, which are brief episodes of involuntary movement that may involve a part of the body (partial) or the entire body (generalized) and are sometimes accompanied by loss of consciousness and control of bowel or bladder function.
It is said that about 1 percent of the Fiji Islands population is affected by this health disease.
Ms Nawalu was never born with epilepsy. She only began experiencing epileptic seizure after giving birth to her first daughter.
Whenever I ask for treatment, doctors at the hospital only give me Panadol.
The initial news was difficult for her mother to accept, which made their relationship distant for 3 months. However, they managed to mend their mother-daughter relationship upon visiting her granddaughter for the first time.
On the other hand, Ms Nawalu's siblings and father emotionally accepted her new health condition without hesitation.
I'm thankful for my husband. He never left me or cheated on me despite knowing I have epilepsy. My mother taught me screen-printing. I used to help her before she passed away. After seeing me try to sell my screen-printed sulus, my husband encouraged me to attend business trainings.
She lost her front two teeth while she was experiencing an epileptic seizure two years ago. She bit on a roti rolling pin inbetween her mouth. The next day her teeth began to crack and after two weeks it began paining so she visited a dentist to have one pulled out.
It only happens to me when I sleep at night. It takes months until I experience another epileptic seizure. It takes me about two days to recover after an epileptic seizure.
Ms Nawalu hopes that discrimination against those that have epilepsy can stop. More awareness programs on epilepsy should be made so people can be aware that it isn't due to witchcraft. She wants to be treated like any other normal person.
She earnestly wants to make use of her talent and passion to help her husband look after their two daughters.
Ms Nawalu sells 2-meter designed sulus for $15; and she also does cut out designs on x-ray sheets that she sells for $5 and $10 depending on the size. If you would like to place an order, you can reach out to her on Facebook, Casey Joe.
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