Family in flowery cancer fight after loss

05 Jul, 2014 - 23:07 0 Views
Family in flowery cancer fight after loss Mrs Marceline Togara of Shantelle Garden Centre shows the Alysume snow crystal flowers at the centre in Hillside last Thursday. Inset: Mr Victor Hlabangana shows some of the flowers on sale at Shantelle Garden Centre in Hillside.

The Sunday News

Mrs Marceline Togara of Shantelle Garden Centre shows the Alysume snow crystal flowers at the centre in Hillside last Thursday. Inset: Mr Victor Hlabangana shows some of the flowers on sale at Shantelle Garden Centre in Hillside.

Mrs Marceline Togara of Shantelle Garden Centre shows the Alysume snow crystal flowers at the centre in Hillside last Thursday. Inset: Mr Victor Hlabangana shows some of the flowers on sale at Shantelle Garden Centre in Hillside.

DEDICATING a percentage of your income to aid children with cancer is a noble cause that can change the lives of children with the chronic condition and a Bulawayo family has pledged to do that for the rest of their lives.
Mrs Marceline Togara and her husband Mr Stephen Togara have dedicated proceeds of their flower and fruit nursery to Kidzcan Zimbabwe, an organisation which helps children with cancer.

The couple who run Emqameni Lodge in Hillside suburb said they saw it fit to assist children with cancer after losing a child to cancer.
The idea behind the nursery came about after they realised they had a lot of empty space at the back of their lodge.

“I realised there was a lot of empty space in the back yard and we had it cleared. I then decided to start a small nursery where we were nurturing seedlings of flowers and trees in a small greenhouse. Before I knew it, the project had shaped up,” said Mrs Togara.

She said they then cleared a larger space and they now have hundreds of flowers and trees that they are nursing. She said when this project took off she decided to do it for a worthy cause by dedicating 2,5 percent of the proceeds to Kidzcan.

She said the nursery (Shantelle Garden Centre) which is in memory of their late daughter has brought in a lot of hope to the parents and the children themselves who receive a percentage of the proceeds.

Her late daughter who was a Grade 5 pupil at Petra Primary School died from Leukaemia in September 2010 after battling the disease for some years. Shantelle had lymphoblastic leukaemia or acute lymphoid leukaemia (ALL), an acute form of leukaemia or cancer of the white blood cells, characterised by the overproduction of cancerous immature white blood cells.

In an effort to remember those children that were affected by cancer, the Togara family has built gardens in various schools and will have plaques of the children put up in the school halls.

“Shantelle attended Petra primary school and they have given us a portion in front of the library where we have put a flower garden in memory of her and other students who have passed away because of cancer. We are still in consultation with other schools in the city so that we also have flower gardens in memory of deceased students,” added Mrs Togara.

They also have a flower garden at Hillside Premier Hospital.
She said the gardens help in keeping the school children aware that there are some of their fellow school mates who have died from the chronic disease.

The Togara family, devout Christians from the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, said they were happy to be part of such a worthy cause and said they would continue to do this and more.

Mrs Togara said she would like to get space in certain schools to sell some of the plants and flowers from the nursery at the schools so that parents who come to drop their children can simply buy at the school instead of going to the nursery physically.

“We hope to sell the flowers at the schools and send the proceeds to the association. We want to give convenience to the parents who want to buy the flowers so we discovered if we take them to the school it is also a good thing so we are working on that,” said Mrs Togara.

Mr Togara said he and his wife have a passion for flowers that has seen them managing to set up a nursery but he lamented the shortage of land to further the project.

“We have a challenge of space here at the lodge where the nursery is located, our wish is to get a larger piece of land where we can add more fruit trees and raise money for the children in need. The space for the flowers is already limited so if we manage to get larger space for this cause it will be ok,” said Mr Togara.

He said the fruit trees that they want to nurse were also meant to assist small scale farmers who do not have access to a variety of fruit trees in the region.

Mrs Togara said the journey of caring for a child with cancer was not an easy one as there were a lot of expenses that come with the illness.
“Caring for a cancer patient is very expensive. I went through a tough time with my daughter such that now I want to assist other mothers in the same predicament. At times one does not even have food on the table so through our nursery we are contributing all we can so that mothers are assisted,” she said.

She said a few fortunate mothers are able to carry the burden of caring for their relatives with cancer and she had to travel to South Africa for the treatments of her daughter but said not everyone had that opportunity to get treated outside the country.

“I had to take Shantelle to Johannesburg Hospital for treatment as there were limited facilities in Zimbabwe when she fell ill and I am grateful to have had the chance to go there as some parents could not afford that during the days of economic downturn,” she said.

The Togara family wrote to TV international personality Oprah Winfrey and soccer giant Benjani Mwaruwari for assistance when they failed to raise the fees needed for the treatment, but finally got aid from telecommunication mogul Strive Masiyiwa who paid the medical bills for Shantelle.

Mrs Togara said children who live with the illness have to adhere to a strict diet which some families could not afford but with the help they are rendering they said they wished to give the children a better life.

Through groundbreaking research, Kidzcan Zimbabwe is striving to give every child with cancer the treatment they need to survive. Their aim is to cure children with cancer, improve the treatment of children with cancer, develop new treatments and support programmes specifically for children suffering from cancer and to be a source of information about childhood cancer.

Mrs Togara said support groups for mothers who lost children to cancer are also there so as to aid grieving mothers cope with their loss.

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