“I don’t like talking about my life, I just don’t know what to say,” says Sister Lungiswa Somyalo. But despite these reservations, she opened up her office for an hour while she recounted her life story and the people she has helped through her 36 years of nursing.
“I don’t like talking about my life, I just don’t know what to say,” says Sister Lungiswa Somyalo. But despite these reservations, she opened up her office for an hour while she recounted her life story and the people she has helped through her 36 years of nursing.
Her gentle face had a welcoming smile as she led us in. Somyalo’s last day of nursing will be 30 April. “I need a change.
I’m still healthy and young, and there are certain things which I’d like to do while I still can,” she said. Somyalo was born in Port Elizabeth where she attended primary school and went on to attend Cowan Secondary and Lovedale High in Alice.
She did her training at Livingstone Hospital from 1968 until 1973. “Back then, trained nurses were called staff nurses. The trend has changed now we’re referred to as professional nurses or sisters,” says Somyalo.
Her first job was in a day hospital at Kwazakhele Day Hospital in PE. The concept of day hospitals was quite new then and all nurses were required to go to Cradock for training in primary healthcare.
Somyalo explains that this was also something new, and the training was intended to help them cope with working in a day hospital without doctors.
This included taking down the medical history of patients and diagnosing and prescribing medication. Although this was all totally different to the training she had received at Livingstone, Somyalo says that she values the exposure which she received on the job.
“We encountered different kinds of ailments such as measles, pellagra, severely malnourished babies and children with kwashiorkor.
You seldom see that these days,”she said. Somyalo was then transferred to Dora Nzinga Hospital and while working there she completed her Bachelor of Nursing Science degree through Unisa as well as a Diploma in Primary Healthcare.
After spending several years at Dora Nginza, Somyalo went into occupational health care nursing. She worked at PG Auto Glass before opening a clinic in Mthatha for Coca- Cola employees.
She moved to Grahamstown with her husband in 2000 and worked for the Rhodes University Sanatorium – which is now known as the Health Care Centre.
“I really enjoyed the contact with the students. I met students from all walks of life while I was working at the San.” Then finally, she applied for the job that she has been doing for seven years now, as the Assistant Director of Primary Healthcare in Grahamstown.
“My job has been the management and administration of primary healthcare services to ensure effective service delivery and smooth functioning of the clinics,” she said.
In between these tasks, Somyalo has also had to deal with the budget and make sure that they receive all the necessary funds from government.
Somyalo went on to tell us that she and a group of nurses trained in geriatrics in PE had started Ekuphumleni Home for the Aged in 1984, which was a huge feat and an even bigger challenge to sustain with little support.
But in time she said it grew with the help of the Rotary Club, the Seventh Day Adventistand various community members.
The home was supported by Dora Nginza Hospital and a nurse and a doctor checked on the residents at least once a month. “I have a soft heart for old people.
They are the ones who have made us who we are, we should look after them, respect and treat them with dignity,” she said.
She feels that it is now time to retire and do all the things in her life which she has never had time to do. One of those things is drawing.
“I love drawing, I even started classes with Sally Scott once but because I always leave the office late, I had to stop going. But I will definitely pick it up again,” she said.
She would also love to start sewing again as she’s keen to keep busy. “I would never be able to sit and do nothing at home – I’d be so bored!” she said.
Somyalo is also very sure that travelling is on the cards in the future. “My husband and I are travelling to Egypt sometime in May. I am very excited about that,” she said.
Although Somyalo’s nursing days are over, she has no regrets. “Even in my second life, I’d be a nurse. You don’t have to be in a clinic or hospital to help people,” she finished.
