Wheelchair-bound Bukelwa Cobinka, 65, says she has been left stranded in bed by flooding in Kosovo.
Following more than a week of heavy rains across the city, a 65-year-old wheelchair-bound Kosovo woman says flooding in the shanty town has swamped her leaky two-room shack and left her confined to bed.
Bukelwa Cobinka, who is cared for by a daughter, says she has been stranded in bed because she can’t move into her wheelchair.
She says she has to relieve herself in a container that her daughter then cleans.
Weeping silently, she describes feeling like a prisoner in her home with its leaky roof and water-damaged belongings.
"I fear that I will develop bedsores for always being in bed. The entire house is covered with water and I cannot move from the bed, and I cannot get in my wheelchair. The wheelchair cannot move here also because of this water.
“I honeslty feel sad and angry. I'm going to die in this bed. I'm appealing to anyone who can help me to please extend a helping hand.
“I registered for a house over two decades ago, and I'm still waiting for the day that I will get a house.”
She had been stuck in her shack during a previous fire in the settlement and had almost died, but fortunately her neighbours had heard her cries for help, she said.
‘’They rescued me and on that day. I thought it was my last day on this ruthless earth.“
Community leader Mzwethemba Gulwa said a senior citizen should not have to live in such conditions, and he appealed to the government to help her.