ALI MPHAKI
MALE nurses are a rare breed, and when the news broke that Isaiah Phungwana had died, many of those who knew him were shocked.
Phungwana, 49, had not been well for the past month. He died on Saturday while being ferried to Chris Hani-Baragwanath Academic Hospital.
Born on August 20, 1962 in Central Western Jabavu, Phungwana grew up in Senaoane, where he endeared himself to many because of his empathy and good-heartedness.
Those who knew him have said it did not come as a surprise when he took up nursing in the early 1980s, an act that seemed to confirm that nursing was not just a job to him, but a calling.
Phungwana so much loved his job that he did not mind when his macho friends ridiculed him for his choice of profession. He would tell his friends that for every sick person there had to be a nurse and a doctor to look after them, and that he was merely doing his part in serving the community.
“We all have a role to play in this world, and fate had decreed that I work in the medical profession, albeit as a male nurse,” he would say.
For most of his working life, Phungwana worked at the psychiatric department at Bara.
His family and friends said he would regale them with some of the stories about his patients.
A story he liked to relate involved one instance when he was chased by a psychiatric patient who he thought wanted to assault him. Phungwana ran for dear life but tripped along the way.
While on the ground and expecting the beating of his life, the patient merely touched him to say goodbye.
“He would laugh his lungs out each time he remembered that incident,” his widow Queen told The Star yesterday.
She said that more than anything else, she would remember her husband for his contagious laughter and the loving manner in which he raised his children.
“He was a dedicated husband who loved his children with all his heart. He hated violence, whether physical or emotional, and did not like loud and aggressive people, who he considered to be a vexation to the soul,” added Queen.
Phungwana married Queen in 1999 and they were blessed with three children – two daughters and a son.
He will be buried tomorrow at Avalon Cemetery after a service at his home – 4602 Chiawelo Extension. The service starts at 7am and the cortege will proceed to the cemetery at 9.30am.