25/01/2026
My dad's Silent battles, how I helped him
Struggles of his humanity and my role as daughter in trying to help him to overcome
One night while I was out with my dad, on one of the many travels with him for medical treatment, my father, a man I had always seen as strong, calm and unshaken, woke up, sat down and seemed so troubled, and restless. He told me something I never expected to hear, Mara I am sorry my daughter to tell you this. You have sacrificed so much for me with your energy and youth. I have spent so much trying to stay alive. The local public hospitals let me down. I am here struggling with you my sweetheart. I am financially drained and exhausted. I just feel like ending my life so that you can move on and I will stop the financial bleeding in the family. Death will solve everything. Those words, revealed something deeper, something I had never seen in my father.
That night, he told me my daughter, I also fight battles.
It had never crossed my mind before. As a child, To me, he was always the man who led, who stood firm, who never let anything break him down. But that night, I saw a different side of him, a man carrying burdens no one else could see. I turned on the lights , I sat down besides him, and he told me, the weight of life and sickness, the pain, and the struggles inside him were too much for him to bear. And just wanted to escape by dying
I didn’t know how and what to say. I felt like advising him that there was no need for that and that God would see him through it all. I just felt like telling him that he didn’t have to carry all the burdens alone because I was there with him and whole family and above all, God was there. But instead, God gave me the ability to sit there, and listened to him using the Skil he had taught me over the years. I thought maybe, just maybe, for the first time, that’s what he needed, not advice, not judgment, just someone to listen to him about his pain, concerns and struggles
On that day I was born again socially and spiritually,because I came to a profound and sombre realization that people fight battles we may never understand and know. Sometimes, even the strongest ones have scars hidden beneath their silence. My father has been a leader in society, a social worker, a charity worker, an evangelist, a helper to the vulnerable, a man respected by many who Saw him as their savior, but his humanity came to the fore. He carries struggles just like the rest of us, but the world expected him to stand tall, to be unshaken and to be the anchor unto himself
That night changed something in me. It made me see him beyond the role of a father, beyond the expectations placed on him. It made me realize that sometimes, the strongest people need saving too. On that day I became his friend, helper, counselor and companion beyond being simply a daughter, caregiver and nurse. On that day my youth ended because I had to grow up because my dad needed me. The man who has helped thousands now needed a helper. The man who helped the vulnerable was now himself vulnerable. I felt the weight fall on my shoulders to Carry him
I didn't tell him that he was not alone in his battles or that he didn't have to fight alone- I just stood with and fought with him in action. Action spoke louder
My dad has attempted su***de 5 times. But because I was near enough, I have, by the grace of God, helped him live
To you the readers : I hope and pray you win your silent battles in life : ). But I also hope and pray you help someone to win their battles in life:).by being there for them
For who knoweth, maybe you are in someone's life for such a time as they maybe experiencing
Author
Mara moyo
