Social worker Christopher was directed to a burn victim in
a poverty-stricken district in Karnataka. The woman had been set ablaze
by her alcoholic husband. A familiar story, but unnerving to actually
see with one's own eyes.
The criminal act was not reported to the police. "After all," the
woman said, "he is the father of my children and I married him against
my parent's wishes." The man had poured kerosene over his wife and set
her alight in a fit of anger when she refused to give him the 25 rupees
he demanded to buy liquor. She had wanted to use the money to pay for
her children's school fees.
The woman's sister, a nurse, supervised her care in hospital. The
woman's chief concern, even in her physical agony, was her children.
Who would look after them if she died ? Christopher knew he had to do
his best to help at least the youngest of her children, a four-year-old
boy. When the team from Shanti Bhavan went to screen children in that
district, They visited the woman who had just been discharged from the
hospital. She tried to hide the burns on her face with the end of her
sari. She was shaky and obviously traumatised. Her husband, seemingly
stricken with remorse, could not believe that he had been spared life
imprisonment because of his wife's pleas and Christopher's intervention.
It so happened that the boy passed the cognitive screening test with
flying colours. His father expressed deep gratitude for the immense
responsibility that Dr. George was going to shoulder for his child.
The parents accompanied their child to Shanti Bhavan a few weeks later.
They were overwhelmed with the facilities and the cordial way in which
they were treated. A couple of months later, when the recruitment team
re-visited the district, the child's father came running to the jeep.
"I know you are taking good care of my son, I do not have to ask," He
said. He became an advocate for Shanti Bhavan in that district. "If
any of the parents give you trouble, I will speak to them," he volunteered.
When the couple returned to Shanti Bhavan months later, we saw to
our amazement that the woman's scars were barely visible. She had been
transformed into an attractive, radiant, prettily dressed young woman.
When the little boy went home for the holidays, he said, "Please don't
fight. I just want you both to be happy." The nuns and priests who minister
to the families in the district told us that the boy's father became
a changed man after his child was admitted to Shanti Bhavan.
