Barso: a silent cry…
Hasanthi Jayamaha
Little
Barso (3) sits by the gunny bag trying to move the two stones onit. Her thin little hands have no
strength to lift them like her sister. Theseare the stones that her elder sister Lakshmi uses, to
crush wheat and give herand her other siblings to eat.
I sit by
Barso and greet her. She takes a slow glance at me and returnsher eyes to the gunny bag. She seems
neither amused nor bothered by thepresence of a stranger.
I search
for expressions on her little face. Nothing seems to troubleher, not even the fly that sits in the
inner corner of her eye. I flap it awaybut it returns and she gives no response to me or to the
flies.
Barso is a
replica of almost every child in Lakshmipura village, Baran. Protrudingbelly, thin hands and legs
and expressionless faces are common to them.
Located in
the malnutrition belt of India Lakshmipura is a home to acommunity of daily-waged labourers caught
up in the labyrinth of poverty.
“If
there’s no work, there’s no food,” says Barso’s mother, “I have tofind work in the fields or cut
firewood for selling. My eldest daughter stayshome and looks after the younger
ones.”
With
poverty feasting on the community, large families, lack of food andclean water and severely
malnourished children paint the picture ofLakshmipura. Their life is even made harder by the
prevailing drought which hasdestroyed the crops putting them out of work.
Exhausted
by a fight to survive and with lack of knowledge, the communityhas become numb to the basic needs of
their children. Child deaths have becometoo common for them to cry.
“Most of these child deaths are not directly
due to malnutrition, butmalnutrition certainly is the root cause of it,” says Dr. Amul
Natal“Malnutrition decreases a child’s immunity and the child can succumb to asimple illness such as
cold or fever.”
“Most of
these children experience malnutrition right from their time inthe womb, due to malnutrition
conditions of the mother. And the mother’s malnutritionbegins during her adolescence. It’s like a
cycle,” he says.
“Lack of
health awareness, lack of nutritious food intake, mythssurrounding mother and child…all these
contribute to malnutrition,” says thedoctor.
Barso is
the fourth in a family of five girl children with three of themin 3rd and 4th
grade malnutrition conditions.
“I had
another daughter, but she died,” says Barso’s mother, “I don’tknow the actual cause of her death. I
couldn’t even take her to a doctor.”
“I am
worried about my youngest child too. She keeps crying through thenight. She doesn’t eat or drink
anything. She only takes breast milk. But afterI feed her in the morning she has to wait till
evening when I come back. I amworried if there’s something wrong with my milk that she seems so
unwell,” shesays.
“I took her to our village doctor andhavealreadt
spent Rs. 300/- (USD 7.0) for the past three months but she is notgetting any better. The doctor
said she is very weak,” she adds.
Barso
stands up slowly from the gunny bag when she sees Lakshmi. Lakshmi putssome wheat seeds on the gunny
bag and begins to crush them with the stones.Until their mother gives them something to eat, she
would feed the youngersiblings with crushed wheat grains.
I hold
Barso’s hand before I leave her presence. Her body temperature ishigh and her hand is very warm, so
light and fragile. She looks at me andreturns her eyes to the floor. I hold her hand for a long time
and she lets me.
I can’t
bridge the gap between us and for once I am helpless andmotionless before a child.
Barso is
denied of her basic rights.
She
doesn’t know she has a right to food, a right to clean water, a rightto healthcare and moreover… a
right to the fullness of life.
But I
do.
She holds
my hand…I hold her voice.
The
‘village doctors’ in most of the poverty stricken areas of Indiahave no qualifications in medicine. They buy common
drugs for cold and feverfrom the town and sell it to the community when they bring a sick child.
