Kishna Kumari
Kishna Kumari comes from a remote village in Bihar; approximately 800 miles from Nagpur. Following the disappearance of her 15-year-old son, she became severely depressed and left home.
She can’t recall anything of the intervening months or years, until we found her on the streets 6 years ago. Some women in similar circumstances are be picked up by lorry drivers, abused and then abandon miles from where they’re initially discovered. Or perhaps she caught a train, travelling without a ticket until she was forced to get down at Nagpur station.
The day we found Kishna Kumari she was covered in lice; so much so she’d developed an abscess on her head, which required minor surgery. She was reluctant to communicate and unable to bathe or toilet herself. She seemed lost to the world around her, as well as to herself.
Today Kishna Kumari is well. She earns a small income working on local farmland, and is saving money in the hope that one day she’ll return home.
A problem we often face with illiterate women like Kishna Kumari is that when they travel so far from home, they’re unable to remember anything beyond their village’s name – in India many villages have the same name, which makes our job of tracing their families even harder.
We are however hopeful that one day Kishna Kumari will be reunited with her family; we won't give up until this is achieved. The charity has repatriated many women who’ve been separated from their families; even after being missing for 15 years.
We look forward to sharing the news of Krishna Kumari’s return home soon.