Meeta hailing from Gonda in Uttar Pradesh, was helping her brother sell peanuts on the streets of Delhi. Affected with ‘schizophrenia’, she had no inkling on how she reached the streets of Guwahati. Rescued by Ashadeep , she recovered sufficiently within six months, and she was re-united with her family in distant Gonda district.
Anjali was a victim of a fraudulent marriage, the newly married husband forced her into prostitution in their rented house at a residential area of Guwahati city. The trauma of such an ordeal took its toll on young Anjali, she started behaving abnormally and at times she was on the streets without any clothes. The neighbors informed the police and the incident was reported in a local news channel. Anjali was rescued by ‘GOLD’, an organization working with trafficked women, but when they realized that she was affected with a mental disorder, she was brought to Navachetana Transit Care in August’07. It took the care staff of Navachetana, nearly eight months to remove the scars of Anjali’s trauma. She was re-united with her family in Upper Assam in April’2008.
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Dipeswari aged about 23 yrs., the eldest of three sisters, revealed that surviving at home without her father who had passed away when she was very young was very difficult. She had a natural skill with the handloom. After honing her weaving skills at Roshmi she was taken back home, were she was supplied with ‘thread’ and others raw-materials required to produce cloth which is used as an ancillary for Seminar File Covers produced at Ashadeep’s Sheltered Workshop. The income generated has helped Dipeswari and her family in meeting their livelihood.
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Kalyani, A permanent fixture of an upper end locality of Guwahati, living on the left-overs of the sumptuous meals,Kalyani’s only company was the crows. Fifty year old Kalyani, has not been able to give us any clue on her antecedents, as she is mentally retarded to some extent. ‘Navachetana’ will perhaps be her home for the rest of her life. Her stay of over a year at Navachetana (Transit Care) did help in regaining limited physical and mental strength, and she was getting involved in the day to day chores at the Shelter. Kalyani was in the first batch of residents transferred to Navachetana (Rehab). Within two months of her stay at the Rehab centre, Kalyani, who earlier could hardly stand up, got employment as a part-time maid at a residence some half a furlong away from Navachetana (Rehab). Today, she attends her workplace regularly on her own, and has also developed the motivation to shop for cosmetics and other requirements.
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Namita, from Hojai district of Assam, was languishing at the Ranchi Mental Hospital for years. The National Human Rights Commission, directed the Government of Assam to take her back home if possible and if not to transfer her to a Rehabilitation home in Assam. She was brought by the Government functionaries to Ashadeep in September’2007. After a stay of seven months at Navachetana, she was re-united with her mother and brother.
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Bhanti, (23 years)was rescued in September’2005 and was reintegrated in February’2006.According to Bhanti’s mother, she had been stable like never before in the past, taking care of her fatherless daughter and helping her mother on the ‘loom’. The mother says “the constant follow ups and continuation of medication has made the difference.” This was not the first time that Bhanti has come back after wandering away from home. As the mother explained “She had disappeared from home twice earlier, we were helpless, even the ojah could not drive away the evil spirits”. This was expected, but in contrast the same mother was not dithered by the stigma of taking back a pregnant Bhanti, after her first disappearance. In February 2008, Bhanti was provided with a Handloom with accessories, Tin for a roof of the weaving area in her house to support her with livelihood generation under a project taken up by Ashadeep with financial help from Central Social Welfare Board, New Delhi. She is being supplied with threads regularly and is producing clothes which are bought by Ashadeep for use in the Sheltered Workshop. This arrangement has helped her add a decent amount in the family income.
