Surviving all Odds: The Story of Rati
Ten-month-old Rati came to SOS Children’s Village Shillong in India when she was just two weeks old. She was extremely malnourished and severely sick. It was a miracle that she had survived long enough to even make it to our Village.
Rati was born in Jaintia Hills, a very poor village in Meghalaya, a state in the North-Eastern part of India that is prone to terrorist attacks. The people of Meghalaya are constantly haunted by the fear that chaos and violence will soon strike. Jaintia Hills is located about 200 km away from the closest city. The only way to reach the city is by foot.
Rati’s mother died immediately after her birth, leaving Rati to the care of her father and other relatives. The family lives in abject poverty. They eat just one meal a day – and even that is not guaranteed. They mostly survive on maize stored throughout the year (maize is cultivated in the area since it can be acquired at low cost and yields quite a large crop).
The family was unable to feed the baby. Rati who had to survive on water and some vegetable juice fell sick with severe diarrhoea. A counsellor from SOS Children’s Village Shillong happened to visit Jaintia Hills and found the baby in a terrible condition. “When I saw Rati for the first time she was very small, malnourished and it seemed as if she would collapse anytime. I immediately took the baby with me and hospitalized her,” he recalls.
After one week of hospitalisation Rati showed signs of improvement. The village director contacted her father but he refused to take the baby back. “I have nothing to give to my daughter. If she is brought up at the SOS Children’s Village she can go to school and have a good life,” said the father.
During the following months, Rati turned into the healthiest and most charming child in the entire Children’s Village. She is a passionate ‘crawler’ and has already learned to stand up by holding on to a table. She has also started uttering a few words like “ouch”, “mama” and “papa”. “Rati is everyone’s darling. She is the centre of attention in the family. All the kids are extremely fond of her”, says her SOS mother.
