MOTHER LOSES ALL TO THE FLOODS IN BIHAR

A mother of three and happily married for nine years lost everything that mattered to her in just one night. Her life in Bihar State seemed normal until one night in August 2007, when trying to escape the rapidly rising flood waters; her 3 young boys were swept from her arms and perished in the flood. She survived, but because of this tragedy and the fact that she could no longer produce children, her husband divorced her for another

that would bear him more sons. Her families’ occupation was farming. They did not have land of their own, but they would farm on other lands owned by the few landlords that enjoy great financial stability in Bihar. If a person owns a piece of land they are categorised as being above the poverty line. In Bihar, however, most people do not own land and fall under the poverty line. Those who come under the poverty line often try to have lot of offspring, especially boys.

The local people consider that a male member is a blessing to a family as he can work hard from the age of 9 and then carry on the family name. A girl child is considered a burden because when she comes to the age of matrimony, a ransom is to be paid to thegroom called “DOWRY”, which most of the Bihar people are in no position to pay due to the poverty. Life seemed normal and happy for this lady and she was content with her three male kids aged 9, 6 and a 1yr old infant. Her husband loved her a lot and would always praise her for bearing his male children.

In August 2007, the river Ghandak was reaching its maximum level due to the water released from the dams in Nepal , it seemed that the government officials had all in control and that there was no reason for concern, when suddenly there were cries and people shouting – “RUN”. It was in the middle of the night and there was no time to react, and many people began to run in all directions.

Her husband was in another block at the time, while the mother with her three sons were sleeping cozily in their small hutment, when they heard these cries to RUN and they were all alone. As she got out of bed, she felt her leg in water, which was rising with great force. Having no time to react she grabbed her children and slowly proceeded out and into the direction of where the other people were heading. She shouted for help with her children, but with all the commotion and everyone running for their lives, no-one answered her cry. Her progress was slow as she had the 9 year son tugging her garment on her left side, while the 6 yr old son was at her right holding her hand and the one year old son was in her left arm. The waters were soon gushing and moving with a great force, causing her and the children to stumble many times as they moved forward. She soon realized that the waters were raising above her knees and going to engulf the two boy’s , so she tried to move a little more faster and in so doing, the 9 year old lost grip of her garment and was soon washed away in the current, she immediately left her 6 year old son to reach out for the eldest son and causing the 6 year old to loose foot and also get washed away, in all this she reached out hoping to save the two children when the baby in her arms fell into the water. For a moment she still thought she had the child in her arms but when she couldn’t reach out to the other two boys, but was horrified to see and empty swaddle in her arms. Mortified and gripped with fear, she reached beneath her into the torrent of rising water to feel down and around, but the currents was too strong and in the dark of night with no visibility she realised the water had won.

Helplessly she still could hear her two young boys screaming whilst being swept away, while there was no trace of her baby. In a last ditch attempt she threw herself into the water to go after the boys, however she did not know how to swim, and was quickly exhausted. Rescue workers were able to find and save her life after a couple of hours, but could find no trace of any of her three young boys. Her mind and body were quickly overcome by disbelief, confusion and despair and the rescue worker could not subdue her. On top of her great loss she discovered that her husband would disown her because she cannot produce any more children for him, since she had the family planning operation after her third child. Her husband’s intentions are to marry another woman as soon as possible, one that he hopes can bare him more male children. Unfortunately after a short period of time she was taken to a mental asylum as her behavior became violent towards herself and others as she struggled to cope with the horrific tragedy of losing everything.
(Names of the persons are withheld out of respect for those involved)

ADRA India worked with thousands of families like this one, in providing them life saving support as millions of people were displaced without homes, food or income. ADRA India provided 45,000Ltr’s of clean drinking water per day, as well as emergency shelter and life kits that included buckets, tarpaulins, rehydration supplements, soap and antiseptic cream. ADRA India also provided life changing education and training in the areas of water, sanitation and hygiene to the victims of the Bihar floods.