20-year-old Mehrin (name changed) had no idea when she went to collect water that morning with her young son that her life was about to change forever.
Although he had been harassing her for some time, she was surprised to see her estranged husband sitting beside the water tap, a can in hand. The moment he saw Mehrin, he grabbed her and threw the can and its contents over her.
Within seconds she was on fire – and so was he.
Mehrin’s face, neck, back and arms were badly burnt. Hearing her screams, neighbours came running and arranged to take her and her husband to hospital. He died but she survived and was discharged after her burns were treated.
Mehrin lives in Hastings slum, a very deprived community which is served by CR’s street medicine teams.
The team immediately started dressing her wounds and providing medication and nutrition for her and her family. They also provided counseling for Mehrin and her two and a half year old son who was completely traumatised.
The family also received food packets from Project Arpan, the massive feeding programme led by Calcutta Rescue. She’s being monitored daily by one of CR’s community health workers. Mehrin continues to improve but follow up and dressing need to be continued for a few more months till she has fully recovered.
Susmita, the supervisor of Street Medicine 1 – “We are glad that we were able to start supporting Mehrin as soon as she was out of hospital. She badly needed mental health support. I feel really bad about the child who had to witness the whole thing. But good news is he is now responding to the mental health counselling. We are hoping that he will be able to speak and play around normally soon.”
Mehrin’s mother said, “I am thankful to Calcutta Rescue for providing so much support to us.”
