In autumn 1986 we received a message of a befriended social worker at Mysore that a small girl had been found, who was not accepted by any of the local institutions. She was not in a position to keep the child for any length of time, nor anyone of her friends. It was self-understood that we accepted the child.

The child was seriously sick with swollen limbs and joints, additionally she soon fell sick with measles and was in a serious condition for several weeks. This small girl whom we judged as 4 years of age tolerated all her pains with a remarkable self control, in full peace which was very unusual for such a small person.

As a 'found child' she had to be notified to the police and other government authorities, as the government of the State is the patron of all found children. Consequently, she would have to be handed over to a State Home, but through the advice of a lawyer, we were made aware of special rules for exceptional cases, which we should claim to be applied. This procedure lasted for more than a year. At that point of time we were asked to publish the “case” in the different media, which we did instantaneously. Among many visitors a young woman, accompanied by a local pastor, came to us who claimed that her child by name Geetha – which was incidentally also the name of our child – was with us, and she demanded her child back. Now our Geetha had been playing around us all the time without taking any notice of the young woman, but all of a sudden she put her head in the lap of the visitor and called her “Mummy”. The mother, an illiterate lady, who lived around 300 kms away, had been made aware of our advertisement by other people in the household where she worked, thus found her child after 1 ¾ years of separation in the huge continent of India. As Geetha had run away from an orphanage where she was staying at that time, we also got mother and child identified by the staff of that institution. But there was no doubt about the identity of the two. Only the judge of the juvenile court had to be convinced still. For the next hearing we appeared with a huge number of witnesses, yet the procedure was very short. The child was asked who the young woman was (pointing to the mother of the child) and Geetha replied “Mummy”. Then with a view to Mrs. Mundhra, the Director of the Home, she was asked the same question to which Geetha replied “Mama”. Then the judge asked an unexpected question “And with whom do you want to stay?” We all missed a heart beat, but Geetha instantaneously replied “Mama”. This created a sensation in the court. Never before had a child decided in favour of the institution, but our Geetha did just that. Nevertheless the child was restored to the biological mother who had not forfeited her right of care for the child. But as the mother had been deserted by her husband soon after the delivery and had no means to look after her child she was very happy to leave her daughter in a place where the child was happy. Like this we were over happy to have our Geetha back.

Geetha developed well, but always remained sort of closed up and revealed an usual capacity of silent tolerance, whenever she fell sick.

At the age of 14 she all of a sudden developed swellings in the face. She had an inflammation of the kidneys. In spite of immediate treatment by a nephrologist the inflammatory process did not subside, but became a chronic disease. Geetha had to submit herself to a strict diet, which was very hard for her, but all that did not help: After two years the shrinking process of the kidneys had advanced to the degree that she had to be put on dialysis, initially twice, then three times per week. This was a real martyrdom for a young girl who could not even attend school regularly due to her illness. The only hope was to have a kidney transplant some time. Her mother had a different blood group and could not be used as a donor. So she just had to wait for a cadaver kidney.

On December 9 th 1999 there was a call from the hospital to inform that a kidney was available. Geetha’s blood and tissue tests were matching with the donor kidney and so Geetha was chosen to be the lucky recipient. The post operative pains were excessive, she had to bear all this by herself, as none of us was allowed near her, but her happiness was extreme, as she was after all free and independent of a machine and the restrictive diet, which had throttled her joy of life immensely. Yet her happiness was to last for just nine days. Her body did not accept the new kidney, higher and higher doses of immune suppressive medicines had to be given to suppress the rejection reaction of her body, but again nothing helped. The new kidney gradually gave in and Geetha had to go back to the dialysis.

Bitter and disheartening as all these experiences were, Geetha usually remained happy and content. She obviously still hopes for a wonder, maybe another kidney. We also strongly supported this hope, as we wanted to save our Geetha from a life dependency on a machine. Therefore we registered her name again for a new transplant.

In between Geetha, however, was infected with Hepatitis C from the dialysis machines, and this virus infection forbids any use of immune suppressive medicines. Consequently another kidney transplant is out of all possibilities.

Geetha’s life is an unimaginably cruel fate for any normal person. She cannot in all likelihood hope for an own family, but has to find her fulfilment in other areas of life. With an iron will power she managed to complete her schooling successfully in spite of regular dialyses. Subsequently she attended a computer course for accountancy to obtain the basic knowledge for the post of an accountant/secretary. Type writing she had already learnt during her school years.

Due to her timings on the dialysis three times a week, Geetha would not be in a position to keep regular office timings in any organisation. Therefore it was decided long ago that we would employ Geetha in our school as a secretarial clerk cum accountant as long as she would be in a position to work. She is over happy about this offer and extremely grateful for this assurance, which gives her a centre for her life. Especially happy she is about the support which she receives from the Director, Mr. Anand, who supports her like a fatherly friend in whatever way he can. In this way she feels a great security and well meaning from the people around her.

Over the years Geetha also found great solace and support in a church group which she attends regularly. With this outlook on life she is facing her life with courage and determination. As a sign of her great gratitude towards the Shishu Mandir she also supports one Shishu Mandir Child financially.

Her story is a tale beyond imagination.