Mangalore: An Aged Mother’s Saga of Caring for Mentally Challenged Offspring
Daijiworld Media Network—Mangalore (RS/CN)
Mangalore, Nov 4: It is perhaps the fate of an elderly mother to spend her life caring for four mentally challenged children. The 70-year-old woman refuses to lose faith and hopes that one day someone will help them all.
Sarojini has spent over four decades looking after three of her children and a grandchild. A small house near Bolor Sulthan Battery is the only asset in her name and even that is being disputed by her own relatives and a court case is on in the matter.
Of her six children, four were born mentally challenged. Her eldest daughter Yogini passed away at the age of 48, while second daughter Yashoda (46), son Jagadeesha (43) and daughter Shobha (42), require her constant care.
Her youngest daughter Laxmi died at the age of 19. Her son Raghuveer’s child, who is 13 years of age, is also mentally challenged.
Raghuveer works in a plywood factory and has to shoulder all the financial responsibilities of his family. Given his limited income, he has difficulty meeting even essential medical expenses.
He has to resort to borrowing or just go without fulfilling the requirement.
Sarojini lost her husband 35 years ago and since then she has single-handedly taken care of the whole family which lives in the ancestral house situated on four cents of land. She has spent a lot of money trying to get her children rehabilitated, but there has been no success.
As the years pass, old age is making it hard for her to take up any kind of work. She needs help from others.
The newspaper ‘Jayakirana’ has contributed three years of rice for the family through its owner Prakash K Pandeswar.
Account details:
Sarojini,
Appi compound
Sulthan Battery Road,
Kallav, Mangalore.
Telephone: 0824-6558086
Account number- 01872030000964
Ashok Nagar branch, Syndicate bank.