It has been a cruel routine for Nur Abbas Khan who has to wait for darkness, food and the call of the nature to experience freedom. Born in a poor family in Nepalgunj-17, Khan could not receive proper treatment for that started as a simple problem at the age two but turned out to be a serious mental challenge by the age of six.
“We have to chain him unwillingly so that he does not create trouble for the neighbors while we go out for work,” laments his mother Munni. When taken to the Bheri Zonal Hospital at age six, the doctors had told that he could have been treated easily if brought earlier. They said treatment would be costly.
For a landless family with four other children that faces problem in even making ends meet through daily labor of the parents, that was never an option and Khan was left to suffer. The lack of physical activity for 10 years and poor feeding has taken its toll on Khan, whose feet have not developed normally, but he runs away when freed.
“We used to tie him with a rope early on but as he grew up he started to break free and we have been forced to use chain,” his mother explains. It was a little better when his elder sister used to take care of him while the parents were away but since her marriage four years ago things have become worse.
The government and non-government organizations spend millions of rupees in the name of children but Khan has been left neglected. His illiterate parents do not know how to get such assistance.
Having been tied for the better part of the last 10 years, Khan savors freedom and basks in his moment of glory while freed for even a short while. But that long-cherished permanent freedom remains a distant dream in lack of financial assistance.
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