Abject poverty drags girl out of school
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, July 03 2016:
With both her parents suffering from chronic illnesses, a young girl Chan-chan (name changed) has given up formal education and is working as a wage earner.
Chanchan is the eldest of three siblings born to Soibam Chaoba and Soibam (O) Memcha of Khoijuman Mayai Leikai.
Hit hard by abject poverty which has been only made worse by the illness of both her parents, Chanchan has been bearing all the burden of the family on her young shoulder.
Compelled to give up formal education, she has been struggling all day just to keep the kitchen fire burning and send her younger siblings to school.
For Chanchan, the joy of childhood has been literally nipped in the bud.
Soibam Chaoba (63) has been suffering from complete body paralysis since a year back and he is still bed-ridden.
His wife, Memcha, on the other hand, had calculi in both her kidneys.
After pooling in all their money and resources, calculi deposited in one kidney was removed through surgical operation but the calculi in the other kidney is still there.
Even as doctors have recommended another surgical operation to remove the calculi, Memcha is still unable to go ahead as she has no money.
With both her parents unable to earn any income, Chanchan gave up formal education after studying up to Class XII.
Now she is doing all kinds of odd jobs just to keep the kitchen fire burning and send her younger brother and sister to school.