Update on the Invisible Woman

Because so many of you asked, I thought I'd offer what little information I have about the woman in my previous post:

After I left her that day, I checked back to see where she was and she had already gone. One of the workers had called a vikram for her (a sort of auto-rickshaw/car) and she and her baby had vacated the premises. My understanding is that after I helped her, the other workers got together and collected some money for her as well. One man held her baby for a moment...

I think they felt ashamed of not helping her sooner, and in the end, they did what they could do, albeit somewhat too late. I feel quite sure that I won't ever see this woman and her children again, so I doubt I'll ever know the ending to this story. But one man mentioned that her husband had taken their two-year-old son to stay with some of his relatives.

I asked my Hindi teacher for his take on the whole situation. He said that these kinds of incidences are far too common in India. Women have very little recourse in this society and they are extremely vulnerable if their husbands are not kind. And, unfortunately, many are not kind.

He said that the woman would probably go to her husband's family and find him. His prayer is that the two would be reconciled and live together again. Without that, this woman will be open to all kinds of physical, emotional and financial harm. Of course, our ultimate prayer is that this entire family will receive the only kind of help that has an eternal impact. Maybe you'd like to ask for that, too.

Thanks for caring.