[Translation of an article originally carried in the AAN newsletter “YUI” No. 20, May 10, 2005]

by: Sachie Tushima

Dear Shahida ,

It was in October last year, about eight months ago , that I met you last. I remember I visited Samta at that time to provide you with some medicine at the request of Aklima , our Patient Support Coordinator. You interrupted me when I was having a chat with other villagers and took me behind the house to beg some money. I knew you could not afford a day's meal and readily gave you about Tk.150 in notes of small amounts that could be easily used in the village . You did not say “Thank you” but I could recognize , and still remember clearly, your face flashed with a feeling of relief.

You were a round young mother with two children when I saw you first in May 1997. Though you certainly had skin lesions characteristic to arsenicosis such as melanosis and keratosis and your feet were swollen with oedema , too, you looked fine then . I guess you were young enough to protect yourself from arsenic attacking your body.

Along with you I met with Shawkat Aki; do you remember? He was very thin and his body was covered with black spots ( melanosis ) and white spots ( lu e ko-melanosis ). His tummy was swollen, too, suggesting that he was suffering from hepatomegaly . He died from liver cancer in October 2002. Shahida , how much you were frightened with the departure of Shawkat Aki, I would never know.

As you know , until AAN installed a pond sand filter ( PSF ) in Samta in January 1999, you and your neighbors had been drinking tube well water that contained a high amount of arsenic. Near your house live many patients like Rezaul and his family, Mrs. Fulsurat , Rashida , Daud Ali , four Nur brothers , and others. When a survey team of Miyazaki University examined in March 1 997 , the arsenic concentration of that particular tube well was 1.37mg/L. Can you imagine? In Bangladesh the permissible level of arsenic in drinking water is set at 0.05 mg/L. You had been drinking, therefore, “poison water” so to speak.

You were hospitalized at the Y amagata Dhaka Friendship H ospital (YDFH) in Dhaka in the summer of 2000 for the first time. I remember it well because it was a several months after AAN opened its office in Dhaka renting a room at the hospital. I remember it well because I was surprised to see you holding a baby while you u s ed t o say: “My husband abandoned me and is living with another women.”

Shahida , in fact, these is something else which surprised me even more. One day you came to our office with Shahin , the baby . When I was holding him in my arms, Shahin had a pee. Having seen it, you just kept laughing and laughing without paying attention to my wet hand and dress , without wiping water spilt on the floor , and without a word of apology. You may not understand why I was surprised, though.

Your feet remained swollen and coughs never stopped even in hospital. It appeared however after a few weeks you recovered a little bit of strength from good food of plentiful rice and meat and vegetable curries, along with good rest. Then you became tired of staying in hospital and went back to Samta in spite of the order of Dr. Ekhlasur to stay in hospital.

Shahida , you repeated such hospitalization almost every other year, didn't you? Access to safe drinking water clearly reduced your black spots on the skin, but I noticed that you were getting thinner and thinner. Your respiratory disorders further deteriorated and you were put in the state to always keep a portable oxygen inhaler with you. It was only when I received the sad news of you r passing away on 26 February this year that I came to know you had been suffering from lung fibrosis and that the disease could not be treat ed in Bangladesh.

“I didn't need medicine. I want food,” you appealed to Dr. Akhtar of NIPSOM at one of the medical examinations AAN organized in Smata .   With three children to feed, without any financial support from your husband , it must have been extremely hard for you to find something to eat every day. It was not difficult for me to give you some money, but I knew it would help you only temporarily. In fact, I wanted to sit with you to discuss together the way for a women to earn her living in a village. But, it is too late for you now. The thing is, it was not an easy issue, with so many people of economic condition similar to yours.

Shahida , I am pleased to tell you that as per your last words your son Shahin (5) has been accepted by the orphanage run by Dr. Ekhlasur 's family , and that, together with his brother Tuhin (12). It was because your eldest son , Belal (20), was worried that Shahin would cry if he was separated alone. In mid-April, both boys came to AAN's office in Dhaka prior to their journey to the orphanage in Fenua village, Monohorganj Upazila, Commilla district. We offered them lunch. Tuhin was nicely looking after Shahin by mixing rice and dal soup or smashing an egg for Shahin on his plate. I was very impressed to see how kind and gentle you had brought up your children.

Mr. Abdul Razzak , the children's father and your ex- husband, wrote a letter to the orphanage asking to accommodate the two boys. He first explained in the letter that he could not afford to bring them up financially and then asked for good education to them. Shahida , he played his role as father well. Don't you think?

Tuhin and Shahin will be moving to Fenua in Commilla district, far east of the country , from Samta in Jessore district, far west of the country. They will have to face different climate, different customs and different characters of people from those of Samta.   Needless to say about their new environment of an orphanage. Hopefully, they will enjoy meeting new brothers there and learn many things to become honorable Bangladeshis, which is Dr. Ekhlasur's wish and , I guess, your wish , too.