SINDHU

Sindhu is a mother of five, three boys and two girls. She lives with her family on their farm in Shendi, a neighboring village to Pimpalgaon-Malvi (where the Meher Free Dispensary is located). Sindhu makes the trip down the paved highway and small dirt roads to the Dispensary each month.

One morning, during last year’s monsoon (rainy season, averaging four months every year), Sindhu was walking with her cattle when a cow picked up and ran away. She panicked and quickly jumped, giving chase. While running after her cow, she slipped going over a pile of loose, damp sugarcane leaves. She fell, hurting her back.
At first she wasn’t sure if it was serious enough to mean going to a doctor, but during the months that would follow, she began developing a sore knee while attempting to compensate for her back pain. Sindhu decided to see a doctor, finally, and, after hearing good things about the Dispensary from neighbors and, given its nearby location, she was ready to accept that she needed some help.

Her decision wasn’t easy–farming and cattle demand unyielding, daily efforts and attention. But, with her family’s support, she joined the line of patients pouring out of the doors at the Dispensary, which now sees as many as 200 patients daily, Monday through Friday, every week. For Sindhu, this was all six months ago. She is now on the recovery road and looking forward to the next field of pomegranates to plant and daily walks with her cattle–provided they don’t get too far away any time soon!