Vulnerability

Stories of marginalised populations should be told and not silenced. The lesson from their experience is the importance of handling social vulnerabilities. 

Between the Mountain and the Sky is a true story of orphaned children in war-torn Nepal. It's sad to hear the story of Juntara, a miniature Nepali Celine Dion who, in a matter of five years, turned into a blind Ray Charles. Juntara sang the most beautiful songs in the echoey Himalayan amphitheatre, but could not see anything except flashes of light at around the age of five. There were no doctors.

What she knew is she might be cursed. Like many of the sick in Nepal, she had never seen a doctor before, and only knew that the ginger and herbs prescribed by the village shaman or Ayurvedic healers didn't make her see.

After Juntara got the rare chance to be diagnosed having a genetic condition of neurofibromatosis, it was instantly apparent her eye situation was critical. The architecture of her optic nerve, once a gossamer network for bringing light, was a mess destroyed by tumour. Juntara was suggested to have series of major surgeries. Nevertheless, the highly complicated surgery means that she could easily die during the operation. Dying on an operating table is downright catastrophic. 

Here's something you probably can't imagine: this doesn't seem to upset Juntara and her family. Death is different in Nepal where there are so few ways to prevent it. There are far more landslides and leopards than doctors. Unbeknown to her doctor and most of us, the surgery was already good enough to offer Juntara a glimmer of hope. Juntara wasn't afraid of death. And she did die of surgical complication at the end.

A heartbreaking story. That's a story to be heard.