A glimmer of hope
A Bhutanese woman gets a second chance at life.
SHE was 19. A new life was awaiting Bhutanese teen Dechen Tshomo.
After failing to qualify for higher education in a government school, Dechen managed to get a job at Bhutan Agro Industries Ltd in Thimphu, the country’s capital.
Although it wasn’t what she had planned for herself, she was adapting well in the new environment, making new friends.
However, six months into the job, she developed pains in her head and neck. Doctors gave her painkillers and asked her to return after a few days. The painkillers were of no use. The headache and stiffness of the neck became worse by the day, recalls Dechen in a recent interview.
Her sister took her back home to Narphung town in Samdrup Jongkhar district. Rimdo (a religious ritual) didn’t seem to work. Dechen was taken to the district hospital, where she was referred to the regional referral hospital in the town of Mongar.
“All the while, I was unconscious. By the time I regained consciousness, seven months had passed,” says Dechen.
“I was lying in the hospital bed. I could not feel my lower body.”
According to medical records, Dechen was diagnosed with meningitis, an inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.
All her dreams came crashing down when Dechen discovered that she was paralysed from the waist down.
“I wouldnt know if I had wet myself. I was just surviving in a corner in my village,” she says.
Her brother, Kinzang Yeshi, says that doctors told family members “there is no cure for my sister”.
Most of the time, Dechen’s parents would be out working in the fields. For almost five years, Dechen lay in a corner of the house. Her only companion during that time was her mobile phone with which she made frequent updates on Facebook.
“It was the only way I interacted with the world beyond the walls of my house,” she says. And that actually did her good. The founder of Britain-based charity organisation, Opening Your Heart to Bhutan, Emma Slade, came to know about Dechen’s condition from one of her posts.
Popularly known in Bhutan as Ani Pema Deki, Slade is a Buddhist nun. She visited Dechen in her village in October last year. Dechen told Slade that she wanted to join a nunnery in nearby Pemagatshel district.
However, because the nunnery cannot cater to the needs of a disabled person, this dream, too, was dead – almost.
Later that month, Emma visited Draktsho East in Kanglung, Trashigang town, to study the possibilities of admitting Dechen into the vocational training centre for special children and youth.
The centre’s principal, Karma Garab Dorji, said that after studying Dechen’s condition and convincing her parents of the opportunities, knowledge, and skills that their daughter would gain from the centre, Dechen was admitted into the centre earlier this year.
The principal says that Dechen has been performing well and since she already had a basic education, it has been easy for her to grasp the skills taught at the centre.
Currently, Dechen is taking art classes there. She is working on the eternal knot of the eight lucky signs. This eternal knot is a perfect example for us. Just like the knot, our life is an endless circle of suffering and joy. You have to experience both for no one can escape this circle.
Dechen says that ever since she was admitted to the centre, she has been feeling better. With the help of the physiotherapy sessions she receives monthly at the centre, Dechen says that she has started to feel a slight sensation in her lower limbs.
“I hope to walk on my legs one day. I feel good about my chances. I will give my best, says Dechen. – Kuensel/Asia News Network