Thinking of Friends

We placed calls to Joyce, Sekar and Sethu this evening and they’re not doing very well. The day after we left, Sethu came down with severe kidney stones and had to be hospitalized. On Tuesday night, Joyce’s husband beat her terribly and she ended up getting stitches on her head—why? Because he is an evil prick who is just interested in building his case for a deeper place in hell. When we spoke to her she was sobbing and repeatedly saying how she was going to kill herself—and her children as she didn’t want to leave them to him—it was not a fun conversation. Fortunately, thanks to Skype we were able to call her cell phone at an absurdly low rate and we’ll be calling her regularly until it seems like things improve. Although, I am not optimistic that they will…I’m very worried for her and what the future will bring. She is, as indiamama pointed out, like many women in India, very vulnerable: no identification, everything through her husband, little savings, and powerless in the face of cultural norms around domestic violence and paternalism.