Child, 8, with mental illness chained in goat shed for five years

This heartbreaking story from Bardiya, Nepal, exposes the devastating consequences of poverty and lack of access to mental healthcare. An eight-year-old girl, suffering from severe mental health challenges, has spent the last five years confined to a goat shed, tethered by a rope. Her mother, struggling to survive and care for three daughters alone while her husband works as a laborer in India, is forced into this desperate measure to prevent the child from wandering off while she toils in the fields.

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She keeps running away and moving about aimlessly. I have no choice but to tie her.

The family's plight is compounded by their inability to afford medical treatment. They sought help in nearby towns, but lost medical documents and could not recall hospital names. While herbal remedies offered some improvement in mobility, the child's speech and mental state remain severely affected. The mother's daily reality is a stark illustration of the impossible choices faced by marginalized families who lack a social safety net.

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We did what we could afford, but nothing worked.

Local authorities acknowledge the situation and have provided a small sum of immediate aid. However, the advice to obtain a disability card from Surkhet highlights the bureaucratic hurdles and the lack of accessible services within the community. This case underscores a critical gap in Nepal's social welfare system, particularly for individuals with mental health conditions and their families. The community's response, or lack thereof, reflects a broader societal challenge in addressing the needs of its most vulnerable citizens, leaving families like this to cope with unimaginable hardship.

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I have to work to feed the family. She tries to escape even from the shed, so I tie her legs with a rope. I only bring her inside at night.