Daya Vihar - Bastine's story

Bastime's story

Two boys came to us in one of the slums when we gathered the children together for a meeting. Anthony (8 years) & Roshan (5 years) were both working.

Anthony was working in a small canteen in the slum and getting 10 rupees per day (12p in UK money). Sometimes he had to work up to 1.00 am washing all the used utensils, cleaning the tables and the sweeping the floor.

Roshan was working in a slaughter- house of sheep and goats. He had to do some cleaning work and washing blood and other stuffs the whole day. He was getting 2 rupees (2p in UK money) and some bread and tea.

What a terrible life!

Their father died in an accident some years back. They also had a sister. Their mother collected the used plastics and bottles from the garbage, which people throw out. We wanted do something for these children. So finally on 27th August 2002 we took Anthony and Roshan to our home and they have stayed with us since then.

Next we rescued their sister, a bright eyed 10 year old girl called Bastine. The woman she had worked for had beaten her so severely that her spine had become deformed and she had contracted TB. She was close to death when she came to live with us. All three of these children moved in with us in our small home. Because Bastine was coughing so severely we took her to a doctor and discovered that she had TB. We went for some more investigations and found that she needed urgent treatment. Then we admitted her in a hospital on 17th August 2002, and she underwent some close observation and treatment for some time. Then we took her MRI scanning on 30th Sept. 2002.
The doctors said “If we don’t do the surgery she will loose the power of walking slowly and she will die because of the TB”. We requested the doctors for her immediate surgery. The doctors took our signature to confirm that we have no complaint if she loses the power of sensation and the power of walking. We believed in the Lord and the Lord helped us to save the little life. She underwent spine surgery on 25th Oct. By 8.00 am we dressed her with the Operating Theatre in the O.T. uniform, we prayed over her and send her in for the operation. Then we waited outside the O.T. till 4.30 P.M. We prayed to the Lord for a successful operation. I believe that the Lord heard us.
The operation was successful. Coming out from the O.T. she was able to move the legs and hands on request. Praise God! Her surgery and implanting of the steel plate for support were performed very well and carefully. To this day we strongly believe in the Lord only was the real surgeon in the operation of the little baby’s spine and the re-setting the vertebrae. She was given extra blood (plasma) and other bottles of saline (glucose). When she came out of the OT she was so cold and pale. Slowly she started improving and soon was able to come back to live in our home. She started to be able to stand and walk around. Praise the Lord for His healing power. Thank you to AMEN for the financial support which enabled this operation to take place.

Over the years she has been in our care Bastine has grown up from being a girl to a young lady. She was admitted into hospital on 30th August 2005 for a few investigations and underwent an operation on 2nd September. The operation was to remove the steel support from her back and was successful. The operation lasted 3 hours. She now has no artificial support in her back and has recovered wonderfully. Her brothers are also still with us and are very happy young boys - they are all doing well at school and love the Lord. John and Asha Mumbai 2006