Something sad has happened recently, and I'm not sure quite what to do about it.
Today I was sitting in the health post and everybody was talking very excitedly. My counterpart was kind enough to tell me what had happened:
A woman nearby my community went insane, and for the last year she has been locked in her room presumably to keep her from hurting herself or someone else. They pass her food etc through the door. Well, recently this woman gave birth to a child. The grandmother has taken the child to care for it which is for the best though apparently the crazy woman is holding on to the umbilical cord.
My counterpart was very excited and happy about this because he (and the others) believe it to be an immaculate conception. At least, that is what they say. "There is no father. It is very wonderful!" Of course, to those of us who are not religious, this means the woman was raped.
I wish in this instance that I could bring myself to believe in foolishness. What can I do? In a perfect world I could go to the police, they could get DNA samples from the entire community and run them against the baby's DNA, and then arrest the rapist who would go to jail for a long time, and then send that woman to a mental hospital. In the real world the police would believe it is an immaculate conception, or if they didn't then they have no reason to care because the woman is insane. If they did care they have no money or facilities to test DNA, or even the funds to do a proper investigation. There's not even enough money to send the woman to a hospital to keep this from happening again. I'm going to look to see if there are any state-run hospitals in Nepal though if there are it doesn't necessarily mean that the family will send the woman there.
I feel sort of helpless. There should be justice, or at least a way to get her away from the area. I'm also annoyed with religion. Everyone in the health post, including the women, were just laughing about it. I was told to go and take pictures because this immaculate conception is going to be history in Nepal. I can't be angry with them for laughing; I don't think they even considered the logical conclusion because to a mind that has been brought up believing in impossibilities, another impossible occurence just reinforces those they already believe in. It also shows that they were not brought up watching "CSI" and "Law and Order." My mind immediately jumps to the idea that some sicko raped a crazy woman, and I don't think they could even imagine that someone could be that sick. That's probably more impossible to them than immaculate conception. I envy their naivety. I want them to help her, or help me help her.
