Life blooms anew in Tsunami victims

6 September 2006, Amritapuri

Some of the mothers in the villages around Amritapuri who lost children in the 2004 tsunami had previously undergone tubal ligation as a form of permanent contraception. When Amma learned that these women lost their young children and could no longer conceive, and that they were in such despair to the point of considering suicide, her heart went out to them. After consulting with doctors at AIMS, Amma offered all such villagers an opportunity to undergo fallopian-tube recanalisation in order to reverse the effects of their sterilization surgery. {news}

Priya and her husband, Baby, were one such couple from Azheekkal. When the tsunami swept through, they had lost their two children–Kiran and Kinkini, ages four-and-a-half and one-and-a-half, respectively. Kinkini was washed away from Priya’s hands. Yesterday, Priya came for Amma’s darshan–nine months pregnant. She wanted Amma’s blessing before checking into AIMS to deliver the baby via caesarian section.

“Amma has done a great thing for us,” Priya said after her darshan. “Something that even our own relatives could not do.”
Pictured on the right: Priya with her husband coming for Amma’s darshan.

Of the original 9 couples who wanted to have more children, two were deemed too old to undergo the procedure, and another dropped out. The remaining six women underwent recanalization surgery at AIMS, and of these, only Priya was able to conceive naturally. The others have since been undergoing invitro fertilization. All expenses are being covered by the Ashram, which includes medicine from Switzerland.

As of today, one woman has elected to stop the medical treatment, being content with her one surviving child. Another is continuting medication which will help the invitro procedure. The remaining three women are pregnant – one is in her sixth month and the other two are in their second month of pregnancy. Two of these women are carrying twins!

–Tulasi

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