There is hardly a homestead in Chouhali’s Khamargram village that does not have a loom, or a family member with a disability.
In the densely populated village, a textile hub located an hour and a half away from Sirajganj town, looms clatter with the steadiness of rainfall on a tin roof and dyeing facilities churn out effluents.
This is where Golam Rasul, Partha and Urmi live.
Had they been normal children, Rasul would have been a truant ninth grader hanging out with the other 14-year-olds. Partha might have been that naughty seven-year-old who keeps their parents on their toes. Urmi would have assailed her dad with the millions of questions that flood the mind of curious eight-year-olds.
But they are not normal children. Rasul spends his day wielding an axe. He used to go to school but he stopped after people started calling him insane because of his erratic behaviour.
Partha and Urmi drool constantly. Urmi’s father says she is intelligent and responds to everything. And all Partha can manage to say is “father” and “mother” in Bangla.
According to Sirajganj’s social welfare department, 40,718 out of 781,166 households in the district have at least one family member with a disability.
In Chouhali upazila alone, there are 2,224 families with disabled family members. Some families have more than one. District welfare officials said a concern for prestige made many families decline being put on the list.
Md Mostafa Kamal, deputy director of the Social Welfare Department, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Even in my home village, there are 10 disabled people.”
But he admitted that Khamargram was exceptional.
“It is surprising. We do not know the reason for this concentration of disabilities. It could be the quality of water. The environment is polluted by the hundreds of looms and dyeing factories,” he said.
Disability shows a common pattern
The children’s stories follow a common thread.
They are born normally but develop some sort of a disability after a severe bout of a common illness, typically diarrhoea or fever. The disability is unnoticeable at first but becomes prominent as the children grow older.
Some suffered birth complications and never recovered. They have grown up to be disabled adults.
Golam Rasul, one of Khandakar Abdur Razzak’s two sons, was born healthy and remained a healthy child until he was four. “Rasul became seriously ill with diarrhoea and since then has become mentally challenged.”
The father said Rasul was treated locally and in Dhaka. “Doctors said his brain was small and premature. They said it would become normal as he grew up.”
Rasul lives in a tin shed house across a hand loom factory. Razzak said he has no complaints about the quality of water or air.
Just around the corner from Rasul’s house lives Partha. His father Pitesh Chandra Roy said Partha did not cry when he was born. He could not be breast-fed either.
“His development seems to have been arrested. He can only say “father” and “mother.” His right hand is weak and malformed,” he said. Partha had received a head injury when he was born and there was a blood clot at the back of his head.
Pitesh said Partha was treated at the Central Hospital in the capital for a year where doctors advised exercises. He said his son showed some improvement following physiotherapy.
Another 100 yards away lives Urmi.
Abdul Alim, Urmi’s father, said she had a complicated delivery. “She would not stop crying for several days.”
She was admitted to Dhaka’s Shishu Hospital where the only advice the doctors gave was to wait. “Her right hand is weak and she cannot speak clearly,” he added.
“What is the use of writing this?” Alim asked this correspondent. “Are we going to get anything? Will my only daughter get better treatment and be cured? … What will we do with her? We are poor. Only we know how it feels.”
Urmi can see 14-year-old Tarek’s house when she peeks out of her window. Tarek can only walk on his knees. He cannot speak clearly.
Tarek’s father Abdul Jabbar recalls how his son shivered and had seizures when he was born. “He was on oxygen for 22 days. He recovered but the complications started surfacing as he grew older.”
Tarek’s father said his son had been admitted to Pabna Mental Hospital. But because his physical and mental condition deteriorated sharply, he was brought home and his treatment was stopped.
Despite the welfare department’s data on disabilities in Sirajganj district, the cluster of childhood disabilities in Chouhali appears not to have been studied.
Chouhali upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Gopal Chandra acknowledged the problem, but said: “We are not experts.”
In Khamargram, the houses are congested – at least by rural standards – and each has a loom. Some houses have looms right inside the bedroom.
Omar Faruk, chairman of Sadia Chandpur union, said: “Some say the loom factories are polluting the water, but others say complications during delivery have led to the disabilities. I do not know the reason for this concentration of disabled children.”
He said many people have complained about the water.
Even 10 to 15 years ago, disabled children were not so common here. “People have migrated here from various places, mostly the victims of river bank erosion,” he added.
The union chairman said he wants the government or a non-government agency to work out the reason so it can be addressed.
He is even willing to pay specialist doctors to live in the village. “I will extend all kinds of cooperation. I just want to relieve my people from this curse.”
The former civil surgeon of Sirajganj, Md Shamsuddin, admitted to the Dhaka Tribune that Belkuchi and Chouhali upazilas have an “alarming number of disabled children.”
“We suspect that heavy metal poisoning may be a plausible reason, but we do not know this for sure,” he said.