Aduri, the 11-year-old girl who was rescued from a city dustbin in critical condition last month, will spend Eid-ul-Azha in hospital with her family.
Aduri’s condition is improving, and she is once again able to eat, talk and even play normally. She also has some new dresses, shoes and jewellery for Eid, thanks to well-wishers who were moved by the child’s ordeal working as a housemaid in the nation’s capital.
The horrific burn and cut marks on her face and body have started to heal, but ugly scars remain. The young girl loves to dress up, and every time she tries on a new outfit, she checks herself out in a small mirror.
Doctors treating Aduri at Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s one-stop crisis centre (OCC) said she was recovering well, both in body and mind.
She has also gained four kilos since being admitted nearly three weeks ago, when she weighed only 17kg and looked like a seven-year-old.
During a visit to the state-run hospital yesterday, Aduri exchanged greetings with this correspondent, and then went back to dressing up. She fondly tried on a pair of new earrings, an innocent act for which she was once reportedly tortured by her employer.
Aduri’s mother, Shafia Begum, said she was glad her daughter was safe, and they were looking forward to return home to Patuakhali.
“I thank all the people who helped her to survive,” Shafia told the Dhaka Tribune. “Now, I want to take my child back to our village and live there peacefully.”
A police officer on patrol rescued Aduri from a dustbin in the city’s Baridhara DOHS area on September 23. She was apparently dumped there after torture, and left for dead.