When a new life is born, there can be problems or deformations within the fetus during its development. Finding a solution to something like that isn't easy, especially if you have the misfortune of being born in a country that stigmatizes youand where people believe in witchcraft or the dark arts.
Discover our latest podcast
This is the story of Kumari Nayak, a 63-year-old Indian woman who suffers from polydactylism, a common birth defect wherethe personhas extra fingers and toes.
The woman has 19 toes and 12 fingers and has set anew Guinness World Record for the most fingers and toes in the world. Although this may sound amazing,in reality, it's made the woman's life very difficult.
Kumari says she has been stigmatized throughout her life, which has led herto isolate herself.According to news reports, the woman doesn't have enough money to undergo a surgical procedure to end her misery.
'I am forced to stay indoors as I am being treated differently which is not a nice way of treatment from my neighbors,' said the woman who resides in the Ganjam district of Odisha, India.
'The residents nearby, who are too much into blind faiths, believe that I am a witch and keep away from me. They sometimes come to see my condition but never help,' she added.
In fact, locals believe so much in witchcraft and dark magic that, according to the media, in 2016, 134 people (mostly women) were killed for allegedly practising dark magic in the country.These statistics were provided by the National Crime Records Bureau.
When authorities heard about this poor woman's situation, they provided her witha house and a pensionand tried to spread awareness among her neighbours.
'We are also educating her neighbours to treat her with love and compassion and that she is not a witch,' they said.
