The French psychologist working in the Women Center in Kathmandu told us:

In the cold of a late afternoon in winter 2007, a young woman  was brought to us by a  police officer of Bhaktapur,

a  town 15 kms away from  the women’s center. After an initial interview, no diagnosis can be made: Renuka  may suffer from amnesia or be in shock or have an acute schizophrenic episode. She can not say her name nor that of any member of her family, she does not remember her village or the circumstances that  brought her here. When we insist on certain issues, she curls up on herself, pulls her dark green scarf over her face. No verbal communication is possible. However, she  shows all the signs of great terror, she often looks with frightened  eyes over her shoulder, she rolls her terrified eyes when she is asked questions and keeps them closed for long periods. In following interviews, she whispers a few disordered sentences, mentions a few names and  family names without being able to put them in the family or social context. We ask for a psychiatric examination  that will confirm an episode  of schizophrenia. Then after two weeks, she gives us a letter (the first of a series)which  is a veritable prose poem, very literary and written in a very Sanskritized nepali, which is  surprising coming from a woman apparently originated from a modest and rural background. Gradually, the trust is established through monitoring and frequency of interviews, she begins to speak: a mixture of poetic "delirium" and spiritual environment in which we can detect some hints of some family difficulties and social violence. In the centre, she performs almost normal household tasks entrusted to her. However, she can not communicate with other residents fled and she speaks frequently of suicide. Then one day during a very emotional meeting, she states very slowly (five minutes) the phone number of a neighbour. The beginning of the puzzle  is starting to take shape. We learn how she lived in a remote village in the east valley, she has experienced marital and family problems and she has two children. Some names mentioned in these "poems" overlap with those of her relatives.

The psychologist and social worker will meet Renuka’s family including her sister in law  who tells them that she had indeed disappeared from the village for  four months, the husband had reported her disappearance to the police who had laconically recorded without doing any research. We learn that she had always had a tendency to recite poetry, or mystical chanting verses in the surrounding paddy fields, but these behaviours were perfectly acceptable in this context of Nepalese villagers. Until the day when Renuka's husband with whom she seemed to lead a relatively flourished life(without violence) must go to  work in the Gulf, leaving his wife for two years at home alone with her two children. During this period, she performs her domestic and agricultural tasks apparently well. The husband returns, with a nest egg. The couple's financial situation improves. Jealous neighbours and relatives spread the rumour that Renuka had had an affair during the husband's absence. He hears about it, and therefore he rejects Renuka, demeans and makes her suffer all sorts of moral and probably physical abuse. She can not be excused, and one day she decides to leave the village ...

In the centre, Renuka’s condition improves,she interferes more with the other residents, but refuses to take the treatment recommended by the psychiatrist. This - and the mention of suicidal thoughts always there - leads us to consider a interned fortnight  in Asha Deep pilot psychiatric Hospital of the Valley. Renuka consents. We see her twice a week and we see clear progress. After the fifteen days she returns to the centre where she participates more in community life. We note however that at the meetings or group dynamics between residents, she immediately leaves the room when tension rises or a quarrel breaks out. Since mid-May, we have attempted a partial reintegration within the family. This means that the centre will host once a crisis recurs and Renuka can no longer support the family environment. The psychologist and social worker centre conduct inspections in the village to ensure she does not suffer any more violence.

We can say that after five months of listening, a context of respectful reception of her case and its deficits, investigations, work with the family, Renuka was able to rejoin her native environment even if we can not say today that it is final. In any case, it is no longer the ball of speechless terror, the nameless woman, without past or future as it was when we met for the first time.