‘Mama, please don’t lose the fight for life.’

Saira’s story seems unique in the depth and savagery of its misfortune. But in another way it is a miracle. How did an unwanted, unloved child, brought up in hunger, neglect and fear of beating, married off to a brute who abused her, learn to love so deeply? How did a child whose life was unfairly blighted at the age of five acquire the magnanimity to say, ‘If Dow company knew how much illness the factory is causing, it would surely help us.’ Sadly, this is not true, but how does someone who has experienced the worst of human nature still believe in its goodness?