Woman Makes Special Bond With 93-Year-Old Myanmar Refugee At COVID Care Centre

Myanmar Refugee and law student: The world is still divided by borders but the health crisis brought by the coronavirus pandemic has most people across the globe sailing in the same boat. The story of a Myanmar refugee and a Mizoram-based law student is a reminder of the same.

When C.T Ramnunmawii, a first-year student of Lloyd Law College in New Delhi, went back to Aizawl on April 6, she wasn't aware of what this trip back home will have in store for her. At first, she had to quarantine herself at a hotel but was shifted to a COVID Care Centre four days later as she tested positive for COVID-19.

Just a day before she was about to get discharged after recovering on April 20, she met a 93-year-old woman who had, like many people from Mynamar, came to India in search of her daughter. The nonagenarian is one of the Chin people who fled the Myanmar military junta after the violence broke in the country.

For the uninitiated, the dominant Mizo community of Mizoram has always had a strong connection with the Chins of Myanmar. Like many, the Myanmar refugee's daughter has also been living near Aizawl for years.

The 24-year-old law student got to know that the woman had come from Champhai, an area located near the Myanmar border, about 190km from Aizawl. Ramnunmawii got to know that the refugee had lost all her companions who came with her to Aizawl.

Ramninmawii told the Hindu, "I felt she needed an attendant and sought the permission of the doctors to accompany her to the Zoram Medical Hospital, where she was being shifted. It did not feel right to let her fight the virus alone in a strange place.”

The law student stayed and tested negative again on April 27. Even then she didn't feel like leaving the facility because the nonagenarian, whom Ramnunmawii started calling 'grandma', hadn't tested negative. The two women then spent 14 days together.

During that time, Ramnunmawii tried to locate the refugee woman's daughter with the help of her cousin and friends. She finally tracked the woman's family down. She said, "Her family and a cousin of mine came to pick us up on the day we were discharged.”

According to the Hindu's report, the law student went along with the old woman to her daughter's place in Aizawl's Mualpui area. Ramnunmawii said that she will be spending a few days at her cousin's place on the outskirts of the state capital and will go home after the situation improves. Her home is in the Champhai district's Ruantlang area, just a few kilometres away from where the Myanmar refugee came from.