Tina (right) with Anjana Goswami of Ashadeep

Guwahati, Dec. 2: Imagine a mentally challenged girl separated from her family and reduced to foraging for food in a roadside bin thousands of kilometres away from home.

Tina, 18, was exactly in this situation when police found her in Chennai last month. It transpired that she was a resident of Bhutiachang tea estate of Assam?s Darrang district and had been lured to the southern metropolis by ?an uncle?.

Tina, who went missing on June 15, herself could not recall how she reached Chennai and survived on her own for nearly six months.

But as she was leaving Chennai a week ago, the troubled girl did not forget to tell her caretakers ? Sheena Ramanalukkal and Earnest Immanuel of the NGO Banyan ? what she owed them.

?I would like to come back and thank you once more,? she said as the train pulled out of the station.

Sheena and Earnest had taken over the responsibility of reuniting Tina with her family after being intimated by Chennai Childline about her condition. Banyan specialises in rescuing ?the wandering mentally ill? and has a 24/7 transit shelter and rehabilitation centre for homeless and mentally challenged women.

Guwahati-based NGO Ashadeep arranged for Tina?s brother to formally take custody of her from Banyan. Sheena said it was satisfying for her to see the depressed and physically weak girl being reunited with her brother.

Tina finally reached home on November 30, Sheena and Earnest credited Mukul and Anjana Goswami of Ashadeep with finding the missing links in Tina?s story.

The duo was in Chennai for a seminar on schizophrenia and allied disorders when they received information about her.

?We did not know anything about her...where she came from or the trouble she had gone through. She told us in Hindi that she was from Assam, but could not say how she landed in Chennai,? Sheena recalled.

At Banyan, Tina was given medicines for depression and encouraged to interact with other inmates through games, music lessons and some other activities.

Ashadeep, meanwhile, began making enquiries about Tina?s family. Mukul Goswami said he was shocked to discover that she had been lured to Chennai by a so-called uncle. ?I spoke to her in the dialect of the tea tribes and she reacted very quickly. She wanted to go back home as early as possible,? he said.

Though glad to have accomplished the mission, Earnest said seeing the mentally challenged being treated badly was the saddest part of his vocation. His co-worker echoed him. ?Their courage and capacity to withstand so many problems is more than the pains we take to care for them,? she said.