When we first met her, Smriti was a sweet but painfully shy little girl who seemed to have the weight of the world on her shoulders. She had lines imprinted on her forehead from squinting and concentrating to decipher the voices around her.
Smriti had cataracts in both eyes that had become progressively worse. Her poor vision took away much of her confidence – she could no longer play with her friends or help around the house, and she had to be accompanied everywhere for fear of an accident. She lived in a one-room hut surrounded by fields, with her parents, her younger brother Imran and baby sister Takmina.