London: A British Indian woman who took on the responsibility of caring for her two severely disabled nieces in India has won a national carer's award.
Pratibha Singh, who lives in Town Moor, Doncaster, has been given the Carer of the Year award at the Daily Mail Carer of the Year Awards, set up with carers' charity organisation, Crossroads.
In 1993, Singh's India-based father-in-law died and weeks later her sister-in-law Satwant, 44, was murdered by a burglar at her home. Together, they were looking after Singh's adult nieces Ashwant and Tejinder, both mentally and physically disabled due to cerebral palsy.
After the two deaths in the family, Singh took on the responsibility of the two nieces and dedicated her time to caring for the wheelchair-bound girls, who were both unable to sit unaided or speak. Singh's family includes husband Parminder, an engineer, and daughter Jaswinder, 17, and son Parmajit, 8.
Singh, a part-time project worker at Doncaster's Women's Centre, moved to Doncaster from New Delhi in 1988. Every year she spent two months in India helping her sister-in-law Satwant to care for Ashwant and Tejinder whose father had long vanished due to their condition.
Singh told the Daily Mail, "My first thought was for the girls and their well-being. Both my husband and I had hoped we could arrange something for them in India but that proved impossible”.
"Those first four months, were very, very hard. And my own daughter became jealous. She'd had all my attention until that point and found it difficult to adjust. I believe we should all try to love someone who no one else loves, especially when we've been blessed with a body and a brain that works, a marriage and a family of our own,” she added.
Tejinder died last year, aged 35, as a result of a blood clot but Singh still looks after Ashwant, now 36, who will require round-the-clock care the rest of her life.
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