Nobody's child, a pitiful case of an indentured orphan, Allamalu

BAD CHARACTER’

- SELVAN NAIDOO

ON AUGUST 31, 1908, The Times of Natal, a colonial-era publication, reported that a little Indian girl, about 15 years of age, who had made her way from Durban, was found at the Pietermaritzburg railway station by Miss Payne Smith.

The girl, named Allamalu, was found in a horrible state, suffering from a “disease of the eye and itch”.

Itch was then the reference for a sexually transmitted venereal disease. It was discovered that Allamalu, whose parents were deceased, was taken to an Indian hospital where the attendant would not admit her without an order from the magistrate or the district surgeon.

Allamalu was taken to the police station, where she was kept in a cell overnight.

In the morning, she was to be taken before the magistrate by the chief constable to receive direction on what was to become of her condition.

The constable did his best to admit Allamalu to a hospital, having visited several hospitals, making an application to Grey’s Hospital, the old Indian hospital, also taking her to the new Indian Epidemic Hospital, having pleaded her case before the corporation medical officer and the chief clerk of the court, but to no success.

The chief constable informed the magistrate that there was no place to keep the destitute people, having asked the magistrate to come to some sort of arrangement in placing Allamalu in appropriate care.

The government response was that it would erect a special “coloured children’s ward” at Grey’s Hospital for incidents of this nature for the future.

The article appealed to its readers that “every humane-minded person must feel that something should be done; and it is scarcely credible that no provision exists for destitute coloured children”.

It concluded by requesting that the magistrate make an order that Allamalu be taken to a suitable hospital and that provision was made (in the future) for the creation of a “coloured children’s ward”.