At first glance, these brother and sister look like preschoolers. In fact, the girl is already 16 years old, and the boy is 18 years old. Azad Singh and his sister Laxmi stopped growing at the age of five, and since then their appearance has not changed. None of these children, living in the Indian city of Haryana, have reached puberty due to a rare congenital genetic disorder. However, their parents are too poor to pay for hormone treatment and allow their children to grow up.
Azad, whose height is only 90 centimeters, is preparing to enter a university, where he will study English and mathematics. Laxmi, who is 8 centimeters ahead of her brother, is finishing high school. However, unhappy teenagers can remain in children's bodies for the rest of their lives. The course of treatment, which lasts for a year, costs 9.5 thousand dollars. The Yadav family does not have such funds. So the teenagers continue to live with their mother Manju Bala and father Bahadur Singh, as well as 12-year-old sister Saman, who is growing up like a normal child. Azad and Laxmi ride children's bicycles to school, made from old parts, and wear children's clothes designed for five-year-olds.
Azad, who is going to study to become an engineer, will take entrance exams in April.
- When I go to the tutor, my mother is forced to accompany me, - the 18-year-old boy admits. - Those who do not know us think that she is walking with her little son. If Laxmi and I go outside alone, onlookers gather around us. I can't be friends with guys my age, they are shy of how I look. Only two school friends agree to communicate with me, regardless of my height.
“When we were younger, our parents had to transfer us to another school so that the children would not bully us,” Laxmi continues.
Selfless mother Azad and Laxmi is always ready to protect her children.
“If I don’t see my kids off, evil people can harm them by throwing stones at them,” the woman admits.
“In childhood, they were no different from the rest of the kids,” the mother continues. “But when Azad was five years old, he stopped growing. The same thing happened with Laxmi at the age of five.
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Unhappy parents turned to all kinds of clinics, hoping to return their children to a normal life. However, any treatment cost money, which the poor Yadavs were unable to pay.
“At some point, we decided to sell our house, for which we were paid 15,000 rupees, but the doctors dissuaded us from such a step,” the mother recalls.
The brother and sister were invited to participate in a free experimental program, but when Laxmi and Azad arrived at the clinic building, they were greeted by a huge crowd.
“Doctors, patients, visitors, passers-by - everyone wanted to see us,” Laxmi recalls. - We were afraid to go out to all these people, we felt that it would be better to remain children forever than to go through this test.
Now the parents hope that after graduation, Azad will find a job and be able to provide for his family. But Laxmi will have to stay in the parental home, because the girl will not be able to get married.
Azad looks like a dwarf next to his peer friend
12-year-old Saman looks older than her brother and sister
Azad loves to play cricket with friends
At 18, a guy already has the right to drive
A young man rides a bicycle around the city
