The girl's bone-thin legs convulse, drawing up then stretching out reflexively. Her feet are pointed and trembling. Her arms flail backwards. Her body contorts at odd angles. She moans as she moves.
The girl's name is Dita. This 12-foot-square bamboo hut is her world.
Dita is a victim of the "uncommon diseases," a name locals give to an assortment of neurological and physical abnormalities that afflict people in this part of Sulawesi where small-scale gold mining drives most of the economy and mercury contamination is rampant.
Dita's mother, Kustin, 43, tells the story. Dita was a normal little girl, running, talking, laughing and playing, until she was about 3 years old. Then she began to stumble and have trouble walking. She had seizures. Local doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with Dita, and, her mother said, offered nothing to help her.
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