THE English nursery rhyme, “there was an old woman who lived in a shoe/she had so many children she didn’t know what to do” could ironically be applied to a house in Pematangsiantar. In this case, it was Ayu, a 12-year-old girl, who was kept inside a 1x1.5-meter wooden box because her unstable mother felt inadequate about raising five children on her own, on a very small income.

Ayu is the adopted child of Suzara Lubis and his wife Suwarni.