Archana Bharti – Eliminating Stigma

I am Archana Bharti aka Purbi Kumari, working with PepsiCo.

It took me 28 long years to find the medical term (MRKH syndrome) of my condition because doctors themselves were not aware of this syndrome. Then, 10 more years to come out as Purbi Kumari, India’s first advocate.

Until 2011, I was in complete darkness, who I was, why I am like this, and all kinds of depressing thoughts. In 2011, one fine day, I found an article about MRKH syndrome through my sister that I could relate to myself, and the best thing happened when I came across the International MRKH community (Facebook Group), Beautiful You MRKH Foundation, Inc. organization, and the two co-founders of BYMRKH Amy Lossie and Christina Martin. Suddenly I found a platform where I can voice out and express myself, where I could share my feelings and where I could seek answers to my clueless questions, and even, I got the answers which I didn’t even know.

Then I realized how important it is to not feel alone and deserted. This gave me a lot of courage that I am not alone in this battle and my #MRKH sisters are with me. Since then, I started reaching out to as many as #mrkh sisters in India as I can to let them know that they are not alone. I am there to guide them in each and every phase of their lives.

I counsel MRKH females and their families to cope with emotional trauma, help them with possible treatment options, and offer guidance to lead a normal life. I guide them in choosing/searching for their life partners and surrogacy.

BYMRKH, headquartered in Maryland, United States appointed me as the Indian Ambassador of Beautiful You MRKH Foundation, Inc. I am also the founder of Indian MRKH’ers Corner, a virtual support centre to create awareness about MRKH syndromes and help the Indian MRKH sisters. I also run and maintain an MRKH group on Facebook and WhatsApp, providing a platform to share their feelings, and problems and seek solutions to their emotional/physical issues, and help them lead a normal and happy life.

My journey of battling MRKH syndrome is going on and my journey of spreading awareness, bringing this to the mainstream, and eliminating the associated stigma/shame/taboo has just started. I know that there is a long way to reach my destination, but I will not give up and will continue to fight this battle.

My goal is to give a supportive community and platform where everyone with MRKH is accepted, respected, loved, and nurtured for being the ‘imperfectly perfect’ person they are. I want to create an environment where all who have MRKH can come together to support each other openly, and freely with pride and self-worth. And I want to change the mindset of Indian society where everyone will accept this condition as any other disease/disorder and about which we wouldn’t have to hide our medical conditions.