At first, it looks like an ordinary woman walking through the hills with a small cooler slung over her shoulder, following narrow forest paths that disappear into rivers and thick vegetation.
Only later do you learn that the cooler wasn’t carrying food or supplies. It held polio vaccines that had to stay cold until they reached children waiting in a remote village.
In October 2025, 50-year-old ASHA worker Meidinliu Newmai walked about 28 kilometers through the forests of Tamenglong, Manipur, crossing five rivers and spending nearly eight hours on foot so 17 children could receive their scheduled vaccine.
For many families there, there was no road that could do the job instead.
She has been serving her community since 2007, and for her, difficult journeys like this are simply part of the work.
Most vaccination campaigns are measured by numbers on a report.
This one was measured in kilometers.
How many stories like this never make it beyond the villages where they happen?