Looking back at raising a sister from a young age

Interviewer 1: Do you have any siblings that you're still close to?

Rita: I have one sibling. She's nine years younger than me, and she’s in India. She never felt like a sibling to me. She was like a daughter to me. My dad got really sick after she was born, so my mom took him and moved away to take care of him. 

We were left behind in a joint family.  So I became her mother, basically. We couldn't develop the “sibling” kind of relationship. 

Interviewer 2: What was it like to almost raise her at such a young age?

Rita: Yeah, it was very good. I feel I have a strong motherly instinct in me that comes naturally.  As only a teenager myself, I was not as patient with her as my own children. Other than that, I took care of everything. I sewed her clothes. I taught and tutored her. I would bring her in the garden, to teach colors through the flowers. I wrote speeches and created  presentations for her.  At that young age when she got tuberculosis of the glands, I saved my own money and brought her to the doctor.  

Everyone else in the family had their own things going on, and nobody paid attention to her.  It feels very good that I was able to do all those things but I miss the sibling feeling.