HYDERABAD: Syeda Zaidi, a woman from Hyderabad, who had been stranded on the streets of Chicago in Illinois, US, for two years, is finally set to return home with assistance from authorities. Zaidi travelled to Chicago in August 2021 to pursue her Master’s degree at Trine University.
However, she went missing and her whereabouts were unknown for a long time until a couple of Indians in Chicago came across a notice about her disappearance just a week ago. Her parents immediately reached out to the Minister of External Affairs seeking help.
In response to the plea, the Consulate General of India in Chicago stepped in to provide support for Zaidi’s medical treatment and repatriation to India. A tweet from the Consulate General expressed their satisfaction in making contact with Syeda Zaidi and offering assistance.
The tweet reads, “Happy that we could contact Syeda Zaidi and offered help, including medical assistance and travel to India. She is fit and had spoken to her mother in India. She is yet to respond to our offer of support to return to India. We stand ready to extend to her all assistance (sic).”
This intervention by the Consulate General comes as a ray of hope for Zaidi and her family, who have anxiously awaited her return for two long years. Her discovery was made possible when her parents circulated her picture among fellow Indians in the US, seeking help in locating her.
Robbed in hostel
When she was finally found, she was in a distressed state and could barely remember her own name. After receiving food and care, she managed to recount how she had ended up in Chicago instead of Detroit, where she was originally supposed to be. She had been staying in a hostel, and an unidentified person had robbed her, leaving her with very few belongings and forcing her to live on the streets.