As the world battles COVID-19, 15-year-old Siddharth (name changed), is doing his bit, by stitching rudimentary masks for the underprivileged, helping them prevent the spread of novel coronavirus. Siddharth is among a few other adolescent boys living and undergoing vocational training of stitching at Bal Ashram, a shelter home founded by Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, for the rehabilitation of children rescued from the clutches of child labour and trafficking.
For most part of the day and some hours in the evening, the four to five boys at Bal Ashram in Viratnagar near Jaipur help their trainers making rudimentary masks for dwellers in the nearby villages and hamlets so they could protect themselves from the dreaded coronavirus pandemic.
This effort is a result of their training at the Bal Ashram and it sprouts from their sense of compassion and empathy for people, including children, in the nearby villages.