On any other day, the students of Calcutta Rescue education centres would be in their schools, learning, playing and having fun with their friends. But in the lockdown period, they are forced to stay at home.
However, students are trying their best to communicate with the teachers regularly either through their own phones or the CR area helpers’ or their neighbours who have access to smartphones. They chat in Whatsapp groups, have video conference calls, asks for study tips and share their thoughts about the current situation as well.
So when the teachers asked them to share a glimpse of their lives under the lockdown- they did it through art.
Arpita Mondal, aged 11, wants to share with you a picture she drew of her life during the lockdown in Kolkata. She is sharing a single room with her whole family in a slum in the Dilerjung neighbourhood in the North of the city.
She said: “We are inside our small room. My mother is cooking and father is scolding my brother because he is very naughty. I am helping my sister in her studies and doing my homework given by my CR teachers. We cannot go out during this period.”
From the window of his family home in a slum in North Kolkata, 10-year-old Aryan Shaw has never seen the sky looking so clear.That is because the three-week coronavirus lockdown has drastically reduced the amount of pollution in the city.
Aryan said: “I can see a clearer sky now but only from within my small home. I want to go to school and play with my friends.”
In another morning, Somnath Doloi, 14, would have been taking part in creative activities such as art, dance, drama and sport that Calcutta Rescue organises for all its students on Saturdays.
These are doubly important for youngsters like Somnath, who lives in a slum near Tala Park School where there is little opportunity to do such things.But these are not normal times, so Somnath has used his artistic talents to show how he is feeling about not being able to go to school during the COVID-19 virus lockdown.
Life is very hard now for the parents of Firdaus Parveen as neither of them is able to work to earn money for food and other essentials. Firdaus has captured them by the door of their little home a few days ago, staring out into an uncertain future.Firdaus recently took her Madhyamik exams, board exams for 16 year-olds, and hopes for a bright future herself thanks to the education she is receiving from Calcutta Rescue.
“Where is our ray of hope? Where are our heroes?” Those are the questions posed by Mou Das, 14, as Kolkata enters its third week of lockdown. Only Mou’s grandmother, who ekes out a living by selling vegetables near their home in Nimtala, is bringing in any money to feed the family at present. Mou said: “I can’t think beyond the moment. We are somehow managing but I don’t know how long my granny can work and we will be able to fight the situation.”
Hundreds of other kids in slums are being supported through this crisis by the team Calcutta Rescue, who are providing them with food, distance learning and psychological support.
If you are moved by the children’s arts you can help this effort by making a donation now via our website.
Stay up-to-date with what we do!
Subscribe to our website and receive our monthly e-newsletter.