How Will India’s Poor Survive the Coronavirus Pandemic?
Two children sit side by side in the dumpster. I cropped the photo to protect the children’s identity.
On March 25th, the government swiftly shut down thousands of businesses and all modes of public transportation due to the heightened coronavirus outbreak (Venhataramakrishnan, R., April, 2020). Thousands of migrant workers, who worked for only a days’ wages were forced to return home by foot (Abi, Habib, April 2020). Millions of poor families and singles feared for their lives as they checked their food storage, finances and assets.
India has a diverse population of 1 billion people. For the low income families of three or more; mattresses line one roomed floor shacks and metal sheets hang as roofs. They have no electricity, toilets or running water. The elite though have four to six bedroom homes with porcelain toilets, hot, high pressured showers and wifi all day.
Unfortunately, adults, teenagers and children whom are crippled, widowed, orphaned and/or jobless end up on the streets. Street children especially have to be savvy as they have to think and act for themselves. “According to one estimate, Delhi has more than 70,000 street children. But Mr Gupta says that number is really much higher ” (G. Pandey, April 2020). Think about all those children whom don’t have homes and parents to protect them from the outside evils of the world.
Some volunteer organizations help try to elevate the problem but the problem has gotten to big. "Sometimes people come and distribute food. I have no idea who they are, but it's very little. We only get to eat once in two-three days” (G. Pandey, April 2020). How will they find other means to support their starving bodies with so little to eat?
During this desperate time, people, whom may be poor themselves, take advantage of the poorer, weaker and more vulnerable. A woman, for example, may come into a poor village dressed in a high stylish sari. She meets with several families and shares her vision for the eldest girl child of the family.
“She will work in a classy hotel in Mumbai (Bombay), India. Serving the richest of the richest,” the woman says.
Some of the parents woo’d by the opportunity, accept the offer and send their girl child away in hopes for future monetary gains which will provide for their large families.
Unfortunately days, months and years go by without a word from their girl child. The girl child wasn’t even given an opportunity to prove herself instead she was sex trafficked to a brothel in Mumbai. She was taken away from her familiar surroundings and raped up to 25 times a day. The girl child threatened, beaten and drugged to keep her dependent on the traffickers. Therefore, the parents lost all hope of ever seeing their lovely girl child again and receiving financial stability for their other family members.
Therefore, the poor continue to question their circumstances as darkness looms and they are caught in more dangerous and uncertain times than the elite. The street, crippled man wonders how will I get around to government issued feeding stations with bandaged up feet, knees and legs? The street child hides and wonders whom will love me for me? And how do I keep myself safe from the labor and sex traffickers, drug lords and criminal gangs, who dare to make the next buck off of me? The 80 year old, widowed grandmother lays her head down with a hungered stomach and tear filled eyes and wonders aloud, will I die alone with no one to think of me again.
Email me if you want to donate money for families whom are going hungry during this time or email me if you want to learn more about human trafficking and how to protect your communities or the communities in India.
Learn to do good,
Seek Justice,
Bring justice to the fatherless,
Plead the widow’s cause.
-Isaiah 1:17
Sources:
Abi-Habib, (April, 2020) Millions Had Risen Out of Poverty. Coronavirus Is Pulling Them Back. The New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/world/asia/coronavirus-poverty-unemployment.html
Pandey, G. (April, 2020) Coronavirus: The children struggling to survive India’s lockdown. BBC News. Retrieved from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52210888
Syndicated Content (May 1, 2020) The Latest: India extended virus lockdown another 2 weeks. NPR. Retrieved from: https://www.9and10news.com/i/the-latest-india-extends-virus-lockdown-another-2-weeks/
Venhataramakrishnan, R. (April 08, 2020). Coronavirus zones: What is India’s plan to handle coronavirus after the national lockdown ends? Scroll In. Retrieved from: https://scroll.in/article/958534/containment-zones-what-is-indias-plan-to-handle-coronavirus-after-the-national-lockdown-ends