Back in India
We were quite prepared for a lockdown, but on the ninth day the restrictions are noticeable. Since we have only recently started to plant vegetables, we are now slowly running low on vegetables and fruits. Meat has not been around for a while already, but we can do well without.
The authorities in Kerala care well for the people here, especially the poor. Even if the lockdown were to be extended, for the time being there is little need to worry about availability of basic food items. But that seems different in other parts of India: Yesterday I had a phone conversation with Bharat, a 2018 kanthari graduate. He is the founder of Mudita, a school for children from Dalit and “Tribal” families.
‘Dalit’ comes from the Hindi word ‘Dalan’ meaning oppressed or broken. Formerly known as the untouchables. Many Dalits do work in India that no-one else wants to do, they often find employment in road construction and in the cleaning of sewage systems, a highly dangerous activity in which many people die. Bharat is also a Dalit. He is committed to the children of sewage cleaners and construction workers, giving them opportunities to study so they don’t have to follow in their parents’ footsteps.
His intrinsic drive derives from the many humiliations he had to experience as a young man.
At one point though, he was invited to Hungary, to work at a school for children of the Roma community who experience similar discrimination to the Dalits in India.
The parents of the children with whom he works today are particularly affected by the crisis. Most are day-laborers who earn no more than one and a half to two euros a day on which an entire family has to survive. Currently, at the time of the lockdown, these jobs are not available.
The Indian government provides food coupons for families with such a low income. These can be exchanged for rice, dal or other staple food. The only problem is that more and more shops are out of stock and because of the lockdown supply to refill the shelves are delayed. Bharat recognized that in future there is a need for local production so villages can be self-sustainable.
The Mudita school is temporarily closed. Bharat and his wife are now taking care of those parents who do not know how to get through the remaining days of the lockdown