A lot of children, especially ones from rural areas have seen their problems, both financial and otherwise, increase after the pandemic. Right from access to basic food and nutrition to education, everything has become a struggle. For these children, people like Rahena Sheikh Bagwan, a cop from Mumbai, is nothing short of a life-saver.
Having adopted 50 tribal children from Maharashtra's Raigad district, Rahena has rightfully earned the title of 'Mother Teresa', along with the honours bestowed upon her by her senior, police commissioner Hemant Nagrale.
Working in the force since 2000, Rahena has children of her own, and talks about how she came to adopting the children when they were planning to celebrate her daughter's birthday.
"We were about to celebrate our daughter’s birthday last year. Then I learnt about Dnyani Vidyalaya in Raigad’s Waje Taluka. I spoke to the principal and he invited us. The kids mostly come from poor backgrounds. Some of them didn’t even have footwear. We used up the money saved for my daughter’s birthday and Eid shopping to help them," said Rahena to The New Indian Express.
She also said that her family has been immensely supportive of her decisions. She talked about how they first went to visit the school after discussing it with the principal. She was impressed with the discipline that the children were taught, and how well-behaved they were, and that's when she made the decision.
Not just this, Rahena has continued to put her foot forward to volunteering towards the country's COVID-19 crisis. Right from arranging medicines and hospital beds to now helping these children, Rahena has done it all.
"We cannot see people going to bed without food and children without education in the 21st century. We should help without any expectation," she says.
(With inputs from The New Indian Express).
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