KOCHI: When discharged from Ernakulam General Hospital after the delivery of a baby girl, 30-year-old Hyrunnisa and her husband Mohammed, both hailing from Patna in Bihar, were clueless on where to go with their two girl children who are three and two years old, along with the toddler, during the lockdown.
The only option left with them was to take shelter under the North Overbridge where they used to stay earlier and the poor family shifted to the place despite concerns about the safety of the girl children.
Though the government provides food and essential groceries for migrants, the authorities were unaware of the plight of the poor family. However, now the parents can heave a sigh of relief as they have been shifted to an independent house, rented by a group of volunteers, on the Second Cross Road at Manappattiparambu near Kaloor in the city.
From the face of Hyrunnisa, who is taking care of the children at the house, itself one can read the relief they are experiencing now. The elder children can now run around and play freely inside the two-room house while the toddler can sleep well on the cot along with the mother. Above all, they can stay without fear. The kind-hearted volunteers provided medicines and essential groceries for preparing food on their own.
The destiny of the family changed when volunteers of Nanma Foundation noticed their plight while supplying food to the destitute and migrant workers in the streets a week ago. The volunteers were not ready to leave them in the street and Suhail Hashim, secretary of Nanma Foundation, shifted the family to a room in a building owned by him at Pulleppady.
“We could not leave them there after seeing the infant and small children living in such a pathetic state. Subsequently, we shifted them to Pulleppady and when we got an independent house, we shifted them to the new accommodation,” said Suhail Hashim. The rent of the house and other expenses are borne by members of the foundation.
“The family arrived in the city one-and-a-half years ago for treatment of the elder girl. The doctors suggested surgery which costs lakhs of rupees. Hence they decided to stay here and do various jobs to find out the amount. Mohammed used to go for rag-picking and thereby earns a livelihood for the family. “With the lockdown, he lost his income as he could not venture out,” said Shaiju Jamal, a volunteer.