IDUKKI: While most of his peers pass their time on social media, 13-year-old Mathew Benny spends his days in the dairy farm attached to his house and the field nearby, where he sends his 14 cows to graze, in Karukappally, Thodupuzha. After his father, Benny, passed away last October, this Class 8 student has shouldered a workload that might have made a grown-up person wince. Following the example of his father, he decided to take care of his father’s preserve, the family farm.
“He is superhuman. He has always tried to take care of people around him and the cattle is part of his life,’’ says his mother, Shiny. From cleaning the cattle shed to distributing milk, Mathew’s days are busy even during the lockdown. And he manages to attend his academic sessions online at 6am every day. He milks the cows too, a skill he learnt from his father.
“My elder brother, George, helps me clean and feeding the cows, while I would milk them and supply it in our neighbourhood and milk society. I milk five cows every day,” Mathew says.The family sells around 45 litres of milk a day.
However, maintaining a farm requires precise knowledge. The officials with the animal husbandry department are providing them with the necessary support, impressed by Mathew’s enthusiasm. His brother is in Class 10 and sister, Rose Mary, is in Class 7. All three are students of Vimala Pubic School, Vettimattam.