Amid COVID-19 outbreak, a Mumbai police officer adopts 50 tribal children

Numerous children, particularly those from rural areas, have seen their issues, both financial and others, get worse as a result of the pandemic. And for them everything has become a battle, from basic food and nutrition to education. For these children, people like Rahena Sheikh Bagwan, a Mumbai police officer, are nothing short of lifesavers.

Rahena has earned the name of 'Mother Teresa,' as well as the honours showered upon her by her senior, police commissioner Hemant Nagrale, for adopting 50 tribal children from Maharashtra's Raigad district. Rahena, who has been a police officer since 2000, has children of her own and explains how she came to adopt the children as they were planned to celebrate her daughter's birthday.

"Last year, we were going to celebrate our daughter's birthday. Then I found Dnyani Vidyalaya in Raigad's Waje Taluka. I approached the principal, who invited us. The majority of the children come from low-income families. Some of them wore no shoes at all. We used the money we had set aside for my daughter's birthday and Eid shopping to help them "Rahena said the news agency (TNIE).

Her family, she added, has been quite supportive of her actions. She described how they visited the school for the first time after discussing it with the principal. She took the decision after being impressed with the discipline imparted to the children and how well-behaved they were.

Not only that, but Rahena has continued to volunteer in support of the country's COVID-19 situation. Rahena has done it all, from organising medicines and hospital beds to now assisting these youngsters.

"In the twenty-first century, we cannot imagine people going to bed hungry and children without proper education. We should contribute without expecting anything in return," she says.

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