Physically challenged woman & man in JK use own resources to make masks despite facing odds
Madhuballa, 29, a resident of Mantalai is manufacturing face masks despite suffering from hand deformities while 35-year-old Pawan Dev Singh from Sansoo village, who has to crawl in order to move around, has used all the savings from his bank account to ensure that his fellow villagers get at least one mask each for their protection from the infection.
Both of them are making use of the tailoring courses they did in the past and their efforts have won them a lot of admirers after their videos went viral on social media.
"I am preparing masks and distributing these among my relatives and villagers free of cost. It is giving me a lot of happiness," said Madhubala, who has hand deformities since childhood.
She is facing a lot of difficulty in cutting and stitching the masks even though the sewing machine can be operated with her feet. Madhubala said she started making the masks voluntarily after observing that there was shortage of the product in the market and that it was very important for people to use face covers to fight the virus.
"Anything is possible if you have a strong will," one of her relatives is heard saying in one of the videos which have gone viral, earning a lot of compliments for the disabled woman.
In another video Singh, who is 70 percent Divyang and crawls to be able to move, is being given a standing ovation by the bank staff while withdrawing money to buy raw material to manufacture the masks.
"Divyang pension is the only source of my income and I have used all my savings to prepare masks for free distribution," Singh told .
He said coronavirus provided him an opportunity to serve society. "As I can handle a sewing machine, I decided to dedicate myself to preparing face masks," he said.
"I was worried after I spent all my money in buying and making the masks. Then the good news came that the Prime Minister had deposited Rs 1,000 in my account and I immediately withdrew the money and bought more cloth," he said.
Singh said he is not worried about his future even after spending all his savings on making masks.
Lauding Singh's efforts, Union Minister Jitendra Singh who is MP from the Udhampur-Doda-Kathua parliamentary constituency, wrote on twitter, "If he can do it, why can't each one of us? Divyang Pawan Dev Singh from village Sansoo, preparing masks from his Divyang pension and distributing free of cost."
Acknowledging Singh's contribution despite being differently abled, District Development Commissioner, Udhampur, Piyush Singla admired his "indomitable spirit".
"District is proud of you Mr Pawan Dev. Corona warriors like you and many others (are) collectively helping to fight this battle. Salute your indomitable spirit," he said. CORR/TAS AB RDMRDM