Vibha does not know her exact age. People in her village say that she is over 80 years old. Vibha lives with her daughter, who is a widow and her three grandchildren. Her daughter works as a maid to help support the family.
Being a maid means providing for all the household chores including dusting, mopping, cleaning the bathrooms, washing dishes, washing clothes to also babysitting children and preparing meals. Maids often work long days and cannot state a complaint or preference of what chores they do not wish to do. There is usually a caste barrier, where the highly impoverished works for the privileged upper class in society. They are looked down upon as only the help and often are mistreated sometimes even physically. The price earned for all of this work is often just 3,000 rupees a month which is about $45 dollars a month.
This was the hardship her daughter had to endure to earn a living for their family, but due to the lockdown she is no longer able to work. Since the circumstances regarding COVID are constantly changing, it is unclear how long their family will be without an income.
Despite her age, Vibha made the trip to Bloom India school to pick up the food provisions her family desperately needs. She mentioned that it was getting very difficult for them to make ends meet. She was so thankful for the food, but the heavy bag of rice was too much for her to carry back to her village. Bloom India staff arranged for a ride to take her and the provisions safely back to her home. Vibha and her family can take comfort in knowing they will have enough to eat during this lockdown!
