School principal, who had taught children the joy of sharing their learning and little pleasures with the less privileged in their neighbourhood, spent her last years at the Loreto residence in Entally
A supplier of stationery to schools whose business has been closed for more than a year visited an NGO in Entally and donated 50kg of potatoes and 25kg of rice.
A group of parents whose children have just started school donated rice, pulses, flour and edible oil to the NGO.
People from all walks of life have come forward to donate rations to Kolkata Mary Ward Social Centre (KMWSC), a wing of the Loreto Congregation in South Asia, after the NGO put up a post on social media.
In the post, KMWSC had sought help to provide lunch to 200 underprivileged people staying in a Covid safe home.
At Convent Lane’s Cafe & Bakery, an initiative of Kolkata Mary Ward Social Centre, it was a busy Sunday. “We had thought that we would not be baking this year, but inquiries started coming from November and we started baking on December 10. It will continue till December 24,” said Sister Monica Suchiang, the director of KMWSC.
“It is good because we can make up for some of the losses the Cafe suffered during the lockdown.”
The Cafe & Bakery baked 50kg on Sunday and slots were given to clients to collect their cakes mixed and baked.
Kookie Jar has slashed its Christmas cake variety this year. “We would have 20 special items in previous years, but this year we have five or six. Usually, in winter there would be people from across the world and country in Calcutta, but it has not been so this year,” said Barman, of Kookie Jar.
Adolescent boys are as vulnerable to trafficking as girls, said activists and others trying to prevent human trafficking.
Boys are trafficked to work as bonded labourers in jewellery units, zari workshops and massage parlours, and also to peddle drugs, the activists said.
Most of the victims are tempted to take up the offers because of financial constraints at home. They are forced to work for 12 hours a day and are paid peanuts or nothing at all, said a senior official of International Justice Mission, an NGO involved in prevention of child trafficking and rescue of victims.
Last year, the NGO with the help of Chennai police had rescued 61 boys from a jewellery factory there. Among the boys, 44 were minors and 33 from South 24-Parganas.