Our Everyday Heroes – Drawings From An Open Shelter Home In Tamil Nadu

“Not all superheroes wear capes,” is a common sentiment across the world, acknowledging the real frontline heroes of the COVID19 crisis – medical staff, delivery service personnel, social workers, police officers and the like. In praise on these heroes on home ground, the Tamil Nadu Police organized a state-level drawing competition for children, as a way to engage them creatively, and open their eyes to the heroes in action, protecting each of them against the pandemic during the lockdown.

In the 11-16 years’ age group, 10 boys from our open shelter home partner in Salem, Tamil Nadu– Terre Des Hommes, participated in this competition and submitted their entries, a refreshing activity at a time when extreme boredom was engulfing them.

Rescued from railway station in the area, these boys came hailed from the Northern and Eastern parts of the country. Either being trafficked, lost and separated from their families or having run away from home due to abuse and violence, the boys are engaged in non-formal education, indoor play activities and learning avenues during their time at the shelter home.

With the extension of the lockdown, many of the boys could not be repatriated back to their homes, making the open shelter their temporary home. When loneliness and monotony were beginning to settle in, this drawing competition came in good time, to distract them and engross them from the lockdown woes.

From doctors and police to farmers, children depicted superheroes through their drawing…