Vrindavan widows make designer masks

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, widows living in ashrams here made designer face masks based on the temple city of Vrindavan and Lord Krishna to mark International Widows Day on Tuesday.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, widows living in ashrams here made designer face masks based on the temple city of Vrindavan and Lord Krishna to mark International Widows Day on Tuesday. Over 20 widows joined the programme and working on 1,000 “designer” silk and cotton fabric face masks, NGO Sulabh International, which is supporting their initiative, said.

These women had started making face masks when the nationwide coronavirus lockdown was imposed in March this year. They make 200 to 300 masks daily. The Vrindavan-themed mask was launched during a webinar which was attended by various people from all over the world. The Sulabh International extended support by providing training and fabric with special designs. “So far, they have prepared around 5,000 face masks of cotton and khadi, which have been distributed among police, government employees, sanitation workers,” the NGO said. The widows are now hoping to find partners, including online portals and Khadi outlets, to ensure the sale of their designer face masks, Sulabh International vice-president Vinita Verma said. "Earlier, around 25 widows living in various ashrams took lessons from our trainers and prepared more than 5,000 masks for free distribution," she said.

The United Nations has been observing International Widows' Day on June 23 since 2011 to draw attention to their voices and experiences and to galvanise the unique support that they need. “There are an estimated 258 million widows around the world, and nearly one in 10 lives in extreme poverty. But, the actual number is likely to be much higher and to grow further as coronavirus and its related effects on health continue to rage around the world,” the UN states.