Only four months ago, Preeti and her sisters watched their mother, Rani*, gasping for breath as she lay on a bed at home wearing a mask connected to an oxygen cylinder. She died that morning of an unknown illness.
"My sisters and I sat there crying. We didn't know what to do. I felt a huge weight on me as soon as she left us," says Preeti, who wishes her mother said something to her in those last moments.
Rani's health had deteriorated after Yash had a preterm birth. She was treated in a district hospital for a month after her delivery but died only a few days after she returned home from the hospital.
Preeti cooked, washed clothes and took care of her siblings single-handedly after her mother's death. Her father, Ravi*, would go to work and return home late in the evening. And ever since he lost his wife, he was remorseful, blaming himself for not being able to save her life. He stopped talking to people. Preeti says, "It was as if he was only living to look after us, his children."
Just when Preeti was beginning to cope with the sorrow of losing her mother, her world came crashing down again. Ravi developed a cough and fever for four days, which he thought was normal flu. On the fifth day, he began feeling breathless and died without saying a final goodbye to his now orphaned children.
When her father didn't open his eyes, Preeti immediately ran to her uncle's house asking them to come help. Her uncle came running and realised Ravi was dead. Preeti kept persuading him to help her father, not knowing what had happened. When their uncle told them that their father had also passed away, the children wept for hours together.
Rani was 36 and Ravi was 40.
Now fear grips Preeti, as all she can see ahead of her and her siblings is an uncertain future. Although her uncle and aunt are around them whenever they need help, Preeti says they have three daughters of their own.
"At that moment I felt like now if my mother and father are not there, who will look after us? When they were there, they wanted to educate us, now who will educate us?" says Preeti, adding "I don't know what will happen."
Preeti dreams of becoming a doctor. "This was my father's dream, he wanted me to be a doctor. He used to say this to me over and over again."
Anya says, "I want to be a police officer and my mother always supported me and said she will make me one."
According to Indian government data between 1 April and 25 May, as many as 577 children were orphaned in the wake of the second wave of coronavirus. Besides sorrow, grief and anxiety, children orphaned are at greater risk of neglect, abuse and exploitation.
World Vision India is doing everything possible to protect these children, starting with supplying dry ration to Preeti and her siblings. When schools in rural areas reopen, World Vision India will assist and support the children's education. The Community Development Volunteer is also in constant touch with the children and is counselling them during this difficult time.
* Names have been changed to protect the children's privacy.
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