WATCH: Sheldon Jackson distributes food items among migrant workers amid COVID-19 lockdown

Daily wage workers are struggling for foods after the lockdown in the country due to Coronavirus pandemic.

Sheldon Jackson comes forward to help migrant workers | ScreengrabSheldon Jackson has joined the bandwagon of Indian cricketers who are helping the needy amid the COVID-19 crisis in the country.

See More: BCCI contributes INR 51 crores to Prime Minister's relief fund to fight COVID-19

On Tuesday (March 31), the Saurashtra batsman uploaded a video on Twitter in which he can be seen distributing food items among the migrant workers, who are returning to their homes following the 21-day lockdown announcement by the Government of India last week.

According to Jackson, who played an instrumental role in Saurashtra’s maiden Ranji Trophy triumph last month, the pain of homeless people prompted him to do something.

“We have a tradition in the family that whenever I do well on the field, we feed stray animals – dogs and cattle – for a few days. So when I came back to Bhavnagar after the final, we were doing the same,” he told Sportstar.

“Once my stay was extended after the Irani Cup was postponed and that was followed by the lockdown, we could sense the helplessness of these needy people, who often congregate at the street close to our home to get their daily-wage jobs,” Jackson said.

The 33-year-old also threw light on the plight of daily wage workers.

“It’s been an overwhelming experience, honestly. Every day I see many of those have tears in their eyes as they admit they haven’t eaten anything for two or three days. The government is doing the best it can, but in our country, it’s so difficult to reach out to everyone.

“Most of these people don’t even know anything about the pandemic. All they know is there is some bimari (disease). I am just doing my little bit to offer them a snack and some water or juice,” Jackson stated.

Recently, the superstars of Indian cricket such as Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Sourav Ganguly, Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Gautam Gambhir, among others have come forward to help the underprivileged by contributing to various relief funds set up by the government.

As of April 2, the overall number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India has crossed the 1900-mark with over 45 deaths reported in the country due to the deadly virus.

Globally, the outbreak has claimed more than 44,000 lives and infected over 900,000 people thus far.

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 02 Apr, 2020

    Share Via