The nationwide lockdown, necessitated by the outbreak of novel coronavirus, resulted in conflicting thoughts and mixed emotions for Sujit Mahapatra.
“COVID-19 represented an alarming threat, but I was glad to have got time to focus on projects I normally couldn’t have,” said the founder of Bakul Foundation, a movement for volunteerism in Odisha.
“I wanted to go out and help. But with my father in coma at home, me and my wife having health issues, I decided to stay at home,” says Mahapatra.
Just before the lockdown, they had shifted about 30,000 donated books to our house to set up new BAKUL libraries. “The first step is to sort the books by genre and author, not to mention, age and competency of readers. It had been overwhelming and intimidating for the volunteers, not knowing where to start… I didn’t get the time to get it organized. Now, I have managed to get a lot done,” informs Mahapatra, a full-time volunteer of Bakul.
Bakul had started publishing books for children in Odia. So the first thing Mahapatra did once the lockdown started, was to mobilize people across the world. “They were from Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Singapore, Toronto… all forced to stay at home. I thought this was a great opportunity to work on writing or illustrating manuscripts. Together, we are working on more than 10 new books,” revealed Mahapatra.
Through Bakul, Sujit has been trying to demonstrate the power of volunteerism in the fields of education, environment and arts. A major goal of Bakul is to promote reading and creativity among children and Bakul has started a library movement in the state and has set up 25 libraries entirely with the resources of volunteers. Bakul has also started publishing picture books for children.
In trying to demonstrate the power of volunteerism in the fields of education, environment and arts, Mahapatra has also been trying to promote reading and creativity among children. Bakul has started a library movement in the state, having already set up 25 of them with the resources of volunteers.
“I am working most of the time that I’m awake. But I keep alternating between despair and desperation on the one hand, at not going out to help at this critical juncture, and dreams for the post-COVID world and working for that,” signs off Mahapatra.
