SHILLONG: With the nationwide closure of schools in view of the pandemic, what do you think the children have been doing? Keeping themselves as busy as a bee with e-learning, board games, video games, reading, writing, et al? Well, an eight-year-old in New Delhi has been keeping her hands full by rendering succour to the frontline workers, who have been relentlessly battling the pandemic.
Eight-year-old Licypriya Kangujam from Manipur, who also happens to be an environmental activist, has been developing low-cost face shields for the doctors and the policemen in New Delhi despite an incessant rise in COVID-19 cases.
Kangujam, who has been using her piggy bank savings to make face shields for sanitation workers, has named the face shield ‘Liface Protective Gear’ where ‘Li’ stands for her name.
It may be mentioned that she has also converted her reading room into a production house.
“These protective face shields are designed without any 3D printer, which is very expensive to afford. All the materials that have been used in making these shields are stationery materials that we use in our everyday life. We are trying to keep it as cost-effective as possible and as easy as possible to produce. I use a better-quality 250-micron acrylic sheet which is completely recyclable. These face shields will help protect them for a longer time without much discomfort. My little sister and mom has also been helping me in the production of these face shields,” she said.
“I use only an acrylic sheet, sponge, hot glue gun, a paper puncture and an elastic band. We can make about 30 pieces each day. I spend only about Rs. 15 to make one piece. We are donating them for free of cost. I was inspired by a 12-year-old Mexican friend, Jorge Martinez Gracida,” she added.
Expressing gratitude to the frontline workers, she said, “I’m very glad that I could contribute a little of our knowledge to them. Our aim is to keep them safe, who are risking their lives to keep us safe. I am happy that I could finally contribute to the ongoing fight. This is a little bit an 8-year-old girl could’ve done for this country”.
“We even received an order from a hospital to supply 10,000 pieces. They wanted to pay her Rs 100 per piece but she simply declined the offer as she is quite busy with her daily tight schedule for various climate events. But, she will be making another 500 pieces and will be shipping them to her birthplace, Manipur, as the COVID-19 cases there have surged,” her mother, Bidyarani Kangujam, told the media.
The child activist has, so far, made more than 1000 pieces of face shields in the last 3 months and had distributed them to Delhi Police, sanitary workers, and various hospitals including AIIMS.
Despite distributing face shields, she has also been feeding the stray animals amid the lockdown.