When India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a lockdown to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus on March 24, he gave the country just four hours’ notice.

This was disastrous for India’s millions of migrant workers, who often leave their villages for jobs in the country’s large cities. These jobs are usually as day laborers, where wages are low, and savings non-existent. Suddenly, people were stranded far from home, unable to travel, and with little or no money to survive.

In Mumbai, the Jesuit St. Stanislaus school has opened a migrant relief camp for 100 men; in the Catholic school’s Arrupe Hall, 25 women are housed.

“St. Stanislaus High School decided to take a step forward in making available its premises to house outstation workers during the lockdown, realizing that many had lost not only jobs but were also not able to remain in their housing, for various reasons,” explained Jesuit Father Frazer Mascarenhas, the manager of the facility.