By Vishal Talreja | Cofounder
I am Jayashree from Pragna Vidyanikethan School, studying in 8th grade. I am part of Dream a Dream’s After School Life Skills programme from past 3 years and enrolled into the Creative Arts programme. As for my family we are three in all – me, my mother, and my younger brother who is studying in the 5th grade. My brother and I are children of a single parent as my father passed away a long time ago. With great difficulty my mother takes care of me and my brother; making ends meet while living on a rented house and on a meagre salary of Rs.8000 or $107 working as a garment factory worker was an agonizing task.
Suddenly, one day my mother lost her job due to the lockdown in the factory caused by the corona virus pandemic. With no other means or source to pay the rent and meet other essential expenses; life had become very difficult; we were feeling completely dejected and failed in our life. Many a times my mother would cry in front of us and share her problems leaving me and my brother feeling completely helpless, in her despair and hopelessness she would suggest going back to our village.
One day when I got a call from my Facilitator enquiring about my wellbeing, I shared our plight. In response to this Dream a Dream provided us with ration kit; we were really very happy as we could cook food and eat. Dream a Dream also assisted us by providing medicines for thyroid as my mother had thyroid problem. Looking at my good academic record I was also awarded a scholarship but again during the 2nd wave when the schools started online classes I could not attend as I did not have a desktop or a laptop and with only one mobile in the family it had become very difficult for me and my brother to study and many a times, I would think of giving up studies – but Dream a Dream surprised me with a new LENOVA TABLET. I was really surprised and so very happy because of this I started attending the Online classes. I am so grateful to Dream a Dream for this as some days I felt like I should stop my education due to all online classes, but now I am attending my Dream a Dream session and online classes easily and happily.
I am confident that, with all the help and support I am receiving from Dream a Dream I will surely achieve my goal of becoming a Software Engineer; support my mother and give her all comforts in life and make my brother to study well.
Thank you Dream a Dream from the bottom of my heart.
This report is an initial report primarily focusing on Dream a Dream team’s COVID Relief interventions.
COVID Relief and Response Report
As the 2nd COVID -19 wave crippled India and the chaos and devastation surged, Dream a Dream formed a core team to respond swiftly to the emerging needs from young people and their communities. In a matter of a week, the team that had over decades worked on life skills related interventions pivoted towards relief related interventions.
The team had 300-400 requests pouring in every day that meant that they had to work and respond quickly on everything from medical requirement, medical awareness, ration, food, emotional and mental health, learning kits, solidarity fund for teachers and young people apart from looking at requests for device support and scholarships. Once we got some grip on the situation the team reached out to the young people and their communities to create awareness on the safety of the vaccine and organized a vaccination drive.
Below is the support provided to young people and teachers:
Categories Completed
Ration Kit - Young people and Teachers 17,893
Medical Awareness 1193
Medical Support 490
Emotional/Mentor Support 872
Placement 31
Devices 119
Finance Support - Teacher (June + July) ** 815
Finance Support - Young People 803
Learnt at Home Kits 41
Internet Recharge 49
Vaccination Support 353
Scholarship 31
Total 22,690
*Updated figures at the time of sending the report
** For June & July. Also, not included are support extended to 19 teachers as we are waiting for a confirmation for amount getting credited to their bank account.
Achievements by the DaD COVID Warriors:
1) Responding to Medical requests: We built a strong team dedicated to respond to medical crisis and also build awareness among young people when it comes to Covid-19. We helped young people and their families with medicine support, hospital beds, oxygen support, covid tests and vaccinations. 490 young people have received medical support while 1193 young people have received covid-19 awareness.
2) Distributing Ration Kits to help families: The team was also concurrently distributing ration kits to young people, parents, and teachers in the communities as well. Given that many of the young people’s parents lost their jobs because of extended lock downs coupled with the fact that even teachers had not been paid salaries for months together, the teams understood that there were survival related challenges, where both young people and teachers were struggling to make ends meet. We supported 17893 young people and teacher with a ration support.
3) No child’s learning is left behind due to digital divide and internet support: With majority of learning going digital, many young people started missing out on education as they did not have devices to attend their class; to address this we have started to provide devices. We supported 119 young people with devices to continue education and provided support for internet data to 49 young people.
4) Providing Livelihood support: Many of the young people’s parents have lost their livelihood they struggled to make ends meet like paying rent etc.; most of the teachers are struggling with their income being cut making survival difficult. As of date 803 young people and 815 teachers have received financial support.
5) Young People needed Emotional Support: As the situation worsened, the team on the ground understood that it was critical to continue to extend emotional support as well. Young people were experiencing emotional and mental strain because of different reasons, some because exams were cancelled, others because of the lack of awareness about COVID-19, a few had also taken on additional responsibilities of family, lack of medical care. For some, their existing adversities had further heightened, for others they suddenly had become decision makers in their families, quite a few of them had to deal with the emotional turmoil within their families and some were facing economic pressure because of the loss of jobs. The Dream a Dream’s emotional support group for young people primarily focused on ensuring that the young people had someone to listen and help validate their emotions. 872 young people received emotional support from the team.
Highlight of the Career Connect programme
Highlights of the After School Life Programme
Testimonials from the Programme
“I am very grateful for the support Dream a Dream is giving me and my family. Just as in the previous lockdown where we got nutrition kits and sessions were conducted even in such difficult times helped us remain positive, this time also during the 2nd wave of COVID 19 and the resulting lockdown, Dream a Dream COVID Warriors helped us in every bit way – be it ration kits, medical assistance, emotional support etc. which helped us in a very big way to overcome the difficult times and stay positive as we were very scared to even move out of our home and completely feeling down.
We really thank Dream a Dream for all the help when we reached out to them as we were scared to move out to work and when our family was not getting support even for ration card etc.”
- Ruquiya Banu from Florida English school
Note: Consent have been obtained from all the young people.
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