Coronavirus relief in India

Thank you for all your support which is helping our beneficiaries in so many different ways. It’s because of you we are able to help so many people through so many different challenges. As we continue to recover from COVID, Joyce, our CEO of Snehalaya UK who was ‘locked in’ at our Indian projects during the pandemic reflects on her experience.

I am fortunate to have been able to live in Snehalaya’s Rehab Center since 2016. Living in India and at Snehalaya is always interesting and often a little bonkers as I adapt to Indian culture and social issues. However, little could I predict the bizzare turns COVID would bring. I was as shocked as everyone else when Ahmednagar, where the majority of our projects are based, went into lockdown two days before the state officially called for people to stay indoors. I watched in disbelief as videos of the police sweeping through the city on a March afternoon, closing shops and businesses along their way, emerged on my social media.

I live in Snehalaya’s Rehabilitation Center, alongside 200 children, around 50 women and their children seeking shelter and around 50 employees. It is also home to our head office where many staff from our other projects visit on daily basis along with supporters and visitors wishing to donate or learn more about our work.

Many of those I live alongside are HIV+ and at the time we were terrified about how the Corona virus would affect them. Fearing for the safety of all we immediately closed our Rehab Center to all but residents and essential staff were given the option to go home to their families or stay locked in with our beneficiaries. I am incredibly grateful to those staff who chose to stay with us, moving in with no idea how long they would be there and while some moved in with their families, others ‘temporarily’ left theirs with relatives, unsure when they would see them again.

I feel incredibly lucky to have been in lockdown with around 300 people, especially when I speak with those living alone at the time. Still it was scary. No-one knew how long we would be locked in for and who would survive if the pandemic spread into our sanctuary. The 50 or so staff who had stayed included caregivers, maintenance crew, drivers and kitchen staff. As we heard tragic stories from the outside world it was vital we keep our beneficiaries safe, calm and entertained.

As schools and colleges moved classes online we had to juggle 12 year groups attending a range of different institutions with limited numbers of computers available. Our own English medium school teachers stepped in offering classes to all children to help keep them on track. Our kitchen also struggled with reduced staff so we recruited older children interested in catering to help out.

As boredom set in and everyone started to go a little stir crazy we were kept busy delivering a program of daily activities, including a very popular Zumba class that I am still running today. We were also fortunate to have a large number of volunteers offering online sessions covering a whole range of activities and subjects. Everyone was missing their friends and families and we were also concerned about our staff’s wellbeing so set aside rooms for them to spend relaxation time.

We had to develop emergency plans and quarantine areas for anyone displaying symptoms and every sneeze and cough set our pulses racing. We were fortunate in the first lockdown to have not one single case in our Rehab Center. We weren’t quite so lucky in the second wave and despite our best efforts around 50% of our Rehab Center staff and beneficiaries tested positive. This created a new issue with different levels of quarantine required, no mean feat with so many people in one space. Regular testing and moving patients between many areas set aside for the different stages of infection filled our days. Again we were lucky with no serious cases to manage, something I am incredibly grateful for considering the horror stories we were hearing from elsewhere.

Being locked in meant I couldn’t physically help with the amazing COVID relief Snehalaya undertook in the community. However, daily updates, photos and videos from our project teams told of distributing food and essentials including ART medication and roadside assistance to the 40,000 migrant workers passing a few hundred meters from where we were locked in. I was truly humbled to play my small part in such devastating circumstances and wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else preferring to stay and do my bit to protect my Snehalaya family.

The contributions and encouragement we received from supporters like you meant we knew we weren’t alone and had the food and materials not only for our own needs but to ensure starvation didn’t become the biggest killer. We are still dealing with the knock on effect and are grateful to know that in a time when the whole world was experiencing such an unprecedented time you were right there with us.

Thank you.

SAVE THE DATE
Giving Tuesday, 29 November, is a fantastic opportunity to stretch your support even further. Thanks to GlobalGiving any donations made that day will earn us our share of US$1 million in match funding. Since 2015 we have raised thousands in bonus funding that helps fund committed teachers and students like Yasmeen and Ram. Look out for reminders from us nearer the time.

Links:

• Visit our website

Thank you for your support in helping us fight the COVID pandemic. once again cases are rising in India but for now we reamin safe and healthy, we hope you are too!

COVID cases may be more manageable these days but still we are facing the fallout of the virus which disrupted and claimed so many lives. We recently distributed food parcels to those worst affected and who are still suffering from loss of earnings and loved ones along with huge hospital debts.

We have also recently been tasked by our district Child Welfare Committee (CWC) to support children who lost both parents to COVID. Our Family-Based Care team was founded in 2018 and is committed to keeping children out of institutions and is currently developing family-based solutions for children in need of care and protection. This includes keeping children within their families through family strengthening and counselling support. 

At the request of the CWC they will be conducting hone visits of all the identified COVID orphans in our district to complete Social Investigation Reports (SIRs) which will investigate their home environment and relationships with the extended families they are now living with. The aim is to ensure each child is safe, secure and fully supported emotionally and developmentally. The team will also help identify any support the children or families require to continue living together.

While the best interests of the children are at the fore we are also proud that our team’s commitment and expertise in child protection has been recognised and that we have been entrusted with supporting the over-burdened District Child Protection Unit, a government service usually responsible for these investigations.

Another positive to come out of the pandemic is a passion for zumba among the girls living in our shelter home. When the first lockdown started, schools closed and movement was restricted we were challenged as to how we would keep our 200+ children active and entertained. At the same time dancer Dhruvi Shah was wondering how she could help people in lockdown. The result was #DhruviShahDance's 20-minute Zumba workouts on YouTube which we played for our girls every day. Her combinations of classic and popular hits were an instant hit and although we expanded our repertoire of videos to other instructors we kept coming back to Dhruvi with requests from the children coming in the form of the outfits she wears in each of her videos, the most popular of which was 'Pink Shoes'.

When restrictions eased, we contacted Dhruvi to see if she would be willing to come and deliver an in person class. Her response was immediate and enthusiastic and it turns out it was on her bucket list to do just such an activity in an NGO. She also took the time to do a one-to-one dance session with our cancer patient and amputee. As you can see by the smiles and energetic dancing in the video link below her visit was a smash hit.

Every penny you donate counts towards transforming lives of so many COVID survivors, thank you. This July Bonus day those pennies go even further with all donations made on 20 July being matched by GlobalGiving. Any amount you can send will go a long way in empowering more children and families still struggling post-COVID.

Links:

• See the reaction to Dhruvi's visit
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