India to date has 5865 confirmed cases of COVID19, with Delhi being the worst hit area. Authorities are worried that Indias healthcare system will not be able to cope as the virus spreads throughout the country. They are converting sports stadiums and train carriages into make shift hospitals. Tamil Nadu, where Nandri is situated reported a fresh spike of cases and presently the region has 834 people who have contracted the disease. This means that worryingly the area has the second highest number of infections in India.
Our aim is to try to stop the spread of the virus throughout our Nandri villages by educating our families on the importance of frequent hand washing and social distancing. As much as the recommended increase and implementation of these rules has been an adjustment to us in first world countries, this is going to be so much harder for our rural families in a 3rd world country who have no access to toilets or running water and live with large families in small dwellings. One of Nandri’s projects is to improve the living standards of their families by helping them to build toilets and have access to clean water. We are making progress but still have a long way to go.
In rural India the poor rarely have proper sanitation in their villages – defecating in fields is the norm. They have no access to running water in their homes and have to fetch water daily in buckets from the well to wash hands and rinse cooking utensils. This is why our education programme is so important for our families so that they understand the importance of these new measures to avoid being infected. We have implemented our programme already, we are also distributing leaflets promoting hand washing and it is being very welcomed by our mothers and their families. The mothers are also making masks for themselves and their families and also giving them to the police and other public figures.
During the 21 day Government lockdown our mothers will have no income. We have organised for the immediate distribution of emergency money to each family to help them through this extremely difficult time. Our mothers do not have access to bank accounts so this means our Nandri staff travelling to all of their villages in order to distribute the emergency funds to them. This in itself will be a huge undertaking but it is already underway. This will provide our families with enormous relief, not having to worry how they can afford to feed their children and themselves.
Dealing with COVID19 is going to be a very frightening time for all our Nandri mothers and their families but we will be there for them in every way possible to help them get though this catastrophe. Without the help of our generous sponsors, none of this would be possible, so on behalf of all our families, thank you – or in the Tamil language, a big “Nandri” to you all.