Mission: Save an Indian family from the deadly second-wave!

The second wave of CoVid is deadlier and not giving us much time to respond. We are now going to experience another horror as the virus is spreading to our countryside. Udyogini's preliminary survey has surfaced that 30% of people don't believe the virus is killing people, while 60% aren't planning to vaccinate for various misconceptions. The minimum employment guarantee programme is on a halt right now, and hence people living on daily wage income are jobless. About 30% have no food at home, while another 20%, primarily women, have lost their enterprises or have incurred heavy losses due to restriction on mobility.

The families in remote villages are getting affected at three levels:

1. The infection is spreading fast in rural areas with little knowledge about the disease coupled with a lack of conviction (people in rural India do not take the virus seriously nor report infections)
2. Those contracting infections are not following CoVid appropriate behaviour - they aren’t getting tested or home-quarantined. More than 60% of villagers are not interested in vaccinations due to prevalent myths, including that the vaccines kill people or leave them impotent
3. Several people have lost their jobs due to restricted movement is pushing them to poverty and taking expensive credits from moneylenders.

The situation is grim, and there is an urgent need to intervene - with our field team, we are taking the following actions -

1) Providing dry rations to most vulnerable families 

2) Providing health and hygiene kits, including masks 

3) Conducting awareness programmes about the pandemic vis-a-vis counselling for busting myths

4) Encouraging family members (eligible) to register for vaccination

5) Forging partnerships with local administration and health functionaries to support infected people and for vaccination, where applicable

6) Cash support to those who are on the verge of falling out of the safety net completely

7) Linking vulnerable families with government social protection schemes

8) Counselling and awareness about self-isolation for people with mild symptoms and creating awareness about health advisories by the government for mild patients

9) Supporting for FAQs and SOS calls by linking them with appropriate and legitimate authorities and systems for healthcare 

10) Creating a cadre of youth as volunteers for faster, quicker information and equipping these young minds with the correct information, resources and mental health support for not losing hope 

11) Supporting the most vulnerable women to set up a nano-enterprise to support their families, being the head of the household.

Over 1,000 people have been already counselled and encouraged to sign up for the vaccination. Another 500 people with mild symptoms have been encouraged to self-isolate and prevent the spread further. Udyogini has started assessing other immediate needs across 150 villages, but we need to do more.

We cover about 10,000 families, and a minimum unit cost for one family goes to USD 110 for all the activities mentioned above. Of these, 3,000 families need immediate food and other supplies to get by for a month. Your donation would help us work faster and reach these families quickly. Any amount of donation will save a family from hunger, poverty and the pandemic.