Our Shopping List for the feeding of 5000 during the COVID-19 lockdown

A meal that comes with love.

I am writing to give a big “thank you” to the many people who responded to our cry for help last week. Thanks to your generosity we can move forward every day by serving 800 meals. This is 5000 meals served in approximately one week, all made possible because of you. It’s not cheap and it really has stretched our resources, both in terms of finances, strategic planning, not to mention the physical effort and activation of our entire ‘Project Help’ Team. Behind the scenes everyone is working incredibly hard, however only a few people who are permitted by the local magistrate to go out on the streets, to deliver and serve the food during this time of enforced national lockdown.

It really is a modern day of the feeding of the 5000, meals delivered with a message of God’s hope and love and you are part of this story and miracle.

Below, I have included a report written by one of our team (thanks Gipsa!) …and just because it’s really interesting, I have included the shopping list, for what is required in one day to cook and feed 800 people (and probably some extra toddlers and elderly).

Our weekly COVID-19 crisis shopping list

80kg rice - 3200rupees = $71.10AUD

22kg lentils – 2200rupees = $48.90AUD

7 litres mustard oil – 700rupees = $15.55AUD

6kg salt – 120rupees = $2.66AUD

4.5kg coriander powder – 1215rupees = $27AUD

3kg turmeric powder - 813rupees = $18AUD

1kg red chilli powder – 340rupees = $7.55AD

500g cumin seeds – 120rupees = $2.66AUD

6.5kg onions – 650rupees = $14.44AUD

6.5kg tomatoes – 390rupees = $8.66AUD

105kg wheat flour – 3150rupees = $70AUD

40kg vegetables – 3200rupees = $71.10AUD

2.5kg potatoes – 75rupees = $1.66AUD

3 LPG gas cylinders – 2400rupees = $53.33AUD

Total Amount Payable INR 18,573 ($412.73AUD) for per day for the meal packs.

Can you contribute to this weekly shopping list? How about sponsor the purchase of a week’s supply of rice ($71), lentils ($48), onions ($14), spices, vegetable or gas?

As you throw in a few extra “just in case” things into your shopping trolley this week, please remember our friends in Kotdwara who need these essentials. This is not panic buying, rather, it’s a matter of life or death for them! Also please pray for India, as it is a nation that is on the verge of a humanitarian crisis.

Greetings of the day

Hope you are doing well. This mail is to inform you that we are now already serving 400 people at one time a day and this service we provide two times a day so it is about 800 meals a day we are distributing. Yes brother, you are right that this service is not only for our slums family. As we have informed you before that we are requested by the government officials to provide food for the needy people (poor, daily wage labours, people who are stuck in Kotdwara due to lockdown, utensil sellers or other door to door sellers etc). For this we have got special permissions and as the government is seeing our work by our daily updates they have appointed a government employee Mr. Sumit and a policeman with us for our safety and care. We are maintaining paper work also on daily basis in which we are taking signatures, name and phone numbers of the people to whom we are distributing the food packets. We have to submit a copy of this data to the government District Magistrate Office. The Government officials are very thankful to us and they are appreciating our work. The area where we are distributing the meal packs are different slum areas of Kotdwara like Jhoolabasti, Lakdipadao, Aampadao, including our city and slum centres homes and some other places where we are getting instructions by the government office.

We are serving about 100 families on an average per day with meal packets. These people says that  “you people are like God’s angles to us, if you would not have given us food then our kids and us might have died because of hunger, as our daily food depends on our daily earnings, so if there is no earning that it means there is no food” 

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Donate - You can make your tax deductible donation by clicking any of the DONATE HERE buttons on this website. As you click the link ensure that you are donating to (WYG-IND-PHI-2020).

OR if tax deductibility is not required, your EFT donation can be made at

BSB: 062 230 (Commonwealth Bank Randwick) 

Account: 1134 1909

Account Name: Project Help India

Please write your name in the reference section so we can thank you.

And please share this blog.

This comes with our love and thanks. Our prayers are also with you during this very difficult time. May God be with you.

Slum Life, COVID, and Uber Eats 'Project Help' style

Project Director, Mr Amit Samuel visiting the slums this week - bringing food, soap, education awareness and emotional support

In Kotdwara, and across India, people are in complete lockdown for 21 days. For the people living in the slums, many are living on the brink of daily starvation. With no fixed salary they work from day-to-day and are paid accordingly. They have little savings and receive no social benefits. They are vulnerable not just because of COVID but highly at risk of malnutrition, malaria, typhoid, and other life-threatening diseases.

Yet, there is a glimmer of hope for some. The ‘Project Help’ team, has been given permission by the police to provide urgent relief. The police have shared that they were not informed about the lockdown and are not prepared in any way. 'Project Help' is the only NGO in Kotdwara that can help them. So we are out on the streets, delivering food, soap and education to desperate families and individuals ...not quite Uber Eats style but it comes with love ands compassion to their door. We are helping the homeless too. 

We can only provide this help because of our Australian supporters who are making regular donations. We are incredibly appreciative of your generosity knowing that you too, are impacted by COVID. Thank you for your sacrificial giving. Wellbeing research tells us that we grow in resilience and personal coping skills when we are connected and giving to others. We are in this together on a global scale, and despite the distance, you are part of the story of these people's lives. 

With love from Doug, Rowena, Amit and Daisy.

This article written by one of our team. It gives a sense of what it’s like in Kotdwara. This man’s tears of happiness are thanks to people like you.

“Today on 24 March, when India is still fighting with the pandemic Corona Virus Spred, with all lock downs, life has stopped all over. All shops are closed and no one can come out of their homes. Police on the patrolling found a very poor man on street near Devi Mandir who was appealing to the officials to give him some food. When the officials asked him that where he lived he showed them a plastic sheet on the road side that this is the place where he lived. He said he is a daily wage worker and due to complete lock-down he is not able to earn anything since last few days and hence he is hungry. The police made contact with Mr. Amit Samuel Sir from ‘Project Help India’, so that he could help him.

When he got the news Mr. Amit Samuel took 12 kgs of rice, a packet of bread and some biscuits to give him. By seeing the food supply the man broke into tears and thanked God and Mr. Amit Samuel a lot that at least now he can survive for some days by boiling rice.

But now we are worried that what will happen now when whole of India is going to get fully locked down for the next 21 days. How are the hundreds of families going to survive when they totally depend on their daily earnings but have no work?

With ‘Project Help’ these people may have a chance.

God please bless the humanity.”

HOW YOU CAN HELP

1. Donate - You can make your tax deductible by clicking any of the DONATE HERE buttons here on our website.

As you click the link ensure that you are donating to (WYG-IND-PHI-2020) and please let us know (by replying to this email) if you make a donation because we would love to thank you. Privacy legislation does not permit us to know that you've donated unless you tell us.

OR  if tax deductibility is not required, your EFT donation can be made at

BSB: 062 230 (Commonwealth Bank Randwick) 

Account: 1134 1909

Account Name: Project Help India

Please write your name in the reference section so we can thank you.

This is the man living on the street, mentioned in report above.

COVID-19 Bringing Hope and Help

Our Project Director, Mrs Daisy Samuel (right) presenting a Coronavirus Awareness Seminar to the slum community.

Dear Friends and Supporters

This blog is posted with both sadness and hope for what we are all experiencing at present. Our prayers are with you in whatever situation you find yourself in. We pray that you are fully aware of the presence and peace of God.

In India, the entire country began a 2-week nationwide lockdown over the weekend. Everything is ‘extreme’ in India – just imagine 1.3billion people forced into their houses with limited access to the marketplace and essential services. Just yesterday, Sunday, at 5pm, the entire nation rang bells, bang drums, clapped, banged on pots and pans and sang national songs, in solidarity and unity to support emergency workers. Such a powerful moment!

Last week we made the decision to not go ahead with SHINE last week. Our amended plans initially were to see our local team running the conference. However, the size of the gathering and the projection of how Covid-19 would be looking by mid-April, meant that it was not feasible or sensible. There is understandable disappointment, but we are confident that future opportunities will arise. Unfortunately, we have lost some money on this, but thankfully some final payments for the venue, catering and accommodation had not been paid.

Last week, our Kotdwara team, embarked on a Covid-19 Awareness Program in the slums and villages. We will continue to work closely with the slum people, as they are highly vulnerable and at risk of significant impact, should the virus spread as anticipated. A strategy is being developed for how we provide meals and medical support for this poor community. Our schools will be closed while the Indian lockdown is in operation.

We urgently seek your continued financial support. Our donation base has significantly reduced over the past two months. Doug revised the budget with our Project Director, and our challenge is that mostly every line of the budget (with the exception of rents and jeep repayments) directly helps people. It is going to be very tough for us to take away the help that they so desperately need. Please consider if you can help us. If everyone who receives this email could donate $5 a week, we would cover our immediate expenses.

You can make a donation by clicking any of the DONATE buttons located here on our website

God bless you and thank you for your support and help.

Aasma – disabled, a fighter, and determined for her daughters to be educated.

Aasma is 39 years old. She is handicapped, she can’t walk properly. Aasma is wife of Mr. Shehzad, he is a tailor, what all he earns he spends all his money in gambling. He gives her nothing from his earning. Aasma works as a dry cleaner and she irons clothes. She earns a very little amount of money but still she arranged for her children’s education. Aasma is mother of 4 children. Her elder daughter Farah (19 years) is mentally handicapped. Alisa (17 years), Manisha (14 years), Armaan (10 years). Aasma wants all her kids to get educated.

Aasma says she has faced a lot of hardships in her life. She have to manage everything for the family needs by herself. Her in-laws have thrown her out of their home for having girl child for the third time. She belongs to a poor muslim family. Her in-laws are so orthodox that they don’t want any of the girl to go to school, but Aasma fought for her children and now she lives alone in Kotdwara slum in a single rented room. 

 For SHINE Conference Aasma says last year she joined in with the dancing. It was the first time that she had ever been on a stage. She says SHINE is like a festival for her. Because of the conference she was able to make her daughters understand about their personal hygiene and health.

Najmeen - A woman with a beautiful spirit, strength and dignity

Najmmen’s story is heartbreaking yet full of hope. Here she is with two of her 5 children.

Najmmen is 40 years old. She is a single mother with 5 children. After her husband died of heart disease 12 years ago, Najmeen had to sell her home and her jewellery and possessions to pay off the many medical bills. Her 5 young children were hungry and homeless. Her seven year old son (12 years at the time) had to become a vegetable seller. Najmeen worked hard as a house maid. She also had to endure epilepsy. Her illness is now so bad, she cannot work. Her son’s work and look after their mother. All 6 family members live in a small rented room. Najmeen loved attending SHINE last year and she cannot wait for this year’s conference. She loved the sense of equality with no discrimination. She loved the freedom and joy of dancing where she forgot about all of her sorrows and troubles.,

Najmeen is 40 years old. She is mother of 5 children. Juned (21yrs) Jamshed (19 years) Shaqib (17 years) Mariyam (14 years) and Maaz Aalam (12 yrs). Najmeen is a widow. Her husband passed away twelve years ago. He was a vegetable seller, he passed away due to his heart disease. Najmeen says she sold her home and all her belongings like jewellery for the treatment of her husband. After the death of her husband her life became miserable. Her children were small and she was uneducated. She suffered a lot. She worked as house maid in various homes. She gets epileptic fits. One day her husband’s friend came to visit them and said that her elder son can come to the market to sell vegetables and he will help him. So from the next day Juned started selling vegetables. So the necessities of home runs through the daily wages of Najmeen and Juned. Juned had to leave his studies to earn money. 

 Now the family of 6 lives in a small rented room. Shaqib and Juned now sells vegetables and Jamshed drives a rented auto rikshaw. Due to the disease of epilepsy Najmeen have to left her work. Now three of her sons run the home and take care of their mother’s medication. Mariyam and Maaz Aalam goes to a government school as they can’t afford a private school.

The family is thankful to ‘Project Help’ that they have admitted Mariyam to their center, due to which she have proper meal and education. She now teaches her younger brother too. 

For Shine Conference Najmeen says she loves the conference as there is no discrimination, she loves the freedom of dancing and enjoys what she learns and experineces at the conference. She loves the sessions and enjoys them. She takes the knowledge and spreads it into the community.

Asha's Story – A Warrior Mother and Community Leader

Asha's Story

Asha is 36 yrs old. Asha is wife of Mr. Sher Singh, he is a utensil seller. Asha is mother of five children. Her children are Aman, Karan, Sandhya, Vivek and Sahil. Asha says ‘Project Help’ has had a significant role in her life. Asha is a heart patient, she was suffering from heart disease when ‘Project Help’ took the responsibility of curing her disease. She had an operation and all the expenses were paid for by Project Help. She was cook in our slums center but due to her disease she was not able to continue her job. Earlier she also used to do the work of door to door cosmetic seller, earning Rs 30 to Rs50 (60c to $1AUS) per day, but because of her disease she couldn’t continue this too. She says Aman was born with a lot of medical problems that his doctor told them that he would not live more than 14 yrs. But ‘Project Help’ has given Aman the best best treatment possible, now he is 20 years old and living a fit and healthy life. She further says that her life was full of hardships her husband was an alcoholic but through the counselling by ‘Project Help’ he stopped drinking. Asha says that her children were facing lot of problems in eduction and malnutrition but these problems have been solved by ‘Project Help’. Now three of her children are getting education in our slums center. One of her brother Rajesh was also suffering from some severe medical problems he was also cured with the help of ‘Project Help’. There are numerous stories of her hardships. Once her hut’s thatched roof was destroyed in the monsoon and that too was mended by ‘Project Help’. 

 Asha says that she is very happy by attending Shine Conference as it gives her value, this program tells women their purpose of living. She says that this is the only time when they get rest. She says they never had time to see the mirror but this Shine Conference gives them the time when they could take care of their selves. They get knowledge about themselves and understand their hygiene and health. She says that she have seen a sanitary napkin for the first time that was given to them at Shine Conference. The best thing she says that Shine Conference taught them to live happily in whatever conditions they are in. The lady should know her value, her purpose of life and her strength.

Prakashi - A woman who now believes in herself and now values her daughters

After attending SHINE, Prakashi now believes in herself. She used to think bad things about being the mother of two daughters, but now she sends them to school with her son. Shine has equipped all three women to understand their inner value and self worth.

In April the Thomas Family and a team of other Aussies will be heading to Kotdwara in North India for Project Help India’s third Women's SHINE Conference. This conference is an important aspect of the 'Project Help India' vision, and we are asking for your help to make this possible. Most of the Conference delegates are women who live in slums or jungle villages, in terrible poverty. These women can't afford to pay, so we are not charging them. We want to bless them and give them an experience they will never forget. Teenage girls, mothers, grandmothers, our teachers and community leaders will be attending. Our aim is to empower all women in all spheres of life.

Might you be able to sponsor one woman for $10, five women for $50 or ten women for $100, to be able to attend SHINE Conference You will be changing their lives in a significant way.

Prakashi’s Story

This story is of Prakashi Devi. She is of 42 years years old. Prakashi is wife of Mr. Arun (44yrs) he is an auto driver who earns 3000 rupees ($65AUS) per month. Prakashi is mother of 3 children. Akash (20 years), Kajal (16 years) and Khusboo (14 years). She works as a domestic helper and earns 1500 rupees ($32AUS) per month. 

Prakashi says she has suffered from many hardships in her life. Once her son Akash suffered from tuberculosis, and during his recovery her husband got the same infection. She says after some time her son get rid of the disease but her husband must still take the medicines. She further says that there was a time when they had just had to eat chapatis (bread) with water as they couldn’t afford any vegetables. She says that ever since her children got admission in the ‘Project Help’ Center they never slept hungry because of the meals they received at the centre. 

Prakashi says that she once thought ill things about her girls but since she attended Shine Conference she now feels she is proud of being a mother of daughters. Now she sends her daughters to the same school where her son is studying. She does more hard work to send all three of her children to a private school. She says she is now more aware of girls or lady’s health and hygiene. She adds that the best part of the SHINE Conference was when she danced on stage because she thinks she could have never got the chance to face such a crowd from a stage. SHINE has made her famous in her community. Prakashi regrets that if she would have studied as a young girl, she could have done something big in her life. She wishes that she was taught from a young age that girls are valued and important. She would have believed in herself.

For Shine Conference she says the best thing is that it is a conference of women from all ages, cultures and backgrounds, they are bound by love and unity. She has never experienced this before in her life. Prakashi cannot wait for SHINE 2020. It will be the highlight of her year.

(Report written by Project Help Field Officer)

Please keep Prakashi, and her 2 daughters in your thoughts and prayers. They are ready to SHINE some more.

If you could make a tax-deductible donation to support our work, we would really appreciate this. Click the donation button on our website.

Please also spread the word by sharing this blog if you might know people who might be passionate about women’s empowerment, human justice, anti-human trafficking, and who might be stirred to make a donation to this incredible cause (we need some help as the cost all adds up and is budgeted at $7500). Please also share Prakashi’s story with people you know whose business or company might like to support this wonderful cause. It’s tax deductible for businesses too.

SHINE 2020 - Stronger women for a Stronger India

stronger individuals

stronger families

stronger communities

and a stronger India

Raju – A Woman of Strength and Fierce Determination

After attending SHINE Conference Raju learnt about her inner strength. She has an inspiring story of fierce determination for her four sons, especially Nikhil who has a hearing disability.

In April the Thomas Family and a team of other Aussies will be heading to Kotdwara in North India for Project Help India’s third Women's SHINE Conference. This conference is an important aspect of the 'Project Help India' vision, and we can't quite believe that another year has come around.

Most of the Conference delegates are women who live in slums or jungle villages, in terrible poverty. These women can't afford to pay, so we are not charging them. We want to bless them and give them an experience they will never forget. Teenage girls, mothers, grandmothers, our teachers and community leaders will be attending. Our aim is to empower all women in all spheres of life.

Raju’s Story

This is the story of Raju. Raju is 35 years old. She is mother of 4 children, named Rajni (17 years), Ajay (16 years), Nikhil (14 years) and Ankur (10 years). She is wife of Mr. Vijenda who is a groundnut seller. He sells groundnuts by going door to door with a hand cart. Raju says she had suffered from many hardships. Earlier, her family would scrounge for food and money almost on daily basis. They would beg from their neighbours and take on odd jobs in order to just make ends meet. Her son Nikhil, a student at our city centre school is suffering from severe pain in his ears they use to bleed with puss very often. Raju says she took Nikhil to hospital but the doctors prescribed him with an operation of both ears. They say both of his eardrums have been melted and they need to be transplanted. She says one of his operation will cost 80 thousand rupees ($1800AUS), and if Nikhil will remain in this condition he will lose his listening power. When Raju was narrating this she was crying for her son as she is not able to afford such a costly operation. She has only one hope for her son and that is Project Help.

For Shine Conference Raju says after attending last year, she came to know about her strength, then she decided she will also work. After the conference she also started to sell groundnuts from her home so that she could arrange some money for his son’s operation. After listening to the experiences of the powerful ladies in the Shine Conference, she came to know about self- worth, relationships and community. Now she wants all four of her children to get educated and do some jobs, so that they could be rid of the pitiful conditions that they must endure. (Report written by Project Help Field Officer)

Raju is ready to SHINE. Please keep Raju, and many other women like her, in your thoughts and prayers.

If you could make a tax-deductible donation to support our work, we would really appreciate this. Please spread the word by sharing this blog, if you might know people who might be passionate about human rights, human justice, anti-human trafficking, and who might be stirred to make a donation to this worthwhile cause (we need some help as the cost all adds up and is budgeted at $7500). Please also share Raju’s story with people you know whose business or company might like to support this wonderful cause…it’s tax deductible for them too.

SHINE 2020 - Stronger Women for a Stronger India

stronger individuals

stronger families

stronger communities

and a stronger India.