Caste, privilege, understanding and compassion

I am incredibly proud to share with you how this week our team has faced and challenged some unspoken societal rules in the midst of the ongoing COVID crisis in India. The team inspires me with their empathy and awareness of the needs of those around them and in doing so, they make themselves vulnerable.

Imagine being part a group of people in Indian society who are regarded as so ‘low’ on the invisible caste hierarchy that they are not recognised as needing help during this pandemic? Yet these people work tirelessly (and with great pride in what they do) to keep people and their community safe. This is the story of the sanitation workers - the street cleaners of India. I have travelled close to twenty times to India over the past decade, and only this week have I learnt about these people. When I think about it, they are on the streets of every city. Yet, they are mostly unrecognised …just like the caste structures that bind and render them both powerless and accepting of their lot in life.

Also, this week I have started to read a challenging and most compelling book – ‘Caste: The Lies That Divide Us.’ Pulitzer Prize winning, bestselling author Isabel Wilkerson examines the unspoken caste system that shapes our society and shows how our lives today are defined by a hierarchy of human divisions. I have only read 2 chapters and it is already clear that I am constantly benefiting from a life of privilege defined by a powerful, invisible and unspoken system of divisions. Caste is here in Australia, it’s in the USA, and it’s a real and ugly force in India with millions born victim to the “lingering, millennia-long caste system.” Wilkerson powerfully writes;

“As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theatre, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power—which groups have it and which do not. It is about resources—which caste is seen as worthy of them and which are not, who gets to acquire and control them and who does not. It is about respect, authority, and assumptions of competence—who is accorded these and who is not.”

The story of the sanitation workers of Kotdwara (written by Project Help Field worker)

In India trash is not separated, most is dumped on the street and everything is mixed and put in one bag. Many times, and often under extreme weather conditions, sanitation workers encounter sanitary pads, expired medicines and broken glasses in trash bags. A lack of protective care makes sanitation work difficult even during normal times. During the pandemic, these factors make the street cleaners far more susceptible to the virus. When other countries are giving their sanitation workers the best facilities and protective equipment, in India these people use only a stick broom and a small tin plate. They clear the dirt, waste and animal faeces from public roads onto basket or other containers, which they then carry on their heads for disposal at the dumping ground. They work for municipalities, but are highly ignored from the government. They don’t even have access to gloves. At this time when a PPE kit is an essential part of work these workers receive nothing. These people are born into this role and most remain here for all of life.

At this time of pandemic when the health workers are getting at most priority of security from Coronavirus spread these health workers who are equally important to the society and are doing hard work, are totally neglected by the government they are not getting a single facility from the government. Seeing this an idea came to Mr Amit Samuel’s mind that when the team of Project Help India have appreciated the work of health workers and police, at the same time these COVID warriors -our sanitation workers - are equally important to our society so we should also appreciate them. In this regard today the team of Project Help India gave a set of masks, soap, hand sanitisers and a box of sweets to all the sanitation workers of Kotdwara. After getting the pack from the team of Project Help India one worker said;

“nobody cares for us. During normal days we receive nothing, so what can we expect now? We have no help and no hope from the government. We are thankful to Project Help India that you are appreciating our dedication towards our work, this packet means a lot to us.” 

I am so pleased that Amit and the team saw their need and responded with compassion. I learn so much from their actions and example. I am pleased that I have been made aware of the street cleaners of Kotdwara. I want to understand them better and I want to know their stories. As I read ‘Caste’ I learn of my need to gain awareness of what ‘my’ privilege is, so that I might be a more compassionate person and a more effective advocate for justice.

Philosopher and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh teaches;

“understanding leads to compassion, and compassion leads to love. If your goal at all in life is to be a better lover of other humans, you must understand them as best as you can.”

Through what the Project Help team has done this week I have seen that we can face caste head-on with understanding and compassion, which leads to love. As we get to know these beautiful people, we also learn about ourselves. And as we bring love, hope, dignity and purpose to their lives and circumstances our lives are changed, and we too, become better people.

How Sweet it is to be Loved by You

Being mindful that there are many front-line workers in Kotdwara, Project Help India wanted to thank the many local police and hospital workers, acknowledging their brave, and mostly unappreciated and unrecognised efforts.

So, we reached out to our good friend Rachit, the owner of a local sweet shop, who gave us a discount on the bulk purchase of a variety of treats. With this we packed, delivered, and handed out “goodie bags” containing a box of sweets, a dry cake and a thank you message to 400 doctors, nurses and police. These front-line workers have been working long, exhausting hours, for months on end.

Our Project Officer has written …

We are grateful to each and every individual who has been at the forefront of the current crisis, ensuring that our community stays safe and has access to essential services. These COVID-19 warriors are the real heroes and their tireless spirits in these difficult times is commendable. With this campaign, we hope to encourage them. We recognise the efforts of these brave men and women and therefore offer a token of heartfelt appreciation and gratitude.

When receiving the goodie bag the policemen and health workers were highly thankful for the gesture of thank you by Project Help India, saying that no one in this difficult time is even asking them about their well-being. Only Project Help India has approached them and appreciated them for their hard work. The government has not even taken care to providing them with access to drinking water. It’s only Project help India who are the ones encouraging them.

So today by sharing all this news, we also want to thank our sponsors from bottom of our hearts for this beautiful gesture. Each time when you donate you change lives.

Our Team also reports that this project has lifted their spirits. It was a wonderful week in the midst of what still has been the most bleak and difficult of circumstances.

With love and thanks from Project Help India - down at the hospital

Aakriti's Story

Meet Aakriti Singh

Aakriti is 6 years old. She is a student of our education centre in Ladpura Village, situated in a very poor area in the city of Bijnor. Aakriti is a calm and gentle girl, described by her teacher as intelligent and diligent in all of her studies. She is the only child in the family. Her father Mr Vikas is crippled in his left hand and works as a daily wage labour in a computer shop. Vaishali, Aakriti’s mother, stitches clothes for ladies in the neighbourhood. However due to the current COVID lockdown both parents are not able to earn any money. They have no savings. 

Also due to the lockdown, our students are not attending school. The 'Project Help India' teachers, however, are regularly visiting student's homes, delivering work and checking in on their wellbeing. We are so glad and relieved that we paid Aakriti a visit. When Iris her teacher, arrived at the door, Aakriti started crying. She told Iris about the poor condition of her family - the three of them were malnourished and literally starving with no food in the house. Iris immediately informed the Project Help India office and the family was given a ration kit containing a month’s worth of cooking supplies.

The family was so grateful that they broke into tears, thanking the team and saying that they were starving and Project Help India was their only hope.

Thank you

With Aakriti in mind, our team in India sends their heartfelt thanks to our many Australian and international supporters. Because of you, Aakriti and her parents are no longer hungry. 

More people to feed

Our team has handed out 500 ration packs over the past 2 weeks and we anticipate needing to hand out hundreds more across June. Also, as with Aakriti, we will continue to check in on the wellbeing of each of the other 380 children who attend our schools.

We look forward to letting you know how we go with this.

Aakriti with her mother and Iris her teacher, receiving the ration pack.

Connecting hands and hearts - 250 Faces of Relief

Over the past week, 200 ration packs have been distributed to the poor and needy of the Kotdwara slums, and to make things even more challenging, much of this was done during a torrential monsoon storm. To make this happen we were delighted to partner with Adelaide radio station SAFM’s Bec, Cosi & Lehmo ‘the Morning Crew’ who asked 250 of their listeners to donate $50 each. It’s incredible that our target of 250 ration packs were sold in one and a half hours! Each pack included rice, dal, flour, oil, salt, spices and bananas. This is enough food to feed a family of six people for approximately one month. That’s somewhere between 35 000 and 50 000 individual meals depending on how many people are in the family, and how often they eat across the day.

One of our goals this week was to connect names with faces …people’s hearts and hands extending from Australia to India, all on the same day. If you look closely at the photos you will see the individual names of individual radio listeners from Adelaide. Thank you SAFM two hundred and fifty times over! Welcome to the Project Help India story. We are all in this together!

On our list for this coming week

Tomorrow (Monday 24 May) our remarkable team in Kotdwara will deliver the remaining 50 ration packs, as donated by SAFM listeners.

This week we will continue to feed many more people. We have a long list of others who need a meal, as for many their daily income has stopped due to the lockdown. Therefore, they have no money to buy food and their hunger grows as the days roll on. We are confident that our budget will stretch to these people thanks to the generosity of many of our Australian friends and supporters.

This week we are also hoping to make some goodie bags for each of the 345 local Kotdwara police as a gesture of thanks and support for all they are doing in the community. As an NGO we believe that it is important to care for the front-line workers. These men and women are working tirelessly in the midst of fear, stress and challenging conditions. We want to lift their spirits

There have been mixed reports about whether the rise of COVID is increasing or decreasing in India. What you hear actually depends on the news story and political agendas. It would seem that the lockdown in the big cities like Mumbai and New Delhi has been somewhat effective but there is a long way to go. What we do know is that in rural India the needs are huge and overwhelming.

We thank our supporters for your kindness and generosity. Your donations have speedily been directed to people in need. Together we are saving lives and bringing hope and love to some very desperate circumstances.

COVID this week: the good, the bad and the ugly

With COVID infections continuing to rise, more deaths and with greater fear and panic on the streets, it’s easy to assume that there has not been that much that’s ‘good’ this past week. Well, this depends on your perspective.

Firstly, it really is ugly

Our Project Help Teams in the 3 cities of Kotdwara, Bijnor and Chandigarh, where we work have had an ugly week. People who team members hold dear are COVID positive. Some are most unwell, unable to get hospital admission or access to oxygen. We pause for a moment, and share the grief of loved ones, friends and neighbours who just this week have lost the battle and have died. Each one of our team members has a story about someone they love or know who has passed away. We pray for the speedy recovery for those who are sick, and for the ongoing safety of our teams and other front-line workers.

Yet, there has been some ‘good’ …stories of determination, kindness, compassion and personal sacrifice, reminding us that there is hope and light in the darkest of places and circumstances. Amit passes on his thanks to our Australian friends and supporters, saying that your love and support has made all the difference to him and the team. You have been a source of great strength and encouragement to them all.

Our team in India is remarkable to say the least. This week they have worked with the police delivering safety awareness to the streets, sanitising areas within the slums, and delivering emergency meals and food rations to hungry people.

Love prevails

In the midst of the suffering and heartbreak in India, there are also some tears of joy. Many people in the slums regard our help as a miracle in a time of desperation when they felt there was no hope. They know they are loved, and not forgotten.

Speaking of forgotten …news media seems to have a short memory. Have you noticed that this week, reports about India seem to have almost disappeared? Unless I missed something, as I skimmed this morning’s Daily Telegraph and Sydney Morning Herald – there was nothing reported. It seems like the rest of the world has moved on. Project Help India, and many other incredible NGO’s across India remain at the coal face. Sadly, there is much to do and a long way to go over the days, weeks and months ahead.

Thanks for journeying with us.

In the news across India ....thanks 'Project Help'

On 9th May a national Indian news agency posted a story telling our story and recognising the efforts of our team. We are so proud of our staff, all of whom are putting personal feelings and fears aside, and making many sacrifices, to help people in need. With cases growing daily in the slums and all over the city, the police and local government officials have asked for our help. Thank you to our supporters are are making all of this possible. #smallstepsbigpurpose

COVID in India - Today we're putting on a brave face

Today we learned that India recorded yet another ‘record’ number of daily COVID cases – more than 400 000. It’s also very hot with temperatures over 40 degrees most days. There is little to be optimistic about.  Some of our team and their family are sick. They say there’s a tangible sense of fear, anxiety and sometimes panic on the streets. We are worried for the children who come to our schools – the 380 kids we love and care for. We are concerned for their siblings, their parents and grandparents too. Every day they suffer because of poverty, and now it’s about to get a whole lot worse.

It will be worse if and when large numbers of people start to really get sick. Already there are reports in the city of Bijnor where we work, that many people are dying. When you live in the slum there is no access to COVID testing and limited (if any) access to medical help. People are already being turned away from the local hospital…told to not come back “unless you can’t breathe or are dying.”

It’s especially confusing and scary for the children. With restrictions and longer curfew hours, many parents cannot work. Schools are closed. For kids school is their place of belonging where they are fed a healthy meal, where they are safe with their teachers who ensure for their learning and wellbeing  The kids miss their friends along with the fun and games that distract them from the harsh realities of their circumstances. Slum kids are most vulnerable …they are at risk of malnutrition, illness and infections, physical and sexual abuse. They are at risk of trafficking too. It is well documented that during times of crisis, child predators strategically operate. So, for the children, Project Help India with our limited resources will try hard to;

-       feed them and their family by providing cooked meals or ration packs

-       keep them learning and keep them distracted with worksheets (and home visits if we are permitted)

-       provide their community with COVID awareness

- direct them to medical assistance

-      check in on their safety and emotional wellbeing

-      provide counselling, advice and support, especially to teens and parents

-       connect with them as much as possible, with messages of love and reassurance, and words of hope

Our Disability Centre Kids

For the twelve students who attend our Disability Centre we identify these children as most at risk. Like beautiful Sadab.

Consider what a precious soul she is, and how complex her life circumstances are;

Sadab’s Story

12 year old Sadab lives in a slum community on the banks of the river bank in Kotdwara. Her father Mr Shamshuddin is also physically disabled. He has one hand, one leg and a lazy eye, and due to this he is paid a lot less than most. Sadab’s mother is a housewife. She has no time for paid work. Sadab has 8 siblings (5 sisters and 3 brothers). Her elder sister is extremely unwell and is bed ridden. The family struggle to support Sadab and her eldest sister financially as both of their medical fees are expensive. If there is a full COVID lock-down, their father will earn no income.

Sadab was born prematurely  at just 7 months weighing only 1.5kgs. At the age of 2 her breathing stopped but doctors revived her. Up until 3 years old she was bed ridden and unable to sit or stand without the support of others. She began to walk at 5 years old. She is not able to speak, her voice is not audible and her family say she is “weak in the brain and cannot understand things easily.” They struggle to understand how to communicate with her like when she stood in the sun for several hours and her family could not get her back into the house without her screaming and crying.

Sadab’s community regard her as a curse upon her family and they feel ashamed of what others think. They wanted her to go to a good school but the schools would not admit her saying that they could not educate a “special child”. When Sadab started attending the Project Help Disabilty Centre her family told a Project help officer that;

 “Project Help does hard work for us, something that not even the government is thinking for. Sadab loves to attend her classes and now there is a big change in their life. She knows how to clean herself and how to be behave.”

We know that Sadab’s behaviour was amongst other things, a reflection of not being able to express herself, and not ever having social experiences, or people beyond her family who value her. She is a beautiful girl, we love her and think that she is remarkable.  

The scope and depth of our impact

During this time of crisis we are caring for our teachers, staff and their families too. This time last year, we saw how quickly drained and deflated they became. Our amazing team is busy planning coordinating and planning for many layers of contingency. There is so much to do but the heat makes for slow work as well as being susceptible to other viruses and fevers.  Please pray that they stay safe and do not sick.

There are approximately 1200 families (6000 people) in the slum communities and villages who we work with. We fear the worse for how COVID might impact them over the coming days and weeks, but we are confident of this … In a society that regards the dalits (the untouchables) as the lowest of the low, we know these people. Every individual has a name. They will not be forgotten, no matter how isolated in lockdown they might become. They are valued and important to us.

We will do all we can to feed them so that they will not go hungry.  We will keep track of the kids to try to keep them safe. We will check in with others who too are vulnerable and most susceptible to COVID, including the homeless and our friends, the beggars with leprosy. We will love them deeply and as relentlessly as God, trying not be overwhelmed by the enormity of the task ahead.

Friends in Australia and in other countries, our world is really not that big. Through Project Help India we are connected to these people. Their suffering is our suffering. Their story is our story. Many trust us and look to us for hope. Every day people knock on our office door asking for help.Your generous donations make a difference. Right now, our small steps are taken with an ever bigger imperative and purpose.

We will stay in touch with how you can continue to help. For now, we put on a brave face.

India COVID update

Thank you for the friends and supporters who have reached out to us over these past few days, to inquire how things are going. Thankfully, at this point in time Kotdwara and Bijnor are somewhat distanced (200km away) from the capital Delhi where there is so much grief and heartache. While our team in India are somewhat optimistic and always determined in nature, we have a great sense of foreboding about the days ahead. We are on the brink (if not already) of a humanitarian crisis. Many commentators are describing the emergency as tragedy beyond belief with the Indian medical system collapsing in its ability to adequately respond.

To keep you informed here are some facts about the situation and what ‘Project Help’ is doing;

Today 27th April it has been reported

353 000 people in India were tested as COVID+ in the past 24 hours

2800 deaths occurred yesterday

Delhi is in lockdown

India has 17.3million confirmed cases of COVID (official data). These statistics are sure to be worse than reported due to discrepancies in official data and the reality on the ground (generally India is very chaotic)

Medical modelling shows that there will be no respite for at least another 2 to 3 weeks - probably longer.

It is true that in some areas of Delhi, suffering people cannot access oxygen and deaths have occurred so rapidly that bodies are being cremated on the streets

There are some cases in/near our projects but not to the extent of what we are seeing on the media. Kotdwara has a daily curfew of 2pm to 5am, which results in income loss to the daily wage earners of the slums (the parents of our students).

Already people are coming to our office for help, but at this point we are unable to help most of them

All of the jungle villages where we work are distanced with no COVID impact, and life continues as normal at this point in time.

What is Project help doing?

Our team is working hard, that’s for sure!

The police have asked for our help and daily we meet with and work with officials

Our team has embarked on a community education awareness program. Our Administrator writes;

Project Help India has developed a vast array of awareness materials in English and Hindi focusing on social and behaviour change by raising awareness about symptoms and prevention, busting myths; providing information on mental well-being and care at home under lockdown, and encouraging social distancing. The awareness materials include printed posters, banners and stickers for display in public places, mike announcement and rallies. With these all just today we made about more than 2000 people aware of this fatal problem.

We are preparing for worsening eventualities by preparing our teachers, students and speaking with their parents

We are agitating community leaders for a proactive strategy to protect our community, particularly the slum dwellers whose lives are most impacted when unable to work for their daily income.

Our efforts have been acknowledged in the local media which demonstrates the impact we are having

We have planned for the delivery of a ration pack program for all city slum dwellers (this is a huge task) in the eventuality of a full city lockdown.

Our administration centre is being converted to a kitchen, to prepare for food items for the poor and needy.

Our Indian team reporting an alarming number of suicides

“The people are not able to survive the situation when they don't have jobs, they are dying of fear.”

So, over the coming days there will be much nervous anticipation, fear of the unknown and a huge job to do. As an organisation we are thankful to be positioned to be able to help in such constructive and meaningful ways. We are feeding the hungry and advocating for some of the most vulnerable and marginalised people – especially kids, on this planet.

This is all costing us money. Please consider how you can help us financially. Over the coming days I will provide you with further updates and various cost estimates for the many needs ahead. Our regular projects continue as well

With the news that many nations are committed to helping the nation of India in this huge humanitarian aid effort, please keep us in mind if you too would like to do something. Please share the ‘Project Help India’ story with others (individuals, businesses and corporates) who might be able to help financially. Your donation goes directly to people and projects, and is tax deductible. You can make a donation by clicking the DONATE button on this page.

With all of this sad news, we are confident that light and love will shine through our work, and many will be amazed by the significant impact made by a small charity project. May God bless India and keep our team, and everyone well and safe.

A meal for a labourer with no home, no food and no work.This photo was taken exactly 12 months ago during the first lockdown. We learnt a lot from the first wave and we are applying this knowledge to prepare for a tumultuous storm. Engaging and partnering with community officials is key to our success.