Wished to share a small personal anecdote with you amid the cold weather to warm you up :)

While travelling through a village, up in the mountains last month, a conversation particularly itched deep into my memory. It was a conversation with Asha ji, a mother-of-two who works as a community facilitator for us as a part of our Uttarakhand project.

The conversation was around 'what-changed' with Sewa International Bharat's (SIB) efforts in the Himalayas for the last 6 years, and Asha ji was narrating her own journey. In her words, the biggest joy from her engagements with SIB had come a few months back, when her 14-year old son and his friends sought her guidance for their career ahead, recognizing that Asha ji is now a community leader. Her exposure has empowered her, internally, and amongst her own family and neighbours. This impact was beyond measure, and the sheer joy in her eyes made me feel proud.

Thank you all for continuing your trust in Asha ji and us, and this newsletter would track our initiatives in Sewa that go along with the empowerment of 100+ women leaders in Uttarakhand and other parts of India.

In this newsletter, we bring stories of Sewa from the elderly in Delhi to the Children and women in Uttarakhand, from adolescent girls in Karnataka to Vanvasis in Tamil Nadu. Hope this Sandesh uplifts your spirits amid the sizzling winters.

Warm wishes on the new year, and festive wishes on Sankranti /Pongal/ Bihu /Uttarayan /Lohri :)

Nishant Aggarwal

CEO, Sewa International

Share some warmth with the 'winter-care' campaign

Winters in Delhi are eagerly awaited by Delhiites for its soothing chill and warm sun to provide a welcome break from seething summers, but for the homeless people and slum dwellers, winters are more of a bane as many of them can't afford to buy woolens to save themselves from the cold weather.

Starting year 2019, Sewa International runs 'Winter Care' campaign in winters, where we ask our kind donors to donate warm clothes for homeless people.

Continuing our annual campaign, our team did a primary survey and located a few families with women and children on streets/slums, in dire need of warm clothes in Central/West Delhi. We did the first distribution drive on 18th December across those areas. The cloth-bag we distributed consisted of used but good condition sweaters, shawls, caps, and ladies' garments.

A few days later (21st December), we conducted another drive in the western areas of Delhi, especially for some elderly homeless women.

We plan to conduct more such drives in 2021, with expectedly colder weather ahead. Your generous donation can help us to reach out to those thousands of people fighting this cold weather alone.

Join our campaign to spread warmth and love for our fellow citizens.

Donate @ www.sewainternational.org/Winter-Care

Sewa Mobile Medical Unit: Reaching to the Unreached

With COVID-19 bringing our public health infrastructure to an edge, the last eight months of post-pandemic lockdown intensified the need for accessing quality healthcare facilities in rural India.

Continuing our efforts in providing last-mile healthcare services, Sewa International started running another Mobile Medical Unit(MMU) in Pathredi Industrial Area, Alwar (Rajasthan). This is in series of successful medical van programs continuing at Uttarakhand, Kerala & Tamil Nadu.

The program started its operations in December 2020, and served 1944 patients; 484 male, 802 female and 658 children. The MMU provides medical consultation, free medicines, follow-up check-ups, and referrals serving more than 25000 villagers in the seven villages in and around Pathredi.

We soon plan to extend the program and start awareness and preventive campaigns to address local health issues. The program is running with the kind support from Shriram Pistons & Rings Ltd, one of India’s most reputed Industrial Houses.

To know more about our healthcare initiative, visit https://www.sewainternational.org/Health

Empowerment of Children : Bal Panchayat

The biggest casualties of all man-made or natural disasters are children. COVID-19 too had a similar impact. Starting March as the lockdown was imposed in India, schools got closed, and playing areas were locked. With a forced compulsion of staying inside the four walls, children found them in an unprecedented situation. With limited sources of knowledge and reduced social activity, there was a severe impact on the emotional and mental growth of children.

To provide a solution to this, Sewa International designed multiple innovative activities and platforms to engage them in the Uttarakhand state. One such initiative was called the Bal Panchayat.

Bal Panchayat is a group of children formed to inculcate leadership skills in kids, inculcating social consciousness and providing a direction to human values and spiritual orientations.

Priori March 2020, we had 4 active Bal Panchayats running, which had doubled to 8 by November. Expediting our work, we proudly share the formation of 5 new Bal Panchayats in the state.

With a network of 13 Bal Panchayats (and rapidly growing), we are trying to minimize the impact of the pandemic on children' learning journey.

With 13 Bal Panchayat centers, we currently engage 214 children (aged 7-13 years), including the 60 new members added this month. We schedule weekly baithaks (every Sunday) at all Bal Panchayats, with activities on meditation, yoga, poetry recitations, storytelling sessions, puzzles, physical games, paintings, and exposure visits. The broad objectives of setting up Bal Panchayat include:

Developing the meta-skills of critical thinking, problem-solving, and personal reflections in the children.

Nurturing appropriate habits, and etiquette in the children.

Facilitating the growth of interpersonal skills in children.

Providing general awareness and knowledge of child rights.

Engaging both parents and the community for child development.

Follow us on https://www.sewainternational.org/Bal-Panchyat

Tanisha Negi ( Bal Panchayt)

CSR Initiative: COVID-19 Rehabilitation

As a part of our COVID-19 rehabilitation drive in Karnataka, Sewa International (with active support from Oracle) is committed to assisting the economically weaker sections of society. The endeavour is to generate livelihood for the underprivileged, and vulnerable through multiple on-ground projects. The beneficiaries of this program include lower (middle) class families and people who have lost their jobs due to the ongoing pandemic.

We have initiated the following major activities with the support of Oracle:

Computer training & spoken English classes.

Free tailoring classes for women & girls.

Hand wash station installation

Menstrual hygiene awareness campaign

Basic computer introduction, with details on the hardware, possible use cases, etc.

Introduction to MS applications: including Office, Word, and PowerPoint.

English communication, which currently includes basic greetings, basic job interview, social engagements, etc.

With our first back of 22 students, we are coaching the candidates on:

Free Tailoring course for women and girls.

We currently engage 51 women in our tailoring class, across the 3 training centers spread across Bengaluru and Chikmanglur District in Karnataka. The current training includes both basic and advanced courses of tailoring.

We plan to open 6 more training centers by the end of next month.

Menstrual hygiene awareness program

We organized a Menstrual Hygiene Camp for students at Ayurveda College, Hubli, Karnataka, addressed by Dr Anitha Halgatti. With 120+ students participating, she talked about the menstrual cycles, COVID-19 awareness, and general health and hygiene for young girls. We also distributed 120+ reusable cloth sanitary pads to all the beneficiaries.

Cyclone Nivar: Relief Activities

Sewa International in association with its implementation partner Vanavasi Seva Kendram based in Tamilnadu conducted the relief activities for the people affected by Cyclone Nivar and the heavy rainfall in Thiruvallur District, around November 2020. Under the relief program, we covered about 19 Villages and distributed Tarpaulin, Bedsheet & Plastic Mats to the underprivileged & vulnerable.

604 Tarpaulin

1069 Bedsheet

1069 Plastic Mat

This is all possible because of the Generous Donors like you, who have been supporting us in every possible way.

Global 'Sewa' Updates

Sewa International Trinidad & Tobago organized a massive food distribution drive on the occasion of Christmas. COVID-19 has severely affected millions of lives and left them struggling with scarcity of food, clothes, homes, and jobs. Understanding the need of the community, this Christmas, Sewa TT shared JOY with those in need. Hundreds of volunteers participated and contributed effortlessly to make this drive a huge success. 3000+ food hampers were distributed for the families living in Blanchisseuse and Toco, Central, South East (Mayaro, Rio Claro) South West (Moruga, Woodland, Cedros, etc), East (Sangre Grande - Guaico), and Tobago.

Mr. Faaiq Mohammed, the Mayor of Chaguanas, congratulate Sewa TT for their hard work and generosity. Further, he commanded the entire team for their service to humanity.

For more information: www.sewatt.org

COVID-19 - Pandemic that showed path towards Humility

As we speak, upwards of 70 million people worldwide have been infected and over 1.5 million have lost their lives due to Coronavirus pandemic.
In India, daily COVID cases reported touched its peak in the month of September. Since then the number of cases each day has come down gradually, but total number of cases are still high, fueled by Diwali festivities, ongoing marriage season and slow opening of educational institutes in some states.
With the hopes of vaccines becoming available and in en masse to all, there's positivity in the air after a long hard year which is very much needed. 
But, with Covid-19 still very much a threat, our medical staff is still struggling in the hospitals especially with the lack of protective equipments like PPE Kits, N95 Masks, which makes them vulnerable to catching disease. 
We at Sewa, have been supporting our Covid Warriors at various hospitals like Dr. Hedgewer Hospital, Aurangabad since the start. We had donated 2100+ PPE kits from July till October. This month we sent another set of 1000 PPE kits.

We are sincerely thankful to our donors from SISGO for extending their kind help to make this possible.

We also urge our supporters to come forward for the cause and donate. You can send your help here : www.sewainternational.org/donation

HimSampada - Model for Sustainable Livelihoods Development

It is been more than 5 years that Sewa International is working for Holistic Development through Community Engagement in the Uttarakhand state. What we have learnt is that how strong, adaptive and resilient a mountain women can be. She is already a frontrunner at home affairs but when it comes to business and managing her resources, she is pragmatic and prudent.

The formation of 'HimSampada Producer Company' last year, with our women SHG members as stakeholders, is slowly helping our beneficiaries to take control of their own destiny through Community based livelihood, where traditional crops and non-farm products like ringal that can be marketed by the women themselves and reap good profits out of it. We salute these 1493 women coming from 250 villages of rural Uttarakhand who are contributing whole-heartedly in creating a self-sustainable society through this enterprise.

The company organized its 2nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 10th November. The AGM was organized in Paduli center in the presence of all Board of Directors, promoters, shareholders, and representatives from our team. The objective of the meeting was to discuss and review the activities of the financial year 2019-20 as well as share new plans and strategies for the year 2020-21.

“Empowerment of women is essential as their value system leads to the development of a good family, society and ultimately a good nation.”

- Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

HARELA - Building Agri-preneurs

The HARELA project in collaboration with ONGC Foundation is designed to impart knowledge and enhance the competency level of women farmers in organic farming and practices, help with certification process, organically produce more crops, achieve more sustainable yields and the way forward for self-employment in Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Dehradun districts of Uttarakhand.

This month saw the visit of ONGC Foundation Fellow, Kunal Gupta who had come for photo/video reporting of the HARELA project. He had a great time interacting with our beneficiaries to know about the impact of the initiative. He was quite fascinated to observe and learn about organic farming potential to increase the income of farmers. He appreciated the work done by Sewa International in such remote locations and tough terrains. Over 650 women farmers have benefitted from the training in HARELA project so far.

PRAWAH- Wall paintings to sensitize locals towards Nature conservation

PRAWAH (Participatory Rejuvenation, Afforestation & Waste-management Along Himalayan-springs) project focussed on spreading Awareness in the community at large through public messaging through wall-paintings. Wall paintings are means to engage people and bring about behavioral change for sensitiveness towards environment protection, especially the mountain springs.
Our project team wall painted in many common places in the remote valley of Guptkashi region, to spread awareness on making the region plastic-free and promote community ownership to drive such campaigns in different regions. The initiative was conducted with the help of locals and authorities. 

Swasthya Sahyogi Sewa- Good Health is Best Wealth

According to the World Health Organization ‘Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. Health is a basic need and a fundamental right of everyone and it assumes special significance in the case of women in rural/hilly areas. In the rural areas of Uttarakhand, most people especially adolescent girls, pregnant/lactating women, and children, are unaware of the importance of health and hygiene in their lives, leading to many preventable diseases.
In such areas of Uttarakhand, our team of Swasthya Sahyogi Sewa is playing a vital role, through organizing medical camps, visits by mobile medical unit, awareness camps, and first-aid kits distribution. Nutrition training is another important initiative under this program, to bring about awareness of preventive care and immunity boosting. 
In November, our team conducted a training session on nutrition for adolescent girls, pregnant women, and ASHA workers too. The training was organized in Tapovan Cluster that witnessed participation of 15 people. Key objectives of the training were creating awareness on nutritious food for preventive care and teaching techniques for making a variety of dishes for a balanced diet using locally available foods, fruits & vegetables. Through such regular trainings in rural areas, we aim to create a healthy & hygienic society.

“A healthy man means a healthy family which ultimately leads to a healthy society. This is the only way to new India.” – Hon'ble PM Narendra Modi

Sewa Mahila Jyoti - Transforming Skills into Livelihood

Knitting has always been an integral part of rural & hilly household since ages. Local women are naturally gifted with this important skill as  profound artisans as they have received it as legacy from their ancestors. Color scheme and design they chose for their hand-made products such as shawls, socks, caps and sweaters is unmatched.
As part of our Alternate Livelihoods project (Sewa Mahila Jyoti), we have been conducting short-term 2-3 weeks Community Training Camps in various villages closer to our 6 Knitting Centres, by taking all the machines, equipment, raw materials to the village and run the training from their premises. This gives a chance for the rural women who can't travel to our centres or are skeptical of the training to learn and understand the potential of earnings through knitting. We conducted one such training in village Badhsu, Narayankoti (Rudraprayag) with 20 excited participants who eagerly participated in the training and learnt about the techniques and designs for earning livelihoods through knitting.

Toilet & Hygiene project for Girl Child

This month there were variety of activities concluded by our Toilet & Hygiene team. Some of key activities were :

Toilet Installation - In collaboration with Rotary Kothrud, we identified schools with lack of toilets in the outskirts of Pune (Maharashra). Sewa representatives along with Kothrud Rotary team visited Mahura Madhyamik Vidhalaya and Rise Pise Madhyamik Vidhalaya. The construction work is underway as it was on hold due to lockdown and likely to be completed soon.
 

Rebuilding North Karnataka - Three schools in rural Belgaum city of Karanataka were identified that were devastated by deadly floods. Repair and construction is now completed. The initiative was supported by United Way Mumbai.  

Self-defense training for the girls/women - A 3-day self defense training was organized across multiple locations in Uttar Pradesh to boost the self confidence among women & girls and to provide them with the fundamentals on awareness and handling confrontation. 

Shilp Utsav -  Platform for Kutch Artisans

The Indext-C (Industrial Extension Cottage) organized a 14 days Shilp Exhibition at Noida Haat, Noida that invited artisans across India from 30^th Oct till 12^th Nov. Our Sewa Kutch team participated in the exhibition. Handicraft products made by our women artisans at Sewa International Design & Development Centre (SIDDC) were showcased.  
As we all know, the world is battling deadly pandemic, the global economy in unstable. Especially in Delhi NCR region where COVID cases are at its peak, the effect can be seen mostly in the markets. Events are being cancelled, postponed or rescheduled and the physical events are now being organized through digital platforms. The opening hours are changed, the venues have reduce their capacity of welcoming visitors and there is limit on displaying the products. Our team was not able to make much revenue out of this exhibition due to all such reasons and the sales restricted to only few thousands. We have variety of handicraft items with kutchhi embroidery ranging from bags, pouches, women garments, masks etc. 
We urge our supporters to help these Kutch Artisans by buying their products and help make them self-reliant. 
 Global News

Sewa International USA receives an award in recognition of community service during the COVID-19 Pandemic

 

Sewa International USA, our International Associate organization, has been awarded a USD 50,000 ‘Love Takes Action’ award from the New York Life Foundation, as a recognition for their ongoing efforts to help support communities across the United States during the coronavirus pandemic.

Houston-based Arun Kankani, the president of Sewa International, was one among 35 community members from the US who demonstrated exceptional public service in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant will support the underserved community in Harris County, Texas, by providing food kits, distributing personal protective equipment (face masks), and hand sanitizers, along with offering education and study-related support to school children. 

SEWA TT - Every Blood Donor is a Live Saver

On 7^th & 8^th November, Sewa International Trinidad & Tobago organized a blood donation camp at Divali Nagar, Chaguanas. The blood donation drive was organized to fulfill the shortage of safe and adequate blood supply in the country during this epic COVID-19 Pandemic.

During the drive, additional screening, regular sanitization, social distancing, and the mask was mandatory. For the donation, the donors were asked to pre-fill the application form and no walk-ins were accepted at the drive. During this pandemic period, Sewa TT is contributing regularly to the community people by organizing such great initiatives.

 For more information on SEWA International TT, Please click on the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sewainternationaltt

While the season of festivities and marriages is at a full-swing providing much needed break to all from the gloom of Coronavirus pandemic, but increasing Covid cases in states like Delhi along with rising pollution, is raising a spectre of uncontrolled rise in number of patients for which our medical systems are ill-equipped. 

Sewa International’s efforts to combat climate change and curb spread of Covid-19 pandemic are continuing unabated across the country. Through PRAWAH project, our teams are raising widespread awareness and community participation in Guptkashi (Uttarakhand) area on the importance of preserving and restoring mountain streams and bio-diversity. Significance of hand-washing can’t be understated in these times, for which our youth/adolescent groups are working in remote villages and ensuring that all kids/youth take up hand-washing as a habit. Our project in Bangalore is working with the urban slum/low-income areas training on basic computer and english language skills for providing immediate employment in various small-scale shops/industries needing computer operators. 

This Diwali, we request you to share your joy with our Kutch artisan women by ordering their beautiful Ajrakh(block-printed) cotton face-masks, which are not only highly effective in protecting against Covid-19 spread, but are also very smart to ensure that you get noticed. (Info shared below)

Let's celebrate Diwali in the true sense by spreading joy and light up the world of others!!

Shop for Cause
Ths Diwali Support Kutch Artisan

Sewa International continues to lend helping hand in fight against COVID-19

The times are changing as we enter Unlock 5.0, where Central Government has provided relaxations and defined provisions for re-opening for most of the offices, education institutes and entertainment industry. The move is a balanced act, as Bharat stares at an ever-shrinking economy amid the continued onslaught of Coronavirus cases.

  

As the festival season is round the corner, markets are slowly getting back revitalized with excited shoppers, roads crammed with vehicles, and restaurants/malls seeing return of their customers. Maybe the Covid Fatigue is taking over, but we MUST not forget that it still exists with Second Wave lurking in the wings as seen in Europe and Americas, and prevention is still the best defense against it, until everyone is vaccinated against this disease.

However, the suffering of the vulnerable communities and specially among women and children, still continues. The status of the daily wagers, construction workers, migrant laborers, housemaids, street vendors has changed little even after opening of economy as people avoid social contact for fear of Covid. Sewa International has been working since last 6 months, for helping the marginalized with essentials, trying to reach out and provide the necessary help to tide over the Covid period. Though constrained by limited resources, we have been able to serve more than 4.6 lakhs beneficiaries from underprivileged & vulnerable communities, as part of relief work across 15 states in India. Some of the relief activities conducted in the month of September were medical kit distribution, thermal screening & COVID tests, medical camps & awareness programs.

On 14th September, Free medical check-up camp and Blood donation camp was organized by Rotary Club, Gurgaon.

Sewa International in partnership with the Rotary Club, Gurgaon distributed medical kits to more than 200 participants who came for regular medical check up during the camp. These were mostly people coming from vulnerable community impacted by the pandemic. They were also made aware about precautions they need to take during the COVID times.

"Annadanam Mahadanam"

COVID-19 has disrupted the lives of different people with different occupation; be it wealthy businessman or a migrant labor earning meagre by doing odd jobs. One of the majorly impacted yet ignored by all were poor temple priests and support staff during the lockdown period. These people who were usually dependent on donations made by devotees for the sustenance of their families were suddenly left ignored as all the temples were closed during the lockdown period as a safety measure.

Shri Krishna Seva Nidhi, Pune surveyed and identified 240 such families who were severely affected due to lockdown situation. Sewa International in collaboration with Shri Krishna Seva Nidhi provided grocery kits to these families, which was greatly appreciated.

It was clearly established during the coronavirus, how important it is for each one of us to take adequate measures towards self- care to fight the virus. The pandemic has changed the entire context and people have become more health conscious now. Ministry of AYUSH also issued certain health tips in regard with immunity boosting measures for self care during COVID-19.

Considering the urgent need for increasing immunity to fight Covid-19, our Self Help Groups (SHGs) in Chamoli District, Uttarakhand started producing Ayurvedic Concoction named “HIM Aarogya Kaadha”, which was among one of the measure of self-care as endorsed by Ministry of AYUSH. It's an organic immunity booster comprising of herbs like Tulsi, Black Pepper, Mulethi, Cinnamon, and Saunth. Our team have distributed more than 100 packets of Organic Kadha to the villagers in Chamoli District. The kadha has been prepared as per the food guidelines and under the supervision of the food experts.

Our team is looking to market this organic preparation to other locations to pass on the benefit and help create resilience to fight against corona virus and other communicable disease.

To order your immunity booster pack, you can contact our office.

Celebrating POSHAN Month

(Yatha Annam Tatha Mannam)

"Nutrition isn't just about eating, it's about learning to live". Better nutrition results into stronger immune system and builds inner resilience to prevent communicable diseases. People who eat nutritional diet are more productive and it adds more happy years to their life.

Every year National Nutrition Week is celebrated in first week of September, but this year our Hon'ble PM Modi in his latest address noted to observe the whole September month as POSHAN Maah or Nutrition Month. This is to underscore the importance of nutrition, healthy eating habits among all especially considering Covid-19 pandemic.

To celebrate POSHAN Maah, we conducted series of training and awareness camps. The entire program was conducted by our Sewa Aarogyam (Mobile Medical Vehicle) team that witnessed huge participation.

Key highlights of the camps included creating awareness among adolescent groups about the importance of nutrition for a healthy body, balanced diet & protein intake. The team also examined the body temperature, blood count, height and weight of the participants. They were advised about their diet plan and tips to increase their body immunity. Our team also distributed "Sewa Aaroga Kaada" which is an organic immunity booster prepared by our SHGs members. Other knowledge based activities on nutrition also helped local populace to understand how to keep your mind and body fit & healthy.

Promoting local livelihoods - Natural dyeing training

Sewa International in association with Mulya Creations, a startup in fashion designing, organized a four-day, eco-printing workshop for the women living in the upper Himalayan region. Training was conducted majorly in various villages of Tapovan cluster like Bilagad, Badagwan, Karchi, Tapovan, Dhaak, Reni, Lata, and Renari where they interacted with local women and imparted skills on preparation of natural dyes. This workshop was aimed to empower these women to make independent and future ready to realize the dream of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat.

Eco printing is a method of dyeing and creating designs with foraged leaves, flowers, seedpods, and bark to print various shapes and colors on fabric and paper using the plant material's own dye, pigments, and tannins. Each plant is unique, and the magic of nature play vital role in this process, which makes the result of each creation a one-of-a-kind piece.

Menstruation is a phenomenon unique to females. However, it has always been surrounded by taboos and myths that exclude women from many aspects of socio-cultural life. Such taboos about menstruation still exits in society that impact a girls and women emotional state, lifestyle and most importantly, health. Education is a powerful tool that will pivotal role in generating awareness about various health issues and overcoming the cultural taboos, in particular. Community-based health education campaigns could prove as a milestone in achieving these endeavor.

In the rural Himalayas, adolescent girls and women are subject to restrictions in their daily lives simply because they are menstruating. The underlying basis for this myth is also the cultural beliefs of impurity associated with menstruation. It is further believed that menstruating women are unhygienic and unclean and hence the food they prepare or handle can get contaminated. Menstruating girls and women are even restricted from offering prayers and touching holy books.

We at Sewa are working to break the taboo and creating awareness. In the month of September, we initiated our pilot project on hygiene & sanitation. Under this, we distributed 48 environment-friendly, reusable, washable sanitary napkins made by rural Himalayan women. This project will also generate a livelihood opportunity for the local women associated with the project. We intend to spread this initiative to many more homes for a better and healthy life.

PRAWAH - Rejuvenating Himalayan Springs

In our last monthly newsletter, we had shared info about the progress made under our Project "PRAWAH (Participatory Rejuvenation, Afforestation & Waste-management Along Himalayan-springs)". The month of September was scheduled for the visits and the meeting with different local and administrative bodies of Rudraprayag District, Uttarakhand. Our team met District Magistrate & Chief Development Officer in Rudraprayag and discussion happened around project PRAWAH activities, agricultural resource center, Adarsh ​​pravasi village, E-health center & seed distribution center.

Meeting concluded with a positive output as government authorities agreed to help and collaborate with us. They allowed us to conduct project PRAWAH activities in old boy’s hostel building. The building will specifically be used as the garbage collection center for the project. There is rapid progress in the project and it is all because of support of the local populace and the government authorities of Uttarakhand.

Lend your help while we stay strong with our commitment to rejuvenate our Himalayas

Enhancing Leadership Capabilities

Let me define a leader. He must have vision and passion and not be afraid of any problem. Instead, he should know how to defeat it. Most importantly, he must work with integrity. – A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Sewa Uttarakhand team conducted 3-day training on leadership development and annual goal plan The training was facilitated by Shri Abhishek Kumar (Advisor, Sewa Uttarakhand). The training focused majorly to induce ownership and accountability among participants that will eventually help them to plan, organize and execute their respective activities in their sub-projects.

Another session was conducted to do planning for the annual goal plan for the next year. The context has changed with the COVID-19 in place. So, there is dire need that we adapt to our evolving circumstances and act accordingly.

The training was organized specially for community resource(s) and management staff. About 24 participants took benefit of this training that was organised at our Simli Office in Uttarakhand.

HARELA : Capacity building training

Under our project 'HARELA' (Himalayan Agriculture Rejuvenation and Enhancement of Livelihood for Agri-preneurs), a 5-day training was organized on organic farming at Kafalfani village in Chamoli District.

Training was focused on various types of crop irrigation methods such as rainwater irrigation, canal irrigation, fountain irrigation, sprinkler irrigation, drip irrigation, irrigation through tubewell etc. Other topics such as group farming, crops that consume less water(e.g. potato, ginger, turmeric, pulses, etc.) were also discussed.

Such trainings are conducted regularly under the project to ensure farmers receive required knowledge about organic farming and related practices, certification process, organically produced crops, and many more to take them towards more sustained ways of farming.

Bounce Back -

Re-opening of our PMKK centers in Uttarakhand

Due to the Covid-19, all educational institutes were completely closed throughout the entire nation since March 2020. But, as per instructions received for September month, government allowed to reopen education institutions, schools, tuition centers, colleges, and universities in a calibrated manner following strict safety measures for protection against Covid-19 spread.

It was a welcome news for our PMKK Centres also as we finally opened our PMKK Centers in Uttarakhand after 6 months. On 25th September, we were able to re-open our four PMKK centers in Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Tehri, and Pauri with proper guidelines.

Our trainers and other staff have been oriented with all safety measures and we are conducting regular classes to ensure students are well engaged.

In the month of June cyclone 'Nisarga' made landfall in the Raigad district of Maharashtra and left people with damaged houses, schools, and shops. As a immediate response, our local team conducted the survey to find out most affected families in Raigad region.

We are continuing our efforts to serve our brothers & sisters in need and have started the repair & reconstruction work of broken houses in Bostewadi, Raigad region.

This is all possible because of our altruistic volunteers and our generous donors like you who are supporting us in all possible ways.

The devastating Cyclone has left hundreds of broken houses and schools.

We need more helping hands to fix them.

The world around us is struggling to deal with the pandemic and looking for possible remedies to overcome it. At least 172 countries are engaged in discussions to collaborate through COVAX, a global initiative aimed at working with vaccine manufacturers to provide countries worldwide, especially poor nations, equitable access to safe and effective vaccines. We have entered a new era of our lives, ‘the new normal’, in which living with diseases like Covid-19 would be common, spurred by the increasing conflict of man with nature.

As number of daily Covid-19 cases in India reach the ominous number of 1 lakh, Healthcare and Livelihoods have emerged out to be among the biggest issues faced by the common person. Apart from our relief work across 15 states in India in last 5 months that has impacted more than 4.5 lakh beneficiaries, we are now formulating strategies for Covid-19 rehabilitation work with healthcare, livelihoods and WASH being the key-focus areas.

During August, as part of our relief work, we covered new locations across Delhi/NCR region. For Odisha, the need came in directly from the office of Shri Pratap Chandra Sarangi ji (MoS, MSME), where we came to know about dire need of masks and food kits in tribal villages of Keonjhar, Kendujhar and Balasore, resulting in distribution of 2000+ food kits and 10,000+ home-made masks.

Another program, Food for Masks, was rolled out to promote skill and livelihoods, in which we tried to engage our beneficiaries to produce home-made masks, and in lieu of their efforts we provided them with food and hygiene kits. The pilot program was successful as we were able to engage at least 850 women across Delhi/NCR and gave them new hope and skill with our training. Our teams in Bangalore and Lucknow focussed on increasing the immunity among the underprivileged, by distributing Ayurveda/Homeopathic Immunity booster supplements to them. About 5500 such packets were distributed in slums and at railway stations in Bengaluru and Lucknow. Also, the team distributed face shields, gloves, and other protective equipments to 70 police personnel at Basavanagudi traffic police station in Bengaluru.

Since its inception, Sewa International has been a front-runner in supporting relief, rescue and rehab activities in times of natural or man-made disasters.

Last month, Uttarakhand witnessed heavy rainfall, especially in Rudraprayag district that disrupted the normal life there, causing widespread landslide damages. One such affected village was Khumera, where Sewa karyakartas were the first responders to reach. They identified needy migrants & severely affected families. There were 3 families who had lost everything because of the landslides. They had to leave their broken homes and take shelter in the makeshift camps. Our team distributed food kits that comprised of 14 kg rice, 13 kg flour, 2 kg pulses, spices, salt etc, as requested by these families. Our team also distributed 16 blankets to the poor old widows living in Tilwara village, Jakholi Block area of Rudraprayag district, who had suffered losses during these rains.

Our team is continuing to respond quickly to any distress calls in Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts, and coordinate with district administration for any help needed.

Accessible Healthcare - A way forward

Sewa Aarogyam’, a mobile medical unit was established in November 2018 to serve remote population of Rudraprayag & Chamoli district In Uttarakhand. Since then, we are continuously serving locals and till date healthcare services have been passed onto more than 23,000 households. The team has been conducting regular camps offering door to door medical consultation, free medicines and health diagnosis at subsidized charges. Team has always given their best and continued their services even in extreme temperatures of "-6 degrees", during natural calamities and during lockdown period as well.

Last month, Sewa Arogyam along with the support of local volunteers provided primary health services to 20 women from 2 of our Self Help Groups (SHGs). The health services included diagnosis of blood pressure, diabetes & eye checkup.

Once the lockdown rules were relaxed in August, and we were allowed permission to conduct medical camps thru Sewa Aarogyam, villagers in remote/inaccessible hilly areas of Rudraprayag and Chamoli felt relieved as they had suffered from lack of medical care during lockdowns. Sewa Aarogyam team conducted 24 camps in August, treating total of 1,112 patients.

With the professional team of qualified doctors, medical practitioners, lab technicians and dedicated volunteers, our dream of providing quality and affordable medical care to these far-flung areas is becoming a reality. We are extremely grateful to Transrail Lighting Limited and our self-less supporters, who have supported us in these tough times also to keep the work going. We hope to make this initiative bigger and better, spanning it other inaccessible regions and providing affordable healthcare services at doorstep.

Alternative Livelihoods - Empowerment through Knitting Training

Sewa has been working in various verticals to empower women & youth to help them get employed or become an entrepreneur. Our Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra centers (PMKK), Knitting & Ringal handicrafts (bamboo craft) in Uttarakhand, Embroidery and Stitching training center in Kutch(Gujarat) are all endeavors in this direction, through which thousands of women and youth have received training in employment-oriented skills and got employed or became entrepreneurs. 
Our team in Uttarakhand conducted Community Knitting training under the Alternative Livelihoods through Knitting (Sewa Mahila Jyoti) project supported by Young Volunteer's Organization(YVO) based in Mumbai. The training was given to 20 trainees at village level in Pokhari and Narayankoti clusters of Chamoli & Rudraprayag districts respectively.
Knitting is a traditional activity that has been practiced by women, especially of hilly regions since long, due to the cold environment there. Sewa International has worked towards upgrading the skills, materials, and tools to produce quality marketable products. Usage of manual machines has improved productivity over hand-knitting methods. At our knitting centers, women are trained on using basic and advanced machines, develop different products, create innovative patterns, choose attractive color combinations, and market their woolen products.

PRAWAH - Rejuvenating Himalayan Springs

Project PRAWAH (Participatory Rejuvenation, Afforestation & Waste-management Along Himalayan-springs) was conceptualized in December 2019 with the aim of rejuvenating and restoring natural water springs in a way that involves active participation of all staProject PRAWAH (Participatory Rejuvenation, Afforestation & Waste-management Along Himalayan-springs) was conceptualized in December 2019 with the aim of rejuvenating and restoring natural water springs in a way that involves active participation of all stakeholders in the community to ensure a sustainable model. At the onset, our focus was to resuscitate the “Khankhara Gadera” (natural water springs locally called as Gadera) that has 7 km long range from Dewar village to Guptkashi of Rudraprayag district. It is located along the Kedarnath Bio-Reserve forest, originates from Dewar village and confluence with Mandakini River, near Bhainsari village. The plan is to replicate such model for other such Springs(Gaderas) in the Himalayan region to rejuvenate them.

Before COVID happened, we were able to conduct baseline survey and several community based meetings were conducted to form action teams in three villages; Dewar, Sankari and Bahisari. At least 25 dumping yards were identified as vulnerable to environmental risks and health problems that need to be cleaned on priority.

After lockdown rules were relaxed, team resumed its work and few major steps were taken for Guptkashi and Sankri village. Locations were divided among volunteer action teams to undertake all cleanliness drives in the region and make the program more community driven. Likewise upcoming programs like cleanliness drive in Gram Sabha, Sakari village will be conducted in coming months. Another brain-storming meeting was held in Guptkashi along with environmental activists to conduct such drives at mass level and understand direction of the project.

Coronavirus fatigue is engulfing the world with governments world-over increasingly opening up economies, fearing collateral damages due to mass unemployments; despite ever-increasing number of Covid-19 cases which are well on their way to cross 20 millions, and deaths approaching grim milestones of 7.5 lakhs.

During this pandemic, one of the most affected but still neglected demography is the school-going children, especially belonging to poor, marginalized and vulnerable communities, which have been disproportionately denied basic education, meals, health services(immunizations) and elongated lockdowns forcing millions permanently out of schooling and any hope for a better future. UN has raised its voice on the plight of these kids and the urgent need to raise trillions of dollars to provide digital access to education and meals. India too has just approved the New Education Policy 2020 for a better more sensible forward-looking education system, but the devil lies in the sincere implementation, which has time and again proved to be our Achilles heel. Nevertheless, with the right thoughts and framework in place, the NEP 2020 does provide a ray of hope in these tough times for education.

Meanwhile, Sewa International teams are slowly but safely, getting back on field, especially in Uttarakhand, where our SHG groups composed of women farmers are slowly returning to normal life. Our health services especially Sewa Aarogyam (Mobile Health Vehicle) are getting back on track serving the remotest people in the hilly areas. Migrant workers who have returned in lakhs, are being surveyed for their willingness to stay back and start local enterprises to increase their income and benefit Uttarakhand's economy also. Our teams in Delhi NCR and Tamil Nadu are continuing to distribute dry ration and home supplies to support the underprivileged communities suffering from Covid and lack of jobs.

While fighting Covid-19 induced challenges, our teams are continuously learning, unlearning and adapting to new circumstances. Your generous support and trust is what keeps us going in these times. Hope to see the end of Coronavirus soon, so that we can welcome you to the projects you have been nurturing self-lessly.

Warm Regards,

Nishant

CEO, Sewa International (Bharat)

Glimpses of COVID-19 Relief Activities for July

Saving Lives - Ventilators donated to serve humanity

As the fury of COVID-19 still hovering upon us, our medical infrastructure is becoming more stressed, and lack of funds is leading to hundreds of preventable deaths. The patients are suffering due to a lack of emergency services and limited number of COVID treatment hospitals.

Vivekananda Vaidyak Prathishthan's hospital in Sangli (Maharashtra), is a charitable hospital, was already providing treatment to poor COVID patients at nominal rates but were not able to treat severe patients as they didn't have any life-saving ventilators. Being a charitable hospital, they were already facing financial difficulties to keep hospital operations running, so buying ventilators and supporting equipments was out of their reach, when they decided to approach Sewa International.

Sensing the dire need for saving precious lives, Sewa International USA donated two ventilators for the hospital, which were formally inaugurated on 28th July in the remote presence of Shri Shyam Parande(Secretary, Sewa International), Shri Pramod Kulkarni(CEO, Seva Vardhini), and in presence of our brave Covid Warriors, i.e, our doctors and hospital staff.

During the month, another 1000 grocery and 1200 medical kits were distributed to vulnerable communities as they were still unable to earn bread for their family. Along with the distribution, awareness program was also organized for the beneficiaries to provide information on Covid-19 prevention and care through a moving auto spreading information using a mounted speaker as well as doctors actually visiting our distribution drives and educating the beneficiaries on importance of wearing masks and social distancing.

Protecting our COVID warriors - Providing Face-Shield & Touchless Sanitizer machine

Karnataka is one of the worst-hit states in India, coronavirus cases have been on the rise. While cases in Bangalore urban region have drastically increased over the past few weeks with many areas getting locked down again to contain the spread of deadly virus. The situation is getting worse and the front-line health workers including police personnel are getting infected more and more with increasing cases.

Sewa International has been actively working in the region to provide relief (food and other essentials) to people affected by lockdown and support to COVID warriors; healthcare workers and police personnel who are working round the clock.

Understanding the seriousness, Sewa International distributed reusable face shields & gloves to over 80 police personnel of Kempegowda Nagar, Bangalore police station. The team also installed a foot pedal-based touchless sanitizer machine at the police station. We conducted similar drives at other police stations too.

Our efforts are well appreciated by police officials and we will continue our help our COVID warriors in this fight.

Stay@Home Kit (Grocery Kit) distribution drive

Sewa International in collaboration with United Way of Mumbai distributed family essential kits to the underprivileged families in and around Chennai, Tamil Nadu. These were families of daily wage workers, small vendors, migrant workers, who were badly affected due to lockdown.

The relief activities were conducted with greater responsibility as Tamil Nadu being the 2nd worst state affected by Coronavirus cases. Although there were few challenges due to stringent lock-down rules but the team was dedicated to serve our brethren.

The relief activities were conducted in Kanchipuram, Cuddalore, Tambaram, Thiruvallur, Mambalam, Ambattur, Thiruwatoiyur, Vadapalani, Perambur, and Medavakka region. A total of 1421 kits were distributed with the combined beneficiary reach of more than 5700 beneficiaries.

Case Study

Mr. Murugesan, age 46 years is totally blind from childhood. His wife is also visually impaired but their will and passion to make their life meaningful is unmatched. They live in Mannivakkam village which is about 10 kms from Tambaram. They used to make their ends meet by selling small household plastic containers/items near National Institute of Siddha hospital. However, due to lockdown they were not able to sell these items and were going through some tough time.

Timely help from our ground team in the form of Food Kits and Home Supplies, came as blessings for them. They gave information about more such people living nearby who were badly affected by the lockdown and our team reached out to them as well.

They thanked our team and our noble endeavor to support needy people at the testing time.

Celebrating Harela Festival - Onset of Monsoon

Harela is one of the most important festival of Kumaon region in Uttarakhand. It is celebrated with great zeal and fervor across the state every year. Harela symbolizes the onset of monsoon and the beginning of the sowing season of crops and advocates saving & conserving the environment. The festival is celebrated for many reasons such as for sowing season, new harvest, bringing peace, happiness, and prosperity to the family and aware community about the plantation.

Sewa International Uttarakhand celebrates Harela every year with different activities and programs. Participants from Self Help Group (SHG), Baal Panchayat, Adolescent Group, and local participants were present during the festivities.

A total of 461 trees were planted in and around Tapovan, Narayankoti, Chandrapuri, and Pohkari villages. During a week-long plantation drive, more than 300 people participated and showed commitment towards tree plantation & rejuvenating the Himalayan ecosystem.

Proejct HARELA - Training for Organic Farming

The project “Himalayan Agriculture Rejuvenation and Enhancement of Livelihood for Agri-preneurs (HARELA)” was designed to impart knowledge and enhance the competency level of farmers in organic farming and practices and foster organic practices ensuring ecological balance and preserving biodiversity without degrading the soil and water resources of the Himalayan region. The project was started in 2018 by Sewa International in collaboration with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Eklavya foundation in Chamoli, Rudraprayag, and Dehradun district of Uttarakhand. Under this project, farmers will get food & nutrition security, improved crop yield with organic farming in a sustainable manner by using 3Ts- Training, Tools, and Technology.

Sewa International Uttarakhand organized one-day training for the farmers of Rudraprayag District at our HARELA organic farming centre at Haat village in Rudraprayag on crop management & safety, pest/disease control, use of agricultural equipment, electricity & water management. A total of 25 women participated in the training.
Similarly, about 40 women took one-day training on seed selection, harvesting, pest control, plantation at HARELA organic farming centre at Pokhari village in Chamoli.
Sewa International timely keeps organizing such training for the farmers so that they can have sound knowledge on tools & techniques of farming and increase their income through farming

Rebuilding after Destruction of Cyclone Nisarga

Mumbai was lashed out by tropical Cyclone Nisarga in the first week of June. The cyclone made landfall in Raigad district and then hit over Nashik & Pune areas and urban landscape. As the residents in the Konkan area of Maharashtra were already struggling with hunger and unemployment caused by COVID-19, got further devastated by the destruction caused by Nisarga. Post cyclone, people were having hard time to even find a roof over their head, amidst complete apathy from the local administration. During this need of hour, Sewa International emerged out as a helping hand for the people affected by the cyclone Nisarga. Sewa International with its implementation partner Being Volunteer conducted the survey in and around Raigad district. After the survey, we found out that tribal groups of Katkari and Thakar residing in Kakalwadi, Mangaon, Mhasal, Adiwasiwadi, Pangolwadi and Mhasala Taluka of Raigad district were in dire need of help. Their houses were damaged badly and blown away by the cyclone. On 12th July, under Phase-I of Rehab Plan, Sewa International planned to provide shelter/roofs for donated 350 tin sheets and 30 tarpaulins to 28 tribal families. We plan to provide tin sheets to 65 more families in the coming days. Under Phase-II, Sewa International is planning to repair & reconstruct 4 damaged schools in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra but needs more resources to make this happen.  You can also help and contribute to the cause at  “https://www.sewainternational.org/donation”

“We are still in first wave”. This admission by WHO recently on the back of ever increasing number of casualties(540k+) and infections which crossed 11.7 million, was enough to send shivers in the heart and minds of all of us. With the current rate of spread of Coronavirus, all the projections and hopes of the flattening of the curve anytime soon, are as good as gone. We all need to get accustomed to the new Normal which is a world where such viruses/diseases would be common place, driven by climate change caused by human over-exploitation. Taking precuations by way of avoiding crowds, wearing masks, physical distancing and maintaining hygiene/santiation is going to be part and parcel of the new way of life. Paradoxically, all the precautions and steps needed to avoid the disease, are causing us to avoid public transport & use more private transport, use more plastic(PPE kits, Medical waste disposal etc), become more socially isolated, tech-addicted, home-bound, which are making our lives especailly of kids more miserable, and environment more unsustainable.

Its not an easy time to reconcile with. But at the same time, with the tech advancement over the last couple of centuries, we have the solutions to almost all the ills which caused the pandemic in the first place. What we need is to be more sensible, patient, humble and take care of the earth as if our life depends on it. Because it really does!!

Sewa Lending Help To International Citizens Stuck In India

Sewa International is an International organization who believes in the Indian ethos of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ which means ‘The World is One Family’. We, at Sewa proudly say that we stand by it completely when it comes to serve the humanity in distress.

One such example was seen during lock down period when office of Sewa International Delhi came to know to about few people from Columbia got stuck in India during the lock-down period. Their condition was miserable as most of them were out of money to buy food and other essentials. We came to their rescue and provided them with food materials and other home essentials to sustain the current period. 8 such people who were stuck in Delhi/NCR, Uttarakhand and Maharashtra were sent relief material including dry ration, & home essentials.

Sensitization and Installation Of Touch-Free Sanitizer Dispensers at Schools

Past three months were most crucial for education institutes and students as board examination, new admissions, and entrance tests of various universities competitive examinations generally falls during this time-frame. However, due to Coronavirus pandemic , the government rightly decided to close them.

The decision to open schools and conduct examination, now lies with respective states based on their evaluation of the situation locally and implementation of norms as they deem fit. Karnataka government being front runner devised a policy to conduct state board class 10th examination with proper measures of safety. Our Sewa team was approached by the district officials & education board officials in Belgaum district for the successful implementation of sensitization & sanitation norms. Out team in Bangalore is very active from past three months amid lock-down period in activities such as; awareness campaigns, distributing milk packets, fresh cooked food, dry ration packets etc.

Sewa International installed touch-free sanitizer kits at 5 government examination centers in Belgaum. Students were also sensitized for the required precautions they need to take and masks were also distributed to the schools staff and students. Over 2500+ students appeared for the board

PMKK Chamoli - Healthcare trainees serving patients at govt hospitals amid COVID Pandemic

It’s been few months since the world has come to standstill with no immediate solution to stop the spread of Coronvirus. The lockdowns forced closure of our Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKK), impacting the continuity of learning for thousands of young minds in Uttarakhand state. To overcome it, we devised a new structure of digital learning where we started conducting e-classes for our students to keep their motivation and engagement high. Meanwhile, we are formulating strategy to conduct assessments once centers open and situation becomes normal.

As for our healthcare students doing General Duty Assistant course, it was already conveyed by central government that they would prove as critical workforce that would come handy at this need of the hour. Understanding the national emergency, 15 of our brightest girl students from our PMKK Chamoli, who were well trained in nursing course got selected to work at a government hospital in Karanprayag.

These brave girls are confidently supporting the doctors and other medical staff at hospital while they are busy treating COVID patients. They are well aware about all safety measures and are spreading awareness among the local people as well. These students are our real ambassadors and COVID warriors who are selflessly serving humanity at this testing time. We salute their bravery and passion with which they have come this far.

Thermal Screening of Hybrid Quarantined Migrants at Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand

After the strict lock down for almost two months, when the government decided to ease down lock down rules where migrants labor and others were allowed to travel back to their home destination. It is when the real trouble started for the authorities as infected ones were moving from one place to other with the risk of getting infection passed onto healthy person. The real issue at hand was to quarantine people coming from outside and then screen them again to see if they were out of risk. With an increase in number of people migrating back to their hometowns, there was a need for effective collaboration among the administration and civil society organizations working at the grass root level to ensure the virus spread is contained.

Sewa International Uttarakhand teamed up with the district administration of Rudraprayag and accepted the challenge to do thermal screening of the hybrid quarantined migrants, in their own village. At Ukhimath Block, a total 845 hybrid quarantined migrants were tested out of which one was found COVID positive and was then sent to hospital whereas for the further treatment. Similarly, at Augustyamuni Block, 952 migrants who completed their 14 days quarantine period went through thermal screening. We believe that if we are able contribute small help from our side, we can motivate others as well to do their bit. We are confident and well-equipped to battle this fight.

We will continue the thermal screening program to ensure that area is free from the further spread of Coronavirus.

Medical Kit Distribution in Delhi NCR

Lockdown has severely hit people of all class; from daily wager to top businessmen. However, it is quite evident that daily wager community was badly affected as lock-down snatched their vocation and daily-earning was difficult with no human movement during the period. Their loss of job left them in state of despair with no means to support their family making them most vulnerable of the lot.

Sewa International tried to help these people with Food Kits, masks and medical kits through its distribution programs in and around Gurugram. The distribution drive continued thru initial three months of lock-down in association with NASSCOM Foundation & IBM. By the end of June, more than 1000 medical kits that comprised of set of 4 masks, 1 sanitizer bottle, 2 sanitary pads and 12 piece of soap were given to families of daily wager, construction worker, migrant labors, maid, street vendors, homeless people.

Shankar Vihar, Palam Vihar, Mohammadpur, Jharsa, Sector-36, Gurgaon village, 8 Bishwa road were some of the localities that were covered. This was made possible due to the generous support of doctors and social workers like Dr. Abhimanyu Sangwan (MS, ENT Paras Hospital Gurugram), Ms. Komal Bhatnagar (Social Worker), Dr. Sandeep (Kutum Hospital, Gurugram) and Dr. Praveen (Gurugram). who provided their valuable time to come along with our team and sensitized these people in regard with COVID precautions.

Sur Sangam- Sewa USA COVID Solidarity Concert

On Jun 14th, Sewa International USA in partnership with TV ASIA organized Live Musical Concert where the most popular and loved Indian Singers performed live for their fans and exhorted them to contribute for Covid-19 relief work. The concert, SUR SANGAM was graced by prominent singers like Anup Jalota, Ankit Tiwari, Jaspinder Narula, Shaan, Madhushree Bhattacharya and Daler Mehndi. The show went live on TV ASIA channel as well as on Sewa Social Media channels. The donation thus collected from the show would be utilized to provide essentials to people impacted due to COVID in USA/India.

Sewa International USA has been providing relief on a national scale during pandemic COVID-19 through its various services like distribution of masks, personal protective equipment (PPE), sanitizers, food & groceries to the needy, homeless people and healthcare workers. Sewa along with its pool of volunteers and partners organization have been helping the community since day one of lockdown. Sewa International USA is committed to continue its selfless service towards the needy people until the COVID situation gets better.

Sewa South Africa - COVID-19 Relief Work

Sewa International in collaboration with Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, South Africa is working in response to COVID-19. South Africa, a country of 57 million people; has recorded 144,264 corona-virus cases with 2,529 deaths and 70,614 recovered cases as of 30th Jun, 2020. Responding to the Corona-virus and its aftermath in South Africa, Sewa International is working with partners and volunteers on-ground to serve the community people in need.

As part of the Covid-19 relief activities, Sewa International distributed 200+ facial mask, 500+ Hamper Kits, 1000+ fresh food packets and impacted more than 3000+ beneficiaries Apart from that, Sewa was able to reach 20,000+ audience via social media & online webinars.

Cyclone Amphan - Relief & Rehab of Victims in West Bengal

In May 2020, super-cyclone Amphan badly hit eastern coastal states; Odisha & West Bengal. Many lives were lost, acres of fertile land were destroyed, buildings were collapsed and people were left with no food, electricity and shelter.

Sewa International ground team in West Bengal quickly made initial assessment and need for the areas that were badly struck and started rescue and relief work. Along with our on-ground partners 1000+ tarpaulins were immediately distributed among the villagers. Further, our Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK) Mathurapur team identified 250 such families in nearby villages who didn't have food to eat and no roofs on their head.

Family kits comprising of dry ration, vegetables and other home essentials were distributed in Radhakantapur, Vidyasagarpur, Narayanipur, Nalpukur, Katlapara, Paschim Kutali villages of Mathurapur in South 24 Parganas. Another round of distribution happened for our students living close by to our center whose situation was really miserable. Villages that were covered were Radhaballabpur, Ramlochanpur, Tajpur, Gabberia, Ghoserpole, Dhola, Nakali, Patharberia, DakhinRamnagar, Panapukur, Jadavpur, Singhiswar, Srikrishnapur, Patki, Dahakanda, Lakshmikantapur and Jamalpur.

We will continue to support our brothers and sisters during the testing times with the best of our efforts and resources as we have been doing it from past 23 years.

Celebration of International Yoga Day

As rightly said, “Yoga add years to your life and life to your years”. Yoga is group of physical, mental and spiritual practices to control body, mind, and soul. Yoga has become much more relevant now, with the stresses of modern life.

The prevailing situation of COVID-19 pandemic is gripping human life as never before. The solutions as prescribed by various health and medical agencies worldwide suggest physical endurance, strong immunity and good mental health. And the yoga seems to be the best possible solution to stay fit while one is stuck at home.

Sewa International celebrates the International Yoga day every year with great fervor. This year, it was celebrated across various offices via Facebook live streaming due to lockdown situation. A live yoga session was conducted at 7:30 am from our Uttarakhand project location, that witnessed participation of huge number of people connected with us around the world.

Yoga originated from India and is widely practiced since ancient times. We urge all our supporters, donors, beneficiaries, and associates to practice yoga for 15-30 minutes daily as it will lead to a healthy and happy life.

Celebration of World Environment Day

World Environment day is celebrated every year on 5th June. The day serves as an opportunity for all of us to think about all possible ways to save our mother earth by developing greener models; for farmers and manufacturers to produce more sustainably; for governments to safeguard wild spaces; for educators to inspire students to live in harmony with the environment; and for youth to become fierce gatekeepers of a green future.

Every Year, Sewa International celebrates World Environment Day with enthusiasm. As a part of environmental initiatives, we recently launched a new project called “PRAWAH” in Uttarakhand with the help of Sewa USA. PRAWAH stands for 'Participatory Rejuvenation, Afforestation & Waste Mgmt along Himalayan Springs' aims to restore the flow and preservation of micro-springs in Himalayan region. On World Environment Day, our team along with volunteers cleaned Khakhra Gadera stream in Ukhimath at Narayankoti cluster. Sewa team also organized the tree plantation drive at Chandrapuri, Makkumath, Pokhri, Urgam, Tapovan and Naraynkoti clusters. Approx. 150 trees were planted on the day with the pledge to save and protect our mother earth.

In these Covid times, where there’s no dearth of fear, grief, anger and anxiety inducing messages/news, our Covid Heroes provide us with a reason for Hope of a better future. These unsung heroes saw the harrowing condition of the suffering migrant workers, daily wagers and even stray animals due to lockdowns. And came forward with all their might and resources to help these unknown fellow dewellers, in spite of the life-threatening situations under Coronavirus pandemic. They didn’t care about their own safety or money for their own family, but rather put themselves in harm’s way so that someone less fortunate can live and survive for another day. We salute these thousands of Covid Heroes and also millions of Essential Service Providers, of which only a few have been mentioned in the newsletter, who are ensuring that everyone, irrespective of their socio-economic status, is taken care of.

While battling Coronavirus across the country, support from the prominent people, including celebrities, is helping to spread the message to much wider audience to join hands for fighting Covid menace. As the menacing news of ever-increasing Corona numbers kept us busy on the ground, we got further pummeled with SuperCyclone Amphan which caused massive devastation in Odisha and West Bengal, especially in eco-sensitive Sundarbans, laying bare years of work to improve the livelihoods there. Our teams are working there to help with roofing materials and basic survival kits but much more needs to be done.

The times are changing and any prediction for a new “normal” is a guess at best, as fear/anxiety has strange ways of bringing about unexpected changes in our behavior, routines, habits which are all under constant strain. As we are getting ready for a long haul in the fight against Coronavirus, we wish you a healthy and stress-free life. Stay Home and Stay Safe!!

Our approach to COVID-19 response:

• HOME-MADE MASKS FOR FELLOW CITIZENS
• STAY@HOME KITS FOR DAILY WAGE EARNERS/FAMILY
• FRESH FOOD FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE
• PPE KITS N95 MASKS AND HAND-SANITIZERS FOR HEALTHCARE WORKERS
• MILK PACKETS FOR HOUSEHOLD WITH INFANTS AND ELDERS
• FOOD FOR STRAY ANIMALS
• AWARENESS THRU SOCIAL MEDIA AND WEBINARS

By the end of lock-down 4.0, we have made following Impact:

• 1,11,92,520 RAISED FOR COVID-19 RELIEF EFFORTS
• 11,635 STAY@HOME KITS (DRY RATION AND OTHER ESSENTIALS) DISTRIBUTED
• 2,05,460 FRESH FOOD PACKETS DISTRIBUTED
• 1,125 WOMEN, 70 SELF HELP GROUPS(SHGs) INVOLVED IN MAKING HOME-MADE REUSABLE PROTECTIVE MASKS
• 65,045 N95 & KN95 SURGICAL MASKS DISTRIBUTED
• 200 HAND SANITIZER DISTRIBUTED
• 59,500 STRAY ANIMALS FED (COWS AND DOGS)
• 50,000 AUDIENCE REACHED ON SOCIAL MEDIA & ONLINE WEBINARS
• 3,51,873 BENEFICIARIES REACHED

SuperCyclone Amphan - Raising the Stakes

While battling the deadly Coronavirus spread, eastern coastal states; Odisha and West Bengal got double whammy with the Super-Cyclone Amphan hitting both the states with deadly fury. The fiercest cyclone ever recorded in the Bay of Bengal affected the delicate ecosystem of Sundarbans the most, leaving millions of people depending on its bio-diversity, in a predicament. The super-cyclone Amphan shattered many lives by destroying standing crops, damaging boats, cattle-sheds & houses, uprooting electric poles/trees, and leaving people without power/water for days. Millions of people lost their livelihood overnight, and farmlands were inundated in saline seawater ruling out any possibility of cultivation in the near future. Water-logging in many areas as well as draining of waste, including medical waste in ponds, has made it a potential COVID-19 hotspot adding to the misery.

In such miserable condition, Sewa International is working closely with its on-ground volunteers and partners, in Alipuduar, South 24 Parganas and East Midnapur districts to provide relief by distributing basic ration kits(rice, oil, dals, drinking water, soap, etc) for the affected, and 1000+ tarpaulins to cover the broken roofs/walls. Our volunteers are helping in rebuilding their homes and are working hard to bring their life back to normalcy.

We need your support to help our brethren recover from the twin tragedies of Coronavirus and Amphan.

Salute to Covid Heroes

Smt. Subhadra Rani firmly believes in karma and has always stood by what is right. When Subhadra heard about lockdown news, she realized that she needed to help locals; mostly migrants workers who were already suffering from joblessness and now their families were finding it difficult even to get food for survival and immediately decided to do something about it. She along with her husband started the closed kitchen of Pakka Nellore restaurant and prepared fresh food daily under the guidance of Sewa International. Since, the start of lockdown, she and her team of dedicated volunteers has served fresh food on each and every day "non-stop" with more than 45,000 meals to poor families of migrant workers (from Orissa, UP and Maharashtra) mostly labor, disabled people, homeless people on the road and other needy families who are not able to earn their bread due to lockdown. She has served fresh food not only to stranded workers but also to neglected stray animals like dogs, cows with more than 59,500 servings.

Smt. Subhadra shared that it was not easy at all in the beginning, however with the love and support from people she was able to drive the initiative throughout. There were initial hiccups in terms of getting permission amid lock-down, identification of migrant worker families, arranging funds for getting food materials, packing cooked food etc. However, her strong will and perseverance has made her achieve all she could do for these needy people. She takes pride in serving the humanity and her deeds inspires us to do more and more each time.

In her own words, she says “I don’t feel it’s very great work. its every individual's responsibility towards our nation and our people in these tough times. We can fulfill the responsibility with great ease and motivation from our elders”.

Alok Singh, a successful engineer and an entrepreneur, decided to do more during the lock-down situation in Lucknow and emerged as a real Covid Hero. He has been selflessly working to serve the people in distress ever since 1st lockdown was announced. As soon as he realized the problems of daily wagers who were jobless, he offered them direct cash transfer upto to Rs. 300 for a daily meal to support their families. Till now, he has transferred cash money to more than 100 such families. Additionally, he fed thousands of daily wagers and migrant workers who left towards their home and most of them were bare foot on highways. He along with his team provided them with fresh cooked meal, water, and juice to make their journey bearable.

As the lock-down moved ahead in phased manner, Alok designed his own sanitization tunnel and cabins for mass sanitation. Later, these were installed at number of public places. He also designed his own Personal Protective Equipment kits (PPE) Kit with the help of his friends approved by DRDO and made available in the market at an affordable rate. With the help of Sewa International, he also distributed hand sanitizers and masks at Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in Lucknow, which was a COVID-19 center.

Alok Singh who also runs his own non- profit organization called Sarvebhyo Foundation, believes that serving the needy is the responsibility of each and every human being. Putting humanity first, he was able to help migrants and vulnerable people with meals, dry ration, footwears at Highways, Bus-Stops, Railway Stations, Temporary shelters and at Borders. He embodies the spirit of "Sewa" in its true sense, and his Selfless Efforts are an inspiration for us all in these testing times.

Lieutenant Commander, Saurabh Dubey, an Indian Navy Officer who is not only guarding the marine borders but also our citizens in the times of Coronavirus crisis. Lt. Dubey had come on leave in Mar 2020, for overseeing a medical condition at home, when he got stuck in the Lockdown and couldn't return. It is then this karma yogi officer who is protecting our seas from harm's way, now also decided to discharge his duty towards his fellow citizens. After the nation went on lockdown, the families of daily wage workers, migrant workers, and people on the street were affected the most. He realized that these people need food to survive the situation. He got together a team of a few volunteers to set up a community kitchen at Hide Out Cafe in Gomtinagar and started serving the people. Soon, more noble hands came together and they maximize their capacity to help more and more stranded workers, all with their own expenses or with the support of local community,

The officer and his team has already served many thousands of fresh food packets to needy people (that contains biryani/poori bhaji, water and bananas) stranded at various locations across the city. Even after Lockdown got over, he still wishes to continue feeding as many hungry people as possible so that none has to sleep with an empty stomach.

Navy Officer, Lt. Cdr. Dubey has set an example of “Service before Self”.

PadmaShree Awardee, Shri Ramkishore Chippa Derawala is a master-artisan in traditional bagru and dabu hand block-printing with natural dyes. Bagru and Dabu prints on fabrics like Madhya Pradesh’s mulberry silk, Andhra khadi and Mangalgiri, Shri. Derawala has brought new life to these fabrics. His work is acknowledged world-wide and received love & respect from everyone.

Shri. Derawala is very close to his artisan community and has great respect for their hard work. That's why, when lockdown was enforced he couldn't see his brothers, sisters, children sleep hungry as most of them were out of work. The situation of the migrant workers and day wagers trained in traditional block-printing based on vegetable dyes as well as those who used to work in factories, small enterprises, was pitiable as they became jobless due to lockdown. Several families were sleeping hungry in their homes, and those who couldn't pay the rent were on roads, bus stands, railway stations, and state borders.

Shri. Derawala distributed more than 800 food packets every day, since the lockdown was announced, to these underprivileged families and helping them out as real guardian. He had contributed his own money and along with the support of his relatives, friends and also NGOs like Sewa International, he has managed to serve people when they needed the most. Shri. Derawala proves that age is just a number and one needs to have the compassion and will to perform, to serve the humnaity. He is indeed a real inspiration for all of us in today's tough times.

Endorsement by Celebrities - Covid-19 Relief Work

Shaan, one of the most popular and loved Indian playback singer appreciated the work done by Sewa International for fighting the Coronavirus Crisis and expressed his gratitude to our front-line health workers who are working selflessly and standing like a wall between us and Coronavirus. In a short video which was widely shared on social media, he acknowledged the contributions and efforts of our NRI (Non Resident Indians) and PIO (Person of India Origin) for their resolve to help their local communities and fellow citizens during this hour of need. The versatile singer emphasized that our strong Indian Values and eternal Bhartiya Sanskriti, is the force that guides our efforts to help other affected nations with medical aid, despite suffering ourselves. With Indian Diaspora spread world-wide, his message acted as a catalyst, leading to many more people joining hands with Sewa International in various countries, for fighting Coronavirus.

We thank Shaan for coming forward and spreading the message to bring all hands together.

PadmaShree Kailash Kher, famous Indian Playback singer and a music composer, dedicated his music for spreading hope and positivity to first responders and health workers. He performed an online live music concert for Real Heroes and Fighters from the healthcare sector and shared few anecdotes of his music and the spiritual journey. He appreciated sincere efforts made by Sewa International teams in USA & India to deal with current situation. The dynamic singer saluted the efforts made by Sewa International’s team and volunteers who are putting their lives at risk to help fellow citizens. He further assured all assistance in spreading the message to join our efforts to help in these trying times.

Sanjana Sanghi, an Indian actress showed her solidarity for our #Task4Mask campaign via beautiful video message on social media. #Task4Mask initiative was started to promote self-reliance in producing home-made masks in line with government's efforts during the current situation. Our volunteers across Uttarakhand, Delhi, Gujarat, West Bengal and Tripura are working towards the initiative and have produced more than 100,000 masks till date for the marginalized communities and essential service providers. The motive of this initiative is generate home-made masks for fellow citizens to fight spread of Coronavirus as well as to create livelihood opportunities for women volunteers engaged in this program.

Realizing the importance of the cause, Sanjana came forward to join hands in fundraising for the Self-help Groups of Sewa Uttarkhand team. In her short video message on social media, she shared the problems of our SHG women living in Uttarakhand, and praised their efforts to help during COVID-19. She also expressed her concern about the health workers, daily wagers, and the migrant workers in Uttarakhand. The actress urged the audience to donate generously and help these women in sustaining their life in this hour of need.

We are thankful to Sanjana for her kind words and support she has provided to take this movement #Task4Mask forward.

Link: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=872520926598297

Media Coverage - Covid-19 Efforts

Sewa International was featured in various media platforms. Work performed by Sewa International teams and volunteers was highly appreciated in National/International media world-wide.

Sewa Aarogyam - Serving people in Covid times

Sewa Aarogyam (Mobile Medical Van), our healthcare initiative provides medical support(consultation, diagnosis and medicines) to people living in far-off villages of Rudraprayag and Chamoli district in Uttarakhand. The service were halted during the ongoing pandemic situation. The COVID-19 had instilled fear and panic among the local community. There were several impediments due to the lock-down situation such as lack of transportation, money and medical facilities for these people in mountains.

We resumed Mobile Medical Van operations after lockdown 3.0 in mid-May, with due permission from local authorities. It was very necessary to resume our services as the patients living in far-flung villages were being deprived of medical treatment and services. Strict measures were followed as instructed by local authorities to run such program. Protocol that we follow for any case- screen the patient via infrared thermometer; the patient is then allowed to consult a doctor; during the consultation, social distancing is being practiced. The team is well equipped with the Coronavirus safety kit e.g. PPE Kit, gloves, mask, sanitizer, safety cap, etc.

We haven't yet got permission to hold camps inside the villages, but still we are trying to provide medical assistance to those in need by reaching out to them. During one of the camp on 25th May, 14 people were found COVID positive. They were then referred to district hospitals.

Our humble journey during the COVID-19 situation during May 2020:

By the end of May, a total of 13 camps were organized by our team.

More than 345 patients were treated from both Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts in 13 camps.

With the help of ASHA workers, 26 ANC patients were given free lab tests.

Free masks were distributed to people from rural areas and were made aware symptoms and precautions required to fight with Corona.

Stringent hygiene guidelines were followed for each staff and patient being treated at our MMV.

Hygiene programs were conducted for children and women.

Coronavirus pandemic has left us all dumbfounded. Its incredible that the smallest living thing, a virus (which can’t even be treated as alive unless in a medium), has wreaked so much of chaos and destruction globally to the other end of the evolution, Human Species, which boasts itself to control not only its own destiny but that of entire life on earth. 

Four months have passed since the Coronavirus contagion began, but amazingly we are still as clueless about this horrible disease, if not more. This is a cruel but timely reminder to all humanity to accept its position as a part, and not as the master of Mother Nature. With cleaner air, water, blooming wildlife and cacophony of birds, nature is all there for us to look and cherish, but sadly for the price to be paid is that humans need to be locked up, so that nature can flourish. 

We have all the resources and means to reverse our deathly march to extinction, which is all but certain due to our materialistic desires of consuming all that is left on earth.  Coronavirus pandemic ironically, has given all of us a second chance to seriously ponder and think about our priorities and beliefs, which have been marred in the lifelong pursuit of wealth accumulation at any cost. We need to revisit our socio-economic model to include Mother Nature as the most important stakeholder in all our decisions going forward. This is a huge opportunity to go for Green Economy and create the new jobs that the world desperately needs while sustaining earth.

Sewa International through its team, volunteers and International Associates world-wide has reached out to millions of Coronavirus affected people. This month we are highlighting a few of those impactful programs which are still ongoing as the whole world is united in fighting the deadly disease.

We would like to humbly request you to continue holding our hands, guiding us and work together to come out victorious from this Chakravyuh laid by this disease by collaborating together on the path of Selfless Service.

Major initiatives for COVID-19 Response

• Coronavirus Awareness programs via Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Website, YouTube etc. Reached 40K+ audience on social media.
• Conducting online webinars on handling Health, Wealth, Crisis as well as learning Yoga, Sanskrit Speaking and many other topics while staying at home. 
• Distribution of Covid19 Stay@Home Kits to migrant laborers, daily wagers and poor families. The kit consists of essentials like dry ration (rice, flour, pulses, sugar, salt, cooking oil etc), home supplies (soaps, sanitizer, detergents), masks .
• Preparing homemade masks for poor families as well as essential service provider workers like food vendors, police personnel, cleaners.
• Supplying PPE Kits, N95 Masks, Sanitizers to hospitals or medical centres. Proper  PPE  kits  (includes gown, gloves,  head cover,  eye protection,  face shield, mask,  respirators, and shoe cover)  and  N95 respirators for our first responders namely doctors, nurses, attendants, janitors and other Medical Staff.
• Supporting community kitchens to supply freshly cooked food to families that have been evicted from their homes, homeless and workers without any provision for cooking as they relied on roadside vendors.
• Engaging digital volunteers as well as on ground to help with reaching out to beneficiaries for distribution of relief kits and fresh food.
• Engaging with NITI Aayog (Women Entrepreneurship Cell) and various foundations like NASSCOM Foundation, United Way Mumbai and many others, to help reach out to the needy.

Volunteers of Sewa International distributed Stay@Home kit that contains dry ration, vegetables and other essentials to 250+ families of migrant labors as well as fruit juice packets for kids. The distribution happened in and around areas of North-East and East Delhi.Some of the areas covered were Mandoli Industrial Area, Bhagirathi Vihar, Sanjay Colony, Harsh Vihar, Nand Nagri, Mandoli, Saboli Khada, Loni Road, Ashok Nagar E D block, Murti Shilpkar Basti, Janta Colony, Subhash Park, Rehman Building, Shahdara, Kalander Colony, Dilshad Garden, Leprosy Colony, Seemapuri, Old Seemapuri, Anand Vihar railway line, Bhola Nath Nagar, Krishna Nagar, Yamuna Bank, Mayur Vihar Phase 1, Lalita Park, Labour Chowk.

These homeless migrants are mostly from Uttar Pradesh and are dependent on odd job work for their daily wages. Poverty forced them to move to Delhi looking for livelihood opportunity but lockdown has left them in a precarious situation. They even lack the ration cards in most cases, as their locality is not recognized, leaving them with no options. The food ration delivered by our volunteers would help them survive until lock-down is there.

UTTARAKHAND

Sewa Uttarakhand has been working to deliver essential food supplies and sensitizing people about maintaining physical distance and hygiene during the lockdown.The migrant laborers in different parts of the country are stranded and out of work, while the demand for masks increased as the government has made masks compulsory for everyone.

Nepali migrant workers are critical to the local construction industry(road, building, etc) and help drive the local economy of Uttarakhand. But, being temporary workers, they are hard to trace as most of them are not registered in state records so don’t get any benefits also, resulting in the pitiable situation due to the sudden lock-down. Sensing the humanitarian crisis, Sewa International Uttarakhand quickly formed a team along with local volunteers and started working with the Local State Administration to identify potential victims. We distributed Stay@Home Kits and Home-made masks to more than 250 marginalized families, including 55 Nepali migrant families especially to roadside daily wage laborers, old-age and disabled people, while sharing safety and prevention measures against Coronavirus.We covered 50+ Villages and 1 quarantine center (Gaucher Polytechnic Institute, District Chamoli) across Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts. We have also provided our Medical Support vehicle and 2 Paramedics to the State Govt for enhancing their immediate response system. Sewa Uttarakhand is distributing food relief packets to those living in the slums of Dehradun.

#Task4Mask- Let's Stop the Spread of Coronavirus

‘Task4Mask’ is the campaign to promote the importance of wearing masks in public as well as raise funds for helping women earn basic wages as they make cloth-based masks at home. A worker can produce an average of 40-50 masks per day and can help support their families as well, as many of their families are dependent on daily wages. A minimum daily wage for these women is raised through this campaign, to support those who support the nation in catastrophic times.

The very essence of our Self Help Groups in Uttarakhand is about the stories of these women, coming forward in times of crisis, to provide their service to the community. The cumulative strength of SHGs has come forward to help people with masks and sanitizers since the lockdown was first announced on 23rd March, to help the migrant workers from Nepal and Bihar, working in Uttarakhand, get essential commodities to get through this time. Around 50 women from our SHGs in Chamoli & Rudraprayag districts are making masks for the government and essential service providers. Besides, Uttarakhand, we have expanded this program to our women tailors in Kutch (Gujarat), volunteers in Kanchanpur(Tripura), women laborers in Delhi NCR region, men/women home-based tailoring in Alipurdar(West Bengal) and plan to expand to many other regions.

Masks can play a vital role in containing the pandemic to the maximum extent. While the government has made masks mandatory, the women from our SHGs are already on the task to prepare them, while keeping the guidelines in mind. The masks are made from cotton or cotton-blend material, considering the guidelines provided by OPSA as they prevent contaminated droplets from asymptomatic people. These are reasons enough for our community to gear up and prepare for the war ahead, and the women are the frontline warriors in it. People in hilly, tribal and North-East region of our country are majorly dependent upon tourism season for income generation, but from travel to the hotel sector, people are out of work this year due to the coronavirus lockdown. Coming from families, dependent upon daily wages as their primary source of income, these women are working 8 hours a day to make a living through this initative. For every mask sold, the help is going to one of the families of these women and a worker from the textile sector as well.

TELANGANA 

Sewa International volunteers in Hyderabad are relentlessly working towards vulnerable families. A community kitchen has been set up in collaboration with Pakka Nellore kitchen, and a team of dedicated volunteers is helping us out to prepare fresh food on daily basis and distribute them among low-income families of migrant workers(from Orissa and Maharashtra), labor, disabled people, homeless people on the road and other needy families who are not able to earn their bread due to lockdown.The distribution was started on 27th Mar 2020 with a small team, and since then we have served more than 30,000 families with fresh food on a daily basis. We are moving around to identify needy people, and so far covered areas – Kondapur, Shaikpet, Masidbanda, Sai krishnand hills, Miyapur, Madanpur Police Station area, Mossapet, Vasanth Nagar construction sites, pranathi Nagar. Till date 30,000+ meals served under #LetsFeedThePoor.

We are also feeding the stray dogs and cows on a daily basis. Every day we are covering around 40 to 50 stray Dogs/Cows and feed them with Curd Rice & Bananas, so far reached out to more than 1200 strays.

USA

Responding to the Coronavirus and its aftermath, Sewa International USA immediately started the initiative after the World Health Organisation (WHO) on March 11, 2020, declared novel Coronavirus Outbreak as a pandemic. Team of volunteers in 20 major cities in the US are working long hours to Essential commodities distributed by Sewa International USA Team ensure a formidable community response. In the fight against the deadly Coronavirus, Sewa International USA has undertaken the following,

Sewa USA has engaged more than 3000 volunteers in COVID-19 Relief work.

Reached out to 1000+ community organizations through the Sewa Sankalpa Campaign.

40+ Plasma Donors have already registered through Plasma Online Portal.

50+ Organizations are mobilized to support Food Banks.

Amount of USD 500,000+ has been raised for COVID-19 relief efforts.

200+ volunteers are already trained for the COVID-19 Relief work.

150+ international students are provided support for accommodation, food groceries, travel, etc.

600+ Food Deliveries done to caregivers, doctors, senior citizens, etc.

50+ families supported by the medical, funeral, hospitalization cases, etc.

The guidance and support are been given to the 50+ physicians & attorneys.

67+ Webinars are already conducted on various topics and have covered 75000+ viewers.

20000+ viewers have been reached out via social media.

8 Covid-19 Helpline Centers available 24*7 has already answered 650+ calls and 500+ WhatsApp enquires related to medical & health Issues, grocery & food requests, travel related info, other general inquiries, immigration/visa Issues, and volunteering.

The distribution of 30,000+ N95/KN95/Clinical masks, 10,000+ Homemade Masks, 500+ Liters of Sanitizer, 4500+ Hot meals & food kits, and $80,000 amount has been donated to food partners.

UNITED KINGDOM

Sewa UK along with INSA, FISI and SewaDay brought the resources together to provide immediate help to the distraught Indian students, elders, vulnerable local communities in the following ways,

Help Your Neighbor: This campaign focuses on an individual level where we ask everyone to tell their neighbors and friends that they are willing to help. It starts by simply sharing a graphic and calling their nearest& dearest to ensure they know that there is somebody they can reach out to if they need help during the difficult weeks ahead.

Replenish the Food banks: Food banks are receiving less than half their normal donations but demand has gone up by a staggering 300%. Many food banks couldn't cope and have simply closed down. SewaDay took on the challenge and has worked tirelessly to restock a growing number of food banks. Working with partner charities, supermarkets and other corporate donors our volunteers have also provided for homeless/womens shelters and the Salvation Army.

Care for the Carer: Looking after our front liners is of utmost importance, but we have a unique system where hospitals tell us what they need and our fantastic volunteers work tirelessly to source it: From snacks drinks. Face masks to the increasing demand for hand creams and furniture for doctor rest rooms, we work hard to source and fund what is required. Already serving 26 hospitals and growing, other organizations use us to as a key link to access front liners

Progress Update-

Till date 6000+ meals served and 268+ accommodation offered.

36+ hospital services has been given to the needy.

2400+ volunteers are engaged for COVID-19 Relief work.

24+ Foodbanks has been replenished.

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

Under the COVID-19 Relief Work, volunteers and healthcare team of Sewa International TT (Trinidad and Tobago) are doing extensive campaigns to ensure safety for all. Following are the initiatives taken:

Webinars conducted to address the potential impact of novel corona virus disease,

Public awareness campaign launched in social networking sites,

Mask-making and distribution among the deprived population,

Free live-streaming of Yoga classes for everyone to reduce stress and stay healthy,

70+ volunteers are working for making homemade mask,

20000 masks targeted and 7000+ masks distributed so far.

AUSTRALIA

Sewa International Australia along with its partner organizations has ramped-up the fight against deadly coronavirus in earnest. It is giving priority for the safety and wellness of elderly people amid Coronavirus outbreak. Team of volunteers from Sewa Australia and its partner organizations are now actively engaged in providing support to the people who are affected by Coronavirus pandemic in the following manner:

Spreading awareness against Coronavirus spread,

Serving food packets to the needy at their doorstep,

Supplying essential medicines to the vulnerable families,

Helpline numbers for medical support, counselling and accommodation support for people who have lost jobs.

CANADA

Sewa International Canada stepped in immediately in response to an appeal from the Consulate General of India, Toronto, seeking help from any quarter, to help alleviate the crisis faced by a large number of Indian International Students in Canada. It released CAD $5,000 of its funds immediately for “International Students Aid” project to start helping on the ground to bring relief to the needy at the earliest. Its network of volunteers and community partners have decided to pitch in and provide the needy students with the following aid.

Guidance/Counselling with help of qualified professionals & practitioners in the community.

Supply of food items/cooked food and over-the-counter medications.

Any other emergency or unforeseen scenario – on a case-by-case basis.

Connecting with community volunteers in their respective cities for local support – health & wellness.

India has achieved some success in controlling the spread of COVID-19. In comparison to other countries, the situation in India is still under control, but it doesn't mean that we become complacent. India is not yet ready to re-open, meanwhile states are set to continue lockdowns that had been imposed to contain the coronavirus outbreak. The only way to control the virus is through social distancing and taking care of those affected by following quarantine guidelines.

We are sincerely obligated and grateful to our Donors, Supporters & Volunteers, who have helped us during difficult times. It is only with your trust, we have reached so far. It is our humble appeal to all fellow citizens to come forward and support us at this time. You can contribute as a volunteer, as a professional (Doctors, Healthcare workers, etc.) and financial/kind support.

Let’s maintain the Social Distancing and take care of each other.

We are in this Together & We will Overcome this Together.

The world as we know it will never be the same. Coronavirus pandemic has hit rich and poor nations alike and is spreading like wildfire, causing millions of infections and more than 55,000 deaths till date. With its spread in India intensifying in the past month, our volunteers and partner organizations have been working steadfastly to provide face masks, Covid-19 Stay@Home kit containing basic food ration, medicines, sanitation materials etc, freshly prepared food and helping elderly people with their tasks. All this work despite the lockdown restrictions, risking their lives, though they take all recommended precautions, to ensure that the marginalized and vulnerable among us are not left behind.

In March, we too had our moments, as we celebrated International Women’s Day on 8th March in Uttarakhand, with more than 9000 village women participating in 7 locations in different clusters of Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts. This was much before WHO declared Covid-19 as pandemic and Coronavirus was recognized as a health threat in India. All locations reported unprecedented support from the local community, and were among the highest gatherings ever there, without any celebrity to draw the crowds. With the news trickling in at that time on Corona’s detection in India, none of us could have imagined the destruction caused by the virus worldwide in the following weeks. With the lockdown in force till 14th April 2020, our field operations are all but stopped, as Covid-19 relief work is required in some locations, in association with the local administration. We all need to follow the social distancing and coronavirus prevention guidelines in all sincerity, not only for ourselves but for the safety of our loved ones. We strongly recommend using face masks (cloth, surgical, N95 etc), whenever out of our home to prevent the spread. This has been the single most effective way to control the spread as seen in countries who have effectively dealt with the Coronvirus spread, including Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Most importantly, thanks a lot for your support for our Covid-19 prevention campaigns to reach to the most needy at this hour and entrusting us with your hard-earned money. We highly value your support and want to assure you that we will surely come out of this crisis stronger and better than ever.

Response to Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic

Sewa International has launched a campaign to provide COVID-19 Stay@Home Kit to help the migrant and daily wagers’ families. The Kit provides different resources such as Food Materials, Essential Medicines, Sanitation/Hygiene Kit and Homemade Reusable Face Mask, depending on the needs. For as little as Rs.1000, one can help reach out to a needy daily wager/migrant family with the survival essentials. Along with this, Sewa International volunteers are also continuously spreading awareness on the precautions to be taken for the prevention of Covid-19.

As part of the above initiative, Sewa volunteers distributed food materials like atta, rice, potatoes, and fruit juices to migrants from Mahoba, UP staying around the Ashok Nagar area in Delhi. These landless migrants from UP were dependent on odd jobs/labor work for their daily wages. Poverty forced them to move to Delhi looking for livelihoods, but the lockdown left them in precarious situations. They even lacked the ration cards as their locality was not recognized, leaving them with no options. The food ration delivered by our volunteers would help them survive until the lockdown is over. Likewise, Sewa volunteers from Bangalore are distributing the food packet to the needy on a daily basis. They are collectively raising funds from individuals and the community to serve the hungry.

Starting 27 March 2020, Sewa volunteer, Smt Subhadra is organizing free tiffins delivery for the migrant and daily wagers in Hyderabad area. For the purpose, the kitchen of a nearby restaurant, Pakka Nellore, which was closed due to lockdown, was utilized and their cooks prepared free freshly cooked food for the stuck migrant workers.The food packets were carried to the needy with the permission of local administration. Subhadra along with many well-wishers and volunteers is planning to run this kitchen everyday till lockdown is there. Local Municipal Corporation has also come forward and identified few locations with migrant workers and requested her to supply at least 1000 packs everyday. On the first day, 227 food packets were distributed to needy people in three different localities as mentioned below,

• Daily wage workers from Orissa at Kondapur Bikshapathi Nagar (72 food packets)
• People with disability and old people staying near the roadside of Shaikpet, MG Nagar (120 food packets)
• Masidbanda area construction workers from Maharashtra (26 food packets)
• Roadside people (11 food packets)

Till 31 March 2020, more than 3100 food packets were distributed among the underprivileged people stranded due to lockdown. Subhadra’s initiative is inspiring for us all and she is truly a CovidHero!!

Sewa International through its Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK) centers in Uttrakhand is continuously working in the region to minimize the risk of CoronaVirus. Presently, Uttarakhand is relatively unaffected with Covid-19 patients in single digits, but in order to minimize the risk level, PMKK staff are contributing as much as they can. On 30 March, the PMKK staff of Tehri Garhwal, Birendra, Ravinder, Pushpendra and Rajendra collected some amount of money, and distributed masks and gloves to the Shop keepers, Police Officers and staff of MCD. During the distribution drive, they created awareness on Coronavirus pandemic and ways to curb it.

Also, 10 students of Home Health Aid job-role of PMKK Tehri, volunteered in the emergency ward of a government hospital. They donated their time and knowledge to the patients, and promised to be available in case the need arises in hospital to help Covid-19 patients.

The volunteers/trainees in Kutch, Gujarat, and Kanchanpur, Tripura are producing homemade masks for support staff at healthcare centers, police, bank and other government officials on duty. Recently, Sewa Centre in Kutch, Gujarat got an order from aHyderabd hospital to prepare reusable masks to prevent Corona spread from patients/support staff to others. Similarly, 200 homemade masks were delivered at the SDM office in Tripura for Government Staff, and 60 masks were given to SDPO Kanchanpur.

To counter Coronavirus spread, Sewa is planning to launch a campaign to make large number of reusable masks by engaging the vast majority of home-based women workforce available in our country with the support of it s volunteers and partner organizations. This initiative will help women to earn a basic living, while contributing to the fight against Covid-19.

Since the month of February, when Coronavirus started to show its initial footprints in USA, Sewa International USA(sewausa.org) has been actively working on the ground to combat the pandemic situation. Sewa USA has established a Non-Medical helpline in different areas of the USA, i.e South West (281) 909-7392, West Coast (203) 872-7392, East Coast (302) 330-7392and Mid-West (708) 972-7392. It also released USD 10,000 to run its 24X7 helpline and coronavirus awareness campaigns through a team of 20 physicians to provide information & resources for Covid-19 to the public and helping international students by connecting them to doctors, assisting with accommodation/meals. Sewa is also helping seniors/elders/disabled people in the community with medical advice, grocery/meals along withcontinuously organizing “virtual organizing meetings” and webinars in various cities to educate community leaders about how they can help during this crisis.

In response to the COVID-19, Sewa International is providing thousands of masks, gloves and personal protective supplies to medical professions and other workers who need to go out into the community to run essential services. Over 400 volunteers in 20 major cities in the country are working long hours to ensure a formidable community response at this crucial time. Local businesses and medical professionals are offering their services to the community through Sewa International. It has also established various chapters across the country that are working with the Indian Embassy and consulates to help families obtain visas to travel to India in emergency situations. The Sewa USA team has started donation campaign to support individuals and families in the United States and has recently launched “Sewa Sankalpacampaign” to bring together Dharma and Sewa (service) organizations in the USA to commit to a Sewa Sankalpa or Pledge for Service to care for your community members by providing necessary non-Medical COVID-19 support.

Fyunli Kauthig – Celebration of International Women’s Day
(Rudraprayag & Chamoli)

For over a hundred years now, March 8 is celebrated each year by UN as the International Women’s Day to put the spotlight on the achievements of women in social, economic and political arenas. For the last 4 years, Sewa International has been celebrating this day as Fyunli Kauthig (Onset of Spring/Spring Festival), in the lap of Himalayas ie, Uttarakhand, for honoring women in Garhwal region of Himalayas and their immense contribution to society. In previous editions, we have been organizing this event at only one location bringing all the women from far-off places in Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts, which led to many women who couldn’t join the event. To overcome that limitation as well as increase community participation, we decided to make it a decentralized event by organizing the event in 7 different locations ie. Tapovan, Simli, Urgam, Chandrapuri, Narayankoti, Pokhari and Makkumath clusters of Garhwal Region in Uttarakhand.

More than 9000 participants were there from far and remote areas of the Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts for the event at their respective locations. The theme for this year was: “Meru Gaon, Meru Kauthig” meaning “My Village, My Festival” with the idea to recognize and acknowledge the women’s returning back to the roots and taking the lead in the development of the society. The event encouraged community ownership by involving the community people to take lead in planning and implementing the solutions which are bottom to top.

During the event, Sewa acknowledged contributions of total 36 women achievers working at the grassroots in various fields like Health, Education, Culture, Sports, Tourism, Leadership, Livelihood, Ayurveda and Self Help Groups (SHGs) from various clusters. National and internationally renowned women personalities were invited as Distinguished Guests for the program to encourage the community and share the success stories. Various competitive sports were organized for the participants and the products from Himsampada and SKVK were showcased in all the clusters during the event. The festivities revived the culture & tradition of Uttarakhand through folk dances, plays and storytelling activities.

We thank ONGC Foundation for supporting this year’s event and making it a huge success.

Road Safety Program – Safe Roads, Safe Kids (Hyderabad)

Road safety is the prevention and protection of road accidents by using all the road safety measures. It is to secure people while traveling on the roads. It is to make safe all the road users. According to the study of The Economic Times, India ranks 1st in the number of road accident deaths across the 199 countries reported in the World Road Statistics, 2018 followed by China and the US. As per the WHO Global Report on Road Safety 2018, India accounts for almost 11% of the accident-related deaths in the World. The traffic violations related to driving on the wrong side of the road, the use of mobile phones, drunken driving, etc. are the main reason for the increase in road accidents.

Considering the Road Safety as one of the serious problems, starting November 2019 Sewa International with the support of United Way Mumbai, implemented the program “The Global Road Safety Education Program for New Generation, in 5 schools of Hyderabad covering 1000 students, to engage latter as ambassadors of road safety and create school-level behavioral change. The program was created by the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) which works globally through a proven “public-private- civil society” partnership model to contribute to the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety.

The 13 weeks module comprised a series of 4 learning modules i.e. Opening module, Knowledge Module, Creativity Module, and Implementation module. These 4 modules were built upon each other and were closely related to the 4 didactic steps. Every module contained core exercises that can be combined with additional exercises. The program trained 1000 Children from 5 schools in Moosapet and Kondapur with around 200 students from each school engaged for 2 hrs/week for 13 weeks.

Maharashtra Flood Rehab 2019 – School Construction

In our last month Sewa Sandesh, we had shared about the work progress of our School Rebuilding Project in Maharashtra. The project was implemented by Sewa International in collaboration with United Way Mumbai and funded by ASK Foundation in the flood-affected schools after the devastating flood and heavy rain of 2019 in Maharashtra. Our team visited these schools on 3-4 March along with United Way team, and Shri Siddharth Iyer of ASK Foundation and were pleasantly surprised to see the work progress there. Under this project, all the remaining work of painting, fabrication, cement, electric, toilet repair and furniture work of Shree Datta Vdiya Mandir, Narsobawadi, Shirol, and Secondary Ashram School, Dhanwad, Shirol has been completed. A touch of wall art has been done for the whole school. All the deterioration caused by the flood in the structure of the school has patched up and repaired by filling the cement in the cracks and damaged areas. Overall all the schools are completed renovated and are now ready for regulating its daily curriculum.

Toilet & Hygiene Project for a Girl Child

All the ongoing projects of Toilet & Hygiene are on hold due to the current pandemic Corona. Due to lockdown imposed since 23rd March, all over the country, the implementation of the Toilet & Hygiene Project in particular locations has been delayed. However, in the month of March only the Karnataka Project showed some progress. For this project, Sewa International did need analysis post-flood in North Karnataka in December 2019 and is being sponsored by United Way of Mumbai.

Under this project following progress has been made:
Location: Adibetti Badawane, Gokak-

• 80% work of Repairing of existing Toilets & Urinals at Adibetti Badawane, Gokak is completed. Under this, the work of flooring bed, increasing height of the wall, sheet on the urinal and cement plastering is done, while the work of plumbing, tiles, and painting is yet to complete.
• Replacing of damaged flooring of white New Kadappa tiles for office room and room no.003 is completed.
• Removing of damaged blackboard & providing new blackboard for room no 4 is completed.

Location: Urdu HPS School, Ankalgi

• Construction of Parapet wall, Toilets & Urinals is under progress.

Celebrating International Women’s Day & Holi Festival- Bru Rehab Project, Tripura

Under the Bru Rehab project, Sewa International in collaboration with other volunteer organizations, celebrated International Women’s Day on 8th March 2020. The program was organized at Kanchanpur town hall in North Tripura. The chief guest Bhabatosh Das, Sabhadipati form North Tripura district inaugurated the event. In the program many distinguished delegates from the various social organizations were present. Around 700 women’s participated in the event. The event was covered in local news:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqvBLaitOMo&feature=youtube

Also, Sewa International is running 2 make-shift schools in displacement camps of Ashapara and Khakchangpara in North Tripura. On the occasion of Holi: the festival of colors, Sewa celebrated the festival with students, teachers and co-workers. The children were delighted and overwhelmed with joy. With the exchange of colors, they shared the bond of happiness and togetherness with their community and the country.