Sewa International USA has released the "American Dharma Report". The report assembles the work of 125+ local, regional, national, and international level Dharma organizations related to serving the public during the pandemic and supporting those on the front lines in fighting the pandemic.

Last month has been particularly hard on Sewa International, as we faced the terrible Glacier Burst disaster in the Tapovan area of Chamoli district in Uttarakhand. We had been working since 2016 in this area, starting with small beginnings of first SHG & a small Computer Centre, to now more than 1000+ active members mainly women, in Community/Skill Development, Organic Farming and Health Services. Our bonding with the wonderful people of the region which has grown stronger over time, made it extremely painful to see the horrific visuals. Our team was among the First Responders who immediately swung into action and helped provide services to the front line workers as well as aggrieved families. Unfortunately, we lost few of our SHG members and family members of our team members too in this unexpected tragedy, which made it especially hard for us. At the same time, we were humbled by the support received from India and abroad for helping out the affected families as well as for the rehab work that needs to be done.

Thanks again for your trust, and partnering with us in our journey towards a better world!!

Regards,
Nishant Aggarwal
Chief Executive Officer,
Sewa International

Glacier  Burst: Relief & Rehabilitation

After January brought joy and hope, February tested our capabilities and resolve to serve the people in Uttarakhand. The massive Glacier Burst in Tapovan(Chamoli, Uttarakhand) took everyone by surprise, by its sheer ferocity and speed with which nature's fury was unleashed. We were the unfortunate first witnesses to the horrible disaster which led to deaths of hundreds of ill-fated workers in the power plant as well as villagers. Our team despite being in shock acted as responsible First Responders and immediately got involved in rescue and relief operations, in tandem with NDRF, ITBP and State/District Administration.

We provided the following services to the affected people:

• Informed via our social media posts.
• 4000+ meals served to affected people and frontline saviours
• 100+ trauma counselling sessions held with the aggrieved family members of missing/dead people
• 60+ patients treated through our Sewa Aarogyam(Mobile Health Van) stationed in Tapovan
• 300+ Food Kits distributed to families which suddenly lost their livelihoods or came looking for their relatives 

More than 40 volunteers and employees were restlessly involved in surveys for missing people, and serving through above-mentioned activities. 

Oracle - Covid-19 Rehab Projects 

For Covid-19 Rehab, to provide and generate livelihood opportunities through skilling and entrepreneurship, accessible health services and WASH facilities across 5 states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand, Sewa International is supported by Oracle Financial Services Software Ltd through its impactful CSR program. Though its only couple of months, since we started these programs, but the response and support has been overwhelming. We are excited to share the updates of our projects. 

Uttarakhand

e-Health Centers

To provide timely health services in remote hilly areas, we have established 4 e-health centers in Hapla, Makkumath, Kotma, and Urgam of Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts of Uttarakhand These centres would provided telemedicine services, and medical consultations. These will be in operation from the next month.

Model Migrant Village

Paving a path to livelihoods for the migrants post-COVID-19 period, we are providing 15-day skill training on Ringal production (a bamboo type) under the initiative. Currently, 15 beneficiaries are being trained in Raulenk village of Makkumath cluster in Rudraprayag district.

Seed Bank Initiative

Under this initiative, we are working towards increasing the farmer's income. 1500+ Kg's of Ginger seeds have been provided to the farmers at a comparatively lower rate in the Pokhari cluster of Uttarakhand.

Building Agri-Supply Chain

Adding an important milestone in the project, we have included a vehicle in our machinery. The vehicle will support marketing and will make transportation easier for essential merchandise.

Sewa Aarogyam

Continuing our efforts for providing timely and doorstep medical facilities in distant areas, we have added one support vehicle(Force Traveller) for travel of our workforce of 10 health members. This will in movement of our staff to reach out to remote locations in short time. Through Sewa Aarogyam, we were able to serve the family members of the missing people or victims as well as provide immediate help to the frontline workers who were engaged in rescue of Glacier Burst victims.

Tripura

We have launched a Livelihood Development program for the economically weaker fish farmers in the tribal-dominated areas of Tripura. The program aims to promote a fish-based integrated farming system in Satnala (Kanchanpur), and Teliamura (Khowai) districts of Tripura to increase their income for sustainable livelihoods.

Fish seeds comprising of IMC fingerlings (rohu, catla and mrigal), floating pelleted feed, lime, MOC, SSP have been distributed to 50 beneficiaries under technical & scientific guidelines of ICAR-CIFA scientists, Dr. P.P. Chakraborty and Dr. Jackson, who spent the week with the farmers providing valuable inputs.

Maharashtra

Post COVID-19, we are supporting migrant families of the Konkan division and Nandurbar district of Maharashtra to sustain their livelihoods. Under this, we have distributed mobile rice mills to 5 families. These rice processing mills will allow these families to provide milling services to fellow villagers and be a regular source of income for them.

Arunachal Pradesh

Oragnized awareness programs on "Boosting Immunity through Herbs and Yoga" in more than 25 villages of Arunachal Pradesh.

The programs include Yoga classes and plantation of immunity-boosting herbs to help villagers develop and adopt a healthy lifestyle.

Sewa Across Globe 

Providing mobility to our medical health service in the unreachable corners of Maharashtra, we have added a Mobile Medical Unit. This van is providing basic health facilities like full medical checkups, as well as consultations with the help of doctors and medical staff and reaching out to the patients at far-flung areas at their doorsteps.

2021 has begun with an emotion of hope and positivity. The new budget has given a direction to the nation, and social workers who recently got recognition with the Padma awards have given us optimism for the sparks of change. 2021 also marks Sewa International entering the 24th year of existence. From our humble beginnings with supporting relief activities across India with our grassroots partner(s) who are almost always the first boots on the ground to slowly but surely transitioning to a more development-oriented organization focussing on burning issues of livelihoods, health services and climate change, we have come a long way to our current form as a social impact-driven organization. Continuing our journey, January was a happening month. From learning the knitting of Kandali to running health camps, from winning awards internationally to training young girls in self-defence, we enjoyed and are humbled by every bit of service and support that we have rendered to the community. Sharing those moments of joy with you, bounded with texts and images. Hope you enjoy the joy of sewa with us. Regards, Nishant Aggarwal Chief Executive Officer, Sewa International

January Celebrations

The new year began with the celebration of the National Youth Day, with Baal Panchayat children creating drawings on their imagination of their villages, soon followed by the celebrations of the National Girl Child day on 24th January where we discussed the issues of female foeticide, trafficking etc with adolescent girls as part of Sewa Uttarakhand project. For more information, check out our social media posts.

Innovations in Knitting

This month was full of new experiments for around 390 SHGs in Rudraprayag and Chamoli District. A discussion session was organized for the Sewa Mahila Jyoti Team on "Design using Kandali (Nettle) for Woolen Apparels", which was addressed by Mr K D Sharma, CEO of Descatuk- Dev Ethical Sustainable Crafts and Textiles, Dehradun.

To minimize the Covid-19 effect in the life of migrants in mountains, our team in Uttarakhand is organizing free community training on knitting. In the month of January, basic knitting training was given to 23 participants. It was organized at the Pogtha Pokhari cluster, which indirectly benefited 13 migrant families from the same village. Further, if any of the participants want to get deeper knowledge in knitting then he/she are encouraged at our Knitting Center.

Serving the unserved: Medical Care

Swasthya Sewa Arogyam is benefitting the community in Uttrakhand and Rajasthan. On one end, free dental and eye checkups benefitted around 122 patients from the Sewa Aarogyam initiative organized in collaboration with Vivekananda Eye Hospital in Uttarakhand, on other end, First Aid Kits were distributed among ASHA and Anganwadi members for timely availability of primary medical help at the village level itself.

With the support of Oracle, Arogyam’s Camps in the villages of Rudraprayag and Chamoli are conducting regular health check-ups and creating awareness about menstrual health for adolescent girls, information on Covid-19 vaccination and taking forward our nutrition mission via camps in the identified 24 service points more than 200 villages of Rudraprayag and Chamoli.

Continuing our efforts in providing last-mile healthcare services, our Mobile Medical Unit(MMU) in Pathredi Industrial Area, Alwar (Rajasthan) this month we reached out to a total of 1762 new patients which included 1024 were females and 738 were males coming for the medical consultation, free medicines, follow-up check-ups, and referrals.

Partners, who make us proud!

Sewa International takes pride to congratulate Dr Dhananjay Diwakar Sagdeo, Chief Medical Officer(CMO) of Swami Vivekananda Medical Mission, one of our partner organizations on receiving the prestigious Padmashri Award, one of the highest civilian Awards in Bharat.  Under his supervision, SVMM has been implementing numerous health projects, specially curing debilitating Sickle Cell Anemia among the tribal community in the Wayanad District of Kerala state since 1992. 

Self Defence Training & Menstrual Awareness: We organized a 3-day self-defence training program in Lucknow and multiple menstrual hygiene awareness camps at various locations across Karnataka covering over 477 beneficiaries.

School Kit Distribution: Sewa International distributed 950 school kits across various schools in Karnataka as the schools reopened. With the economy still running low, we hope that the School Kits keep the spirits of the children and their families high.

Winter Care Campaign: Phase IV

Under our winter care campaign, Sewa distributed slippers to the little barefoot providing care and love near Kirti Nagar area, New Delhi.

 Evolving to the new needs: PMKK gets an update

Sewa International social media handles hosted the live events on launching of PMKVY3.0 on its various centres. Sewa International PM Kaushal Kendra. Students attended the live event in the presence of eminent personalities.

Handicraft Exhibition: Kutch

Sewa Kala Srushti Private Limited has participated in a four-day handicraft demonstration organized by the District Industrial Cooperative Federation of Kutch from 17 to 20 January. In the exhibition, we demonstrate the beautiful artwork done by the traditional artisans and showed how they are making their livelihood out of the traditional arts and hence contributing to Vocal for Local Initiative of government. 

Covid-19 Rehab - Towards AtmaNirbhar Bharat

We are executing different programs in the field of health and sustainable livelihood, with the support of Oracle in different locations of Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Tripura. Beneficiaries of these programs are from lower (middle) class families and people who have lost their jobs due to the ongoing pandemic. 

Spread across the Bengaluru and Chikmagalur districts of Karnataka, Sewa training centers under these programs are providing Basic Computer Skills and English training classes. We are also providing placement to the trainees in collaboration with our recruiting partner Vaahan. 79 women are being trained in basic and advance tailoring concepts across different locations in Karnataka.

As part of AtmaNirbhar Bharat mission, an Arecanut Leaf Plate Making unit is under construction in Kanchanpur area of Tripura. This initiative is expected to enable the local communities to gain meaningful employment while contributing to a sustainable lifestyle in the nation.

More initiatives under these projects include Sewa Krishi Sansadhan Kendra, Seed Bank, Supply chain management of organic farm produces, Development of Model Village Enterprises and Sewa Yuva Udhyami Kendra and e-health centres.

More initiatives under the programs supported by Oracle, include Sewa Krishi Sansadhan Kendra, Seed Bank, Development of Model Village Enterprises, Sewa Yuva Udhyami Kendra and novel e-health centres to take care of the livelihood and healthcare needs to the villagers in Uttarakhand.

Global 'Sewa' Updates

Sewa International’s Boston Chapter organized its Annual Fundraiser "Nrityameva Jayate dance competition"  via Facebook Live and YouTube. With more than 100 performances by over 200 participants from 25 dance schools, the 2020 program was able to raise over $20,000 to benefit communities via Sewa’s “Feeding the Hungry” and COVID relief programs. 

Sewa International was honoured in recognition of its services to the community on Pravasi Bharatiya Divas at the Consulate General of India, New York.

We wish to thank our volunteers, donors, and everyone involved for being a part of the sewa family and supporting us in our journey.