For several weeks now, the situation in India has been absolutely catastrophic, with unbearable scenes of thousands of people affected by the virus who cannot be treated due to the lack of space and oxygen.
This situation affects all segments of the population, families and children, directly. At Solibad, we rarely ask for emergency aid because our programs are based on long-term local partnerships. However, the current situation forces us to solicit our friends and donors’ help in order to send funds and save lives.
Many children find themselves without their parents, who are either sick or dead from Covid. We have to organize their repatriation in local structures, provide meal baskets and answer to essential needs. Many children are abandoned. Other consequences of the dramatic local situation, especially in the slums where our partner charity OFI (Objectif France Inde) acts : many youngsters do not have access to education, which, has dramatic consequences in these areas. Young girls end up pregnant, or forced into marriage because their parents no longer can afford to send them to school. Others, no longer in school, head for delinquency or homelessness and we know where this leads…
The situation is deteriorating day by day, both in big cities and their townships, but also in villages and countrysides - our partners’ family members are directly affected - a young 35 year old volunteer, part of those front-liners who distribute meals and help the beneficiaries of the programs contracted the virus and died recently.
We are therefore, calling for emergency aid to quickly send funds on site and help those children and their families, especially in the province of Tamil Nadu and around Bangalore, areas where OFI works. Each euro counts - with 15 € you provide a whole family with basic needs for 10 days. With 30 € you provide 30 days worth of meals to a child (that is 1€ per day for three meals!)
With 50 €, you ensure several days of essential food products for unattended children whose parents are sick or victims of the virus. A 150 € donation represents a teacher’s monthly salary, either as soon as schools reopen, or as of now with teachers going to villages and teaching outdoors, especially in slums, in order to keep the link with young students for whom school is a real social lifeline.
We are counting on you, many thanks
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