Since the announcement of a nationwide lockdown ten weeks ago, Ajay Kurmi has been working nearly non-stop every day. He gets up before dawn and with the help of other young volunteers prepares and distributes meals for those in quarantine. It is late at night when he gets to bed.
Kurmi works with Sano Paila in Birganj which had been mobilising young Nepalis to help with rehabilitation, relief and rescue even before the lockdown. But for the past two months Sano Paila, which means ‘small step’, has launched the Feeding Nepal program to provide proper meals to the displaced, stranded and those in quarantine in Birganj, Janakpur, Siraha and even the Karnali region of western Nepal.
The number of Nepalis who have tested positive for the virus has exceeded 2,300 with 200 new cases daily, and there have been a total of nine deaths. Most of the positive cases have been along border districts among recent returnees from India. But the virus is now spreading in communities in the hinterland.
There are currently 156,000 people in quarantine centres all over the country, and the facilities are basic without adequate food and water. Sano Paila provides four meals a day at quarantine centres, but is also feeding hospital workers, daily wagers, and displaced people.
“This needs sustained effort, it is not a one-off help. The need is great, but every small step helps,” explains Jai Kumar Sah at Sano Paila in Birganj which is offering meals to 300 families a day, including for Dalit families who have lost their source of income after the lockdown. In Siraha, Sano Paila provides two meals a day to 2,810 people every day. Its four-meal menu includes: rice, fruits, lentils, vegetables and a meat dish.
Other non-profits have also re-channeled their efforts to lockdown relief work. In Dhanusha, the Mithila Wildlife Trust, which is involved in biodiversity conservation through community forestry, has redirected its effort to help families in distress in 15 districts in Province 2 and beyond.
With support from the UK-based charity Chora Chori, it is helping families in Dhanusha, Sunsari, Saptari, Bara, Siraha, Mahottari, Rautahat, Sarlahi, Parsa, Makwanpur, Nawalparasi, Kapilvastu, Chitwan and Butwal.
“We are trying to reach the unreached, and are getting calls for help from the Musahar, Dome, Chamar, Tatma, Khatbe, and Chepang, Dhangar and Dalit communities,” says Dev Mandal of Mithila Wildlife Trust which has distributed food to last two weeks at a time for 1,800 families.
The Trust’s package includes 15kg of rice, 3kg of lentils, 2litres of cooking oil, 2.5kg of onion, 1kg of potato, 1kg of soybean, 1kg salt, and two bars of soap. It augments the package with beans, eggs and fruits to meet the needs of the most vulnerable even within these groups like pregnant women and infants.
“Many from these communities are suffering from hunger and malnutrition due to the lockdown, but do not have citizenship certificates making them ineligible for help from the ward committee, which is where we come in,” says Mandal.
Both Sano Paila and Maithili Wildlife Trust have faced their own share of hardships, and the foremost among them is funding. Since feeding the vulnerable population is an ongoing effort, and families have lost their sources of income, it need continuous support.
While Sano Paila is raising funds through word of mouth and social media, Mithila Wildlife Trust benefits from Chora Chori’s community worldwide for funds.
Another group that has benefited from international crowdsourcing is BlinkNow, a charity started by American Maggie Doyne of Kopila School in Surkhet. When thousands of families from the Karnali returning from India were not allowed to enter the province without a certificating showing they are coronavirus-free, the charity sprang into action to help families camped by the highway with food, water, shelter and got the local government to organise tests so they could travel to their home districts.
In Birganj, Sano Paila’s Jai Kumar Sah says that if the lockdown is extended, the funding situation will be precarious: “We are working on distributing relief food through our reserve funds at the moment, and we will surely need more help in the future, if the lockdown continues to extend we will have a problem. People here are now defying the lockdown rules.”
Dev Mandal in Dhanusha says funds are always short since the need is so great, but the Mithila Wildlife Trust is managing for now with a lifeline of support from Chora Chori.
He adds: “If the lockdown ends by 14 June, we will be in a much better place in terms of funding and transportation of relief distribution, but if it is extended it will be big challenge to keep up our feeding program.”
The volunteers continue to work despite the risk of infection for themselves, and they also have to fight stigma from neighbours for helping those in quarantine after contact tracing.
Says Sah: “We are living and working among those who are at risk, and have not done tests ourselves. We are using precautions and protective gear, but one never knows.”
Organisations mentioned in this report:
Most vulnerable among the vulnerable
Many people with disabilities who are already marginalised in Nepal are facing problems dealing with the COVID-19 lockdown, but is getting help from community volunteers.
The disabled find it difficult to access the government’s public health messages about staying protected from the virus, there is difficulty in getting treatment at hospitals and travelling around because of the lockdown becomes even more problematic.
To meet their needs, the British aid group VSO has mobilised 400 community volunteers in Sarlahi, Parsa and Banke districts of the Tarai to reach more than 2,000 people with disabilities to tailor health advice and other support.
One group with specific needs are the deaf and hard of hearing, many of whom may not have attended school and so find that the radio and tv publis service announcements about the virus are inaccessible to them. VSO volunteers have developed Nepali sign-language resources with important information about how to stay safe during the pandemic.
The restriction on movement during the prolonged lockdown adds to the challenge for volunteers to reach those who need their help – but VSO’s network of community-based volunteers solves this problem. These ‘Big Sisters’ are recruited and trained from within the community, and so live alongside those who they support, and can deliver the sign-language information. The internet is used where available, and specially adapted sim cards for people with hearing difficulties and speech impairments when it is not.
“I was scared when I heard about this virus and afraid of thinking what will happen if it’s spread here. But we received messages from a Big Sister working in the community in sign language so that I could better understand the risks around the virus and how I can protect myself and stop the spread,” says Anguri from Sarlahi.
Priyanka has a speech impairment, and says: “I have learnt that to be safe from the virus we should not go outside and should wash our hands with soap and water.”
One of the volunteers is Pooja Regmi, 21, who has been working on making sign language videos for g difficulties. “I have seen the difficulties faced by deaf people as a daughter of parents with hearing impairment. The first thing that came to my mind when I heard about the pandemic is making sure deaf people were aware of the coronavirus and so referring to government messages,” she says.
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