A second wave of the world-wide pandemic is fast engulfing the interior regions of southern Rajasthan. Unlike last year, Covid-19 cases are surging at an unstoppable pace in rural, tribal and semi-urban communities. Seva Mandir continues to work closely with health experts and organizations to understand needs, take up the response and save lives.

Seva Mandir has conducted a rapid assessment to determine the causes for the regional spread of the disease, as well as people’s immediate needs in areas of medical care, food, safety equipment, and counseling. Seva Mandir is well positioned to deliver aid through its wide network of volunteers and community institutions. There is a desperate need to address the crisis and your donations will help Seva Mandir to further their essential work.

Big thanks to those of you who found time in your busy Thanksgiving holiday schedule to attend our 'Breakfast in India,' FSM’s first live webinar panel discussion with the leadership of Seva Mandir held on Zoom on 11/26. The program engaged supporters in a fascinating hour and a half long exploration of how Seva Mandir met and continues to address the social and economic devastation of India’s Second COVID Wave and its aftermath.

Ronak Shah, Executive Director of Seva Mandir, expressed the organization’s gratitude for the Friends of Seva Mandir donors’ support and offered a keen perspective on how best to empower local communities under the current conditions and beyond.

Aarti Shah, Head of Resource Mobilization at Seva Mandir, lead a detailed exploration of the work on the ground in the area of childhood education and nutrition, a long-standing priority of the organization’s programs that has had to address new challenges posed by the pandemic.

During the Q and A, attendees were able to ask vital questions and contribute to the process of shaping the path forward for Seva Mandir.

In closing, Uday Mehta conveyed the deep appreciation felt by all, designating the staff at Seva Mandir as 'first responders worthy of the highest praise.'

Vaccine Awareness Education
Seva Mandir has played a critical role in forming and strengthening over 1,500 committees that are actively promoting vaccination in villages. Through door-to-door counseling and collaboration with local administration, committee members motivate people to be vaccinated and generate collective support for vaccination at small gatherings and social events. Roop Lal Meena, federation leader in Kherwara says, “Everyone is dedicatedly working to boost the vaccination numbers."

“Two months ago when we even spoke about vaccination, people refused to hear us. The vaccination camps were empty and most of the vaccines were returned. Our own village paraworkers were scared. Today on 4th September, Kotra had a goal of getting 4000 people vaccinated. We reached our target much before the day ended. To see people change and come in long queues for vaccination is a huge change!” says Mohammad Akram, of field team Kotra.

Encouraging Vaccination Through Street Theatre
Using a combination of traditional theater forms and music Seva Mandir is reaching out in areas where vaccination hesitation is high. Actors use popular folk songs to talk about the many myths and fears of vaccination. One story revolves around a young man returning from his place of work with visible symptoms of Covid-19 and refusing to either isolate or go for testing. Through several songs and spoken poetry, he is convinced that he must isolate and then, post-recovery, get vaccinated. Seva Mandir has reached more than 15,000 and helped address their concerns about vaccination through theater and discussion at village events, meetings, trainings and workshops.

These nonprofits work with vulnerable populations, many of whom have already been pushed into poverty due to the first wave of COVID-19. From March 2020 to October 2020, the number of individuals below the poverty line in India increased by a staggering 77 percent. An alarming 90 percent of households surveyed had less to eat. The second wave seems to have exacerbated the problem as primary breadwinners in these communities succumb to the virus.

International donor attention however has been entirely focused on the supply of oxygen in Delhi, and now to some extent, Bangalore. The rest of the country seems to have faded into the background despite 533 of India’s 700 districts showing a positivity rate of more than 10 percent, and 42 percent of districts reporting a positivity rate more than the national average of 21 percent. The emphasis on using money to buy medical equipment cuts across fundraising entities. That’s where most of the global donors—both individual and institutional—wanted their money to go.

GiveIndia—one of India’s leading fundraising platforms—has raised more than USD 32 million (and) has ordered 20,000 oxygen concentrators, 14,000 oxygen cylinders for Delhi and Bangalore. The entire aid that the government has received in the form of oxygen concentrators and cylinders for use countrywide is far less than what GiveIndia will receive and deploy in Delhi and Bangalore alone.

American India Foundation, which has raised USD 25 million, has ordered 5,500 oxygen concentrators, 2,300 hospital beds, 25 oxygen plants, and 30,000 non-electric ventilators. Sewa International has raised USD 16 million as of May 10th, and has used USD 6 million to order 7,482 oxygen concentrators and procure 250 ventilators and other emergency equipment. Between these three fundraising organizations, as well as a few others in the US, more than USD 80 million has been raised to date (for oxygen and medical supplies)

Is this really the best utilization of private donations?
In a country that is being ravaged not just by the virus medically, but also has millions more suffering from hunger, lack of jobs, and inadequate information on how to deal with the virus when they get infected, why is philanthropic money being used only for oxygen and allied supplies?

Conversations with organizations and people working in communities reinforce the above data. The need is overwhelmingly one of basic necessities of food, social security, and restoration of livelihoods, as well as spreading awareness regarding testing and vaccinations.
According to Anish Kumar, Co-lead at Transform Rural India Foundation (TRIF), the economic fallout has been severe both in urban India as well as the villages. “The free rations provided by the government are only till June 2021. The real stress in rural families will be during July to September after the kharif (monsoon) crop has been sown. We need to help families tide through these months with lives and livelihoods both being critical.”

Click here to read the complete article:
https://idronline.org/covid-19-donors-need-to-look-beyond-funding-oxygen/

05/21/21 UPDATE: Current Needs and Interventions

Protocols for home quarantining are not effective when single-room homes accommodate large families, where family members must work and prepare food exposing themselves and the community. Sick family members are sometimes forced to recover away from the house in open fields without shelter. Others are choosing to hide their illness, putting the whole village at risk.

Regional hospitals are struggling to acquire oxygen cylinders, beds, and medical equipment. Limited access to institutional health care has forced families to resort to unreliable pseudo doctors and unproven remedies. Condolence gatherings are taking place in the homes of affected families, who remain unaware that such social gatherings are a further cause of the spread of the virus. The vast scale of the crisis and the impact that it is having is causing panic and anxiety throughout the rural region.

Frontline workers are a crucial lifeline and ensuring their safety is essential, though the government has not provided adequate protection for these workers. Seva Mandir is supplying safety kits with face shields, masks, gloves and sanitizer to all their staff and to government community health workers. Making certain these workers understand and promote Covid appropriate behavior in the rural communities is a core focus of the work.

Assessment will be ongoing in consultation with communities and local institutions to provide appropriate support to vulnerable communities and families.

Seva Mandir is directing its resources toward the following relief interventions:

a) Home Isolation Care Support includes sanitation and food kits and education materials to Covid-affected families.

b) Sanitation kits including soaps, detergent, masks for all family members to maintain hygiene during isolation; educational material on self-care during Covid home isolation.

c) Food kit support to provide the family of the patient with a two-week supply of dry rations: rice, flour, refined oil, wheat, potatoes, onions, and spices.

d) Counseling and Follow up – Seva Mandir is lending medical equipment (oxygen monitors and thermometers) to communities via Panchayats (village elders). Government frontline workers will help manage the use of equipment while volunteers follow up with patients and their families.

e) Families identified as vulnerable but not Covid-positive are also receiving food and sanitation kits to aid their survival when living conditions are under stress. The kits also are being distributed to vulnerable families who have lost family members or livelihoods due to Covid, to elderly and physically disabled people, and to orphan children in rural and tribal areas.

Providing reliable information is essential, but a dearth of accurate information is one of the key reasons for the extensive spread of Covid. Myths regarding the disease, vaccinations, testing, and treatment have caused widespread fear and unwillingness to take appropriate steps that could slow the outbreak.

Seva Mandir is increasing its teams of field workers trained on the “do’s” and “dont’s” of Covid and related protocols for patients and their families.

Seva Mandir’s 50+ years of experience and deep knowledge of the communities that are the focus of its work put it in an ideal position to provide much of the help and support that is desperately needed right now. People’s resistance is based on deeply held beliefs and understandable fears as well as rumors and false information. Seva Mandir has earned well-deserved trust and knows that reliable information, persuasion, and respect are the most effective way to achieve good outcomes.

Using social media, audio-visual messages, pamphlets and posters they will continue to disseminate information on the following:

• Vaccinations – promoting positive stories from local vaccine champions and explaining what to expect, while dispelling dangerous myths

• Identification of the disease, home isolation and monitoring of patients – helping to explain and identify degrees of seriousness of a patient’s condition through oxygen level and temperature.

• Timely referrals – when and where to go for medical help, to healthcare facilities, where available, rather than to unreliable practitioners with unproven remedies.

11/20/20 UPDATE: Seva Mandir's COVID-19 Response

In the early months of the pandemic, Seva Mandir organized the safe distribution of relief kits containing enough soap and food, including dal, rice, vegetables and oil, to last a family of five for two weeks. The organization also provided storage kits, which enabled farmers to store greater quantities of grain and continued to prioritize conservation of the common lands to enhance natural resources available to all for fodder and homefires. More broadly, Seva Mandir workers equipped with appropriate protective gear worked tirelessly to inform citizens about hygiene methods and the latest government advice and regulations to combat the spread of COVID-19.

As the initial brunt of the pandemic receded and the lockdown in India slowly lifted, Seva Mandir’s focus shifted to developing and implementing long-term relief strategies for communities and individuals. The economic impacts of Covid-19 were becoming clearer. Many of the migrant laborers who returned to their villages remain unemployed, putting extra pressure on the meager resources of their households. The lockdown also negatively impacted farmer’s cultivation and harvesting activities, which in turn effected yields.

With Seva Mandir offices reopened, work is now focused on livelihood interventions. The organization is working with multiple partners to re-boot rural economies and provide the means for villagers to access jobs. Notably, Seva Mandir is implementing Covid-19 relief projects that are designed to improve people's livelihoods in a sustainable way. These projects have a multifaceted approach to address a range of development needs, such as restoring and constructing water harvesting and clean drinking water infrastructure, rejuvenation and protection of common land, improved farming techniques and increased agricultural outputs.

According to a recent World Bank report, the coronavirus pandemic is pushing millions of Indians back into poverty and eroding the hard-fought gains made in the past two decades. To mitigate the economic effects of Covid-19, Seva Mandir is rapidly expanding its comprehensive livelihood support to ensure families and communities have the tools, knowledge and ability to continue to improve their own lives.

The Village Forums are central to ensuring communities have the power and ability to be resilient through this crisis and future crises. Through these self-governing institutions and directly through programs, Seva Mandir continues to build the capacity of individuals, families and communities to adapt to the new normal and navigate their own development.

During this time, Seva Mandir will continue to fortify the nutrition of children, strengthen support systems for women through Self-Help Groups and Women’s Resource Centers, provide childcare where possible and adapt the Shiksha Kendra education system to function efficiently while ensuring social distancing. All other programs are adapting their focus to continue their current work facing the reality created by Covid-19.

Keeping Children on Track Despite Canceled Schools 

Seva Mandir has been working effectively for over 50 years to increase rates of school attendance in the rural communities the organization serves and there is great fear now, that these gains will slip away due to school closures during the six-month Covid-19 lockdown.

   Providing quality and accessible education has long been a challenge for the rural and tribal populations of southern Rajasthan. Even when schools are available, many children are needed at home to help support their families. So, when a child is enrolled into a school, it is vital that they are encouraged to stay.
 
   When the Covid-19 lockdown began, and migrants returned home after losing their daily-wage jobs in distant cities, suddenly, a means of income had been cut off for many families which now had an additional mouth to feed. The temporary closure of schools was in effect and children were kept at home managing livestock, caring for younger siblings and collecting water, as well as other work.

Teachers have been able to stay in touch only by phone, occasional socially distanced visits and through local organizations. Most communities have requested that teachers continue to engage with their children as much as possible. Many Seva Mandir teachers are visiting families and giving children schoolwork to complete at home, whilst encouraging parents to help their children.

    In one remote village, Nand has been teaching in one of Seva Mandir's Shiksha Kendras for more than 12 years. He has been dedicated to ensuring that all children in the area are able to receive a quality primary education that gives them the tools and knowledge they need to improve their lives. He could see the importance of making sure that children would still be able to learn during this challenging time.

   Nand has maintained connection with all of the parents and used his smartphone to create recordings of poems, stories and messages of encouragement to share with the children and his fellow instructors. He has visited all of his students, despite the long travel. Khatu, a parent of one of the children in Nand's Shiksha Kendra gratefully explains, "The teachers are keeping our children engaged, but they are desperate for the Shiksha Kendras to reopen."

06/11/20 Seva Mandir's COVID-19 Response

COVID-19 is bringing unprecedented challenges to the entire world, and people living in poverty are disproportionately affected. The communities served by Seva Mandir are no exception. In addition to the kinds of issues that have been Seva Mandir’s principal focus, COVID-19 has introduced new even more urgent problems.

The suddenness of the lockdown in India, combined with the interruption of public transport, stranded millions of migrant workers a long way from home. Many felt their best option was to walk back to their villages, and for some that meant hundreds of miles.

In Southern Rajasthan, migrant workers who made these treacherous journeys are now unemployed and unable to provide income for their families. They, too, have become an extra mouth to feed, putting pressure on already meagre household resources as well as increasing the risk of spreading COVID-19. Udaipur and Rajsamand districts in Seva Mandir’s service area have seen a rise in positive cases and are now among the most severely affected regions in Rajasthan.

Hygiene practices, including handwashing, have long been one of the key principles taught in Seva Mandir’s schools. Now, hygiene is paramount in fighting the spreading virus, and Seva Mandir is assisting the government in delivering hygiene kits, as well as food, to the families most in need. The kits contain enough soap and food, including daal, rice, vegetables and oil, to sustain a family of five for two weeks. In villages throughout the region, Seva Mandir workers equipped with appropriate protective gear are putting up large banners that inform citizens about hygiene methods and the latest government advice and regulations about COVID-19.

Facing future food insecurity due to increased local demand, Seva Mandir is helping farmers plan seed and other input strategies in advance of the monsoon agricultural season. Additionally, storage kits that enable farmers to store more grain are being widely distributed. The common lands conservation effort, which was facilitated by Seva Mandir to enhance natural resources available to everyone for food, animal fodder and fuel for home fires, now requires heightened vigilance as the return migration due to COVID-19 has led to increased encroachment. Village Forums have responded strongly to assert communal rights over individual demands, demonstrating even in a crisis, how important it is to keep the long view in mind.

Seva Mandir has been working for more than 50 years to improve the lives of some of the poorest people in the world (the average income of a rural farmer in the area is $175 a year). The organization’s past work on water purification and sanitation, and on educating children, providing healthcare, and establishing women’s empowerment programs has made a critical difference in terms of preparedness for this time of crisis. Currently, Seva Mandir is initiating new land and water-resource development projects to provide new jobs as well as help enhance the future productivity of an environment under severe pressure from climate change.

It is heartening to see the democratically elected Village Forums (735 established with the guidance of Seva Mandir) meeting the needs of their communities with support from both the local government and Seva Mandir. These vital local institutions are making every effort to keep the social fabric and support systems intact and ensure that the values of trust and cooperation--within and across communities--continue to thrive.

Healthcare and Nutrition in Hamerpal

With the support of Seva Mandir, the Village Forum in Hamerpal began conducting health-checks of returning migrants as soon as they arrived. So far, forty-five families have been quarantined and are being provided with food, water and sanitation materials. Seva Mandir also is working in partnership with the Village Forum to focus on long-term livelihood support for migrants and their families, helping to mitigate the effects of the economic downturn.

Fortunately, no cases of Covid-19 have been found in this area. However, due to the Covid-19 lockdown, all families, even those not supported by a migrant laborer, are now struggling to access basic necessities. In response, Seva Mandir is helping Village Forums remain vigilant in checking the health of all families, as well as to provide education on Covid-19, including preventative measures, and to deliver food and sanitation kits for distribution throughout the communities. In Hamerpal, the Village Forum has provided 30 families with food kits containing grains, vegetables, spices and oil—enough to last five people two weeks.