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Support Mumbai slums in their fight for survival against Corona Virus.

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Updates (4)

So beautiful to see us coming together and living our shared humanity in these testing times.

Despite the hardships we are facing due to the lockdown, we are all really blessed to be able to take care of ourselves and our loved ones.

There are many who are not in a position to support themselves and the people they love.

“I have five mouths to feed, including kids. I have had no work since the shutdown and do not have any ration left at home for tomorrow. I do not have money to buy more. The last time I had meals was on Thursday. This is the scene in every household,” says a daily wage earner living in the slums.

Lack of food, overcrowding, lack of clean water, poor sanitation, social dependency, shared amenities, larger number of human contacts, low disease immunity of dwellers and limited access to dependent medical facilities make for tremendous speed and size of virus transmission in Mumbai slums.

A Mumbai slum has one toilet per 600-1,200 residents. How do people maintain social distance in such situations? The only way to shower is with water from a bucket that everyone has to share. No soap or hand sanitizer.

Currently, we have served the following slum clusters:

Dharavi - Rajiv Gandhi Nagar
Mahim West Chawls / Mahim Kabristan
Worli Koliwada slums
Navy Nagar slums - Geeta Nagar, Ambedkar Nagar
Napean Sea Road Coastal slums - Banganga, JP Nagar, Prem Nagar, Gayatri Nagar, Parvati Nagar, Chaar Bungalow, Asha Nagar
Vashi/Virar slums
Parel Migrant labor colonies
Nala Sopara / Dahisar labour coloine

Based on the needs and availability of funds, we are distributing a combination of the below per family :

Rice, daal, sugar, oil and salt rations
Vegetable khichdi (Annamitra)
Milk and milk products
Masks – double-layer reusable masks
Disinfectant soaps

Over and above the slum families, we are also serving orphanages, old age homes, children shelters and juvenile jails as per their outreach.

A lot more needs to be done…and the need is immediate.

Every day we have families from nearby slums approach us saying, “No one is helping us. We have run out of our ration.” There are more than 1,000+ nearby slum families seeking help from food to hygiene to medicines. With a heavy heart, we have been able to serve only to the extent of our resources.

The purpose of the campaign is to reach out to as many families as we can in this moment of crisis. The families cannot support themselves. Furthermore, If Mumbai is to contain the Coronavirus, the slums need to be taken care of.

Research at the Centre for Sustainability has explored the implications of the unique social infrastructure of slums in India on the significant role it plays in the spread of Covid-19. The fear is that if the virus spreads through slums – where some 600 million Indians lack regular access to food and clean water – many millions could die.

If Mumbai is to curtail the spread on the pandemic the slums must be served as well as protected.

You can consider contributing to us or to any of the nonprofits doing amazing humanitarian work.

You can also reach out to us on rohan@1smallstep.in to volunteer in other ways such as sourcing vendors, helping in logistics or even sourcing people or organizations we can serve.

The more we spread Karuna (compassion), the more we can contain Corona.

Stay Safe. Stay Sanitized.

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7th June 2020

Dear beautiful soul,

Firstly, I hope you and yours are safe and smiling.

Sharing some key highlights and developments on our service in the slums of Mumbai.

1) Khichdi distribution during Ramzaan (pic below of Mahim slums)

2) MIlk, Food grains & Masks distribution

3) Foodgrains for Migrant labourers (below pic of Parel ground)

4) Supporting volunteers at Worli Koliwada slums

5) Daily Khichdi or Malabar Police Station (donated by Annamrita)

6) Foodgrains for Hospital staff of St. George Hospital

7) Fans for Asha Sadan orphanage

As you would have noticed, while our main focus lies in the slums, we are serving wherever there is a need from individuals, to orphanages to the police - we dont want to be in a position to decide where the need is more and here it is less.

We are experimenting with creating employment for the women of the slums by having them manufacture masks - this does not only create employment but also to fight domestic abuse - which is a social problem we need to address sensitively beyond food and hygiene. Ill update on this in the next email

While we serve, it is our constant endeavour to uphold the spirit of our service. Luckily when we fail, we have our amazing group of volunteers to hold on to.

Thank you for your kind support.

Rohan
(On behalf of all 1SmallStep Volunteers)

22nd April 2020

While we continue serving foodgrains as critically needed, in coordination with the slum authorities, police government bodies, we are focussing our efforts in raising hygiene standards in the slums.

We are working on 2 fronts:

A) Hygiene Education &
B) Hygiene Enablement.

A) Hygiene Education

We have crafted an educational campaign to uplift hygiene standards - Apni Suraksha Apne Haath

These posters have been put up in key locations of various slum clusters, police stations as well as in various checkpoints. Currently, they are put up in the following areas - Worli Koliwada slum cluster, Napean Sea Coastal slum cluster and Dharavi Transit Camp.

Hygiene Enablement

While educating the families living in the slums on hygiene, we are also enabling the same through double-layered reusable cotton masks and disinfectant soaps. We have also provided thermometer guns, PPE's, surgical gloves, sanitizers, and disinfectants to volunteers working at ground level.

Once again, thank you for enabling these acts of service. You can stay updated on our work on https://www.instagram.com/1smallstepofficial

Grateful to serve together,

Rohan
On behalf of all the invisible volunteers.

15th April 2020

Your big hearts have enabled us to expand our service. We are serving the following slum clusters as of now:

Dharavi - Rajiv Gandhi Nagar
Mahim West Chawls / Mahim Kabristan
Worli Koliwada slums
Navy Nagar slums - Geeta Nagar, Ambedkar Nagar
Napean Sea Road Coastal slums - Banganga, JP Nagar, Prem Nagar, Gayatri Nagar, Parvati Nagar, Chaar Bungalow
Virar slums

While food is a critical need, there is also dire need for education on hygiene too if we are to contain the contagion from spreading in the high-density populations of the slums. Thus we are also distributing double-layered reusable cloth masks to as many slum families as we can.

Sharing a few images /videos of our work in the slums.

Protective Masks education and distribution to JBNagar and Prem Nagar slums

Dharavi slums - Foodgrain distribution to about 400 families in Dharavi slums

Vegetable Khichdi (courtest Annamrita) served to 2,200 people in Worli slums (Koliwada and Siddharth Nagar)

Navy Nagar Slums - Food & Oil distribution to 300 families

Mahim West - 80 karigar families are being served with rice, daal, salt and oil rations.

While we will keep serving food wherever critically needed, we are now focussing more of our resources on hygiene equipment and education (masks and disinfectant soaps,

We are taking counsel from a WHO representative on hygiene requirements specifically for Worli Koliwada slums (where about 14 positive cases have been detected).

Thank you for your contribution so far.

Rohan

On behalf of all the invisible volunteers :)