A letter from RC 82 Group Organiser - Shiraz Karu
Dear Chulan,
First I would like to thank you, Sumedha and Sherwin for your support in coordinating the collection in Aussie. And most of all like to thank the Aussie batch mates for their kindness and generosity. This is highly appreciated. In total you guys have raised $1890 in the first round and another $1100 and counting as of date.
During the first lockdown/curfew I saw an increased number of people coming to my door for help and not asking for money but food. Many of these people were decently dressed and not the typical beggars we have witnessed in the past, these were working people who were having trouble making ends meet due to the lack of work for daily wage earners and also those who had lost their jobs due to the Covid crisis.
In addition to this I have a daily maid who comes to my home, and as she was working for me the day curfew was announced, I knew she would not have time to buy food stocks before curfew was imposed and I needed her help to cook some things for me as I now live alone. So while buying my provisions I bought some supplies for her and her family to last for about a week or ten days as that's what our expectation was for the length of the lockdown little knowing it would go on for 6 weeks and more in some areas.
About 2 weeks into the lockdown I called her to see how she was doing and she informed me that the food had finished, so I inquired if vendors were coming to her neighborhood, which she replied yes but that they had run out of money to buy anything and were eating rice and sprats for the last two days. I immediately arranged to have some money sent to her.
She and her husband both work but he was not getting paid as the shop he worked at was closed due to lockdown.
Her situation and those people who were coming to my door made me realize how hard things were for those at the lower end of the economic ladder. This is what inspired me to approach the committee to start this Covid relief effort on behalf of the Group.
I then heard of Akbar Tea who had donated 100 million to the Presidents Covid fund and also were distributing 3500 food packs to families. As I knew one of the owners I contacted him to find out how they had done the logistical side of the operation. He introduced me to his niece who had run the project for them and who gave me a lot of advice and in turn introduced me to the Vision Foundation who they had partnered with to do the logistics. Vision is a youth charity group that specializes among other areas in distribution of goods during times of crisis. Great group of people who without their help this effort would not have been possible.
The rest is history and we are now doing a third round after which I expect that we would have helped over 1500 families and over a 100 children in two orphanages.
Even though the lockdown or curfew may have eased we still have many areas under isolation preventing people from going to work. With the downturn in the economy many have lost their jobs and or hours cut or getting only 50% of salary. These hardships are going to continue into next year.
I sincerely hope we get a viable vaccine soon which should help move back to normalcy. As I
really don't know how much longer people will be able to manage, and charity is drying up with donor fatigue. I am trying to encourage other Royal batches to take up the baton and run from here once we are done with this project. I have offered to help them organize if needed.
Please do convey my thanks to all the Aussie batch mates for their kindness and support.
Cheers
Shiraz Karu
