Thank You For Making A Difference
Your constant support has helped us meet the needs of this fundraiser. Below are similar campaigns which need immediate attention.
Help The Residents of Dharavi Rebuild Their Lives!
Feel free to ask Campaigner for a new update on this Fundraiser.
Project
Ahmadi Shaikh Khatun, from Sitamarhi in Bihar, says her husband, a cook, has been without wages for nearly three months now. A mother of seven girls and an infant boy.
The tightly packed houses, common toilets, lack of proper sanitation and the lack of physical distancing are a few reasons why Dharavi is a COVID-19 hotspot. However, despite the widespread and the battle to recover from this pandemic, the residents are going out of their way to help one another.
Born and bred in Dharavi, Kunal Kanase, a 31-year-old student and community activist hounded government helplines trying to get authorities to quarantine the neighbour's family. Unable to get through, he tweeted at the Mumbai police, who quickly came to take the man's family to a quarantine centre.
"I used to teach his two children and felt good for the family since they were relatively safer now," he said from the tiny two-room apartment he shares with his parents and younger brother.
Kanase and his team at Dharavi Diary, a group of young leaders who work to improve conditions in the slum, have been working to help those affected by the pandemic, handing out bags of rice, atta, cooking oil and sugar - enough to feed a family for two weeks.
But they lack the resources to provide for everyone and often must filter the needy from the neediest.
It’s the unsung heroes of Dharavi like Kanase and many more that play a vital role in rebuilding the community. For Kanase, the pandemic has highlighted how even in hardship this tightly knit community can come together to aid each other.
"I live in Dharavi and I am proud of it," he said.
For the residents of Dharavi, life has never been easy. Now, with the monsoon coming on - it’s an onset of various vector-borne diseases like Malaria, Typhoid. Each year, the drains in Dharavi are cleaned and desilted, however, with the lockdown in place, the open drains were never cleaned. This increases the risk of Dharavi being flooded - again giving rise to a new set of problems like communicable diseases.
Many sections of Dharavi are divided with self-made barricades. The young men from nearby houses take the responsibility of sanitizing the areas with the little they have and can do. - This shows the resilience and togetherness of the community.
However, when the crisis is so enormous, it can be next to impossible to solve the problem, unless we come together to help them. These families need your help to feed their children, to keep their daughters health in check, to keep themselves safe from all kinds of diseases and illnesses.
The volunteers of Dharavi Diary have been relentlessly working during the lockdown, distributing ration kits and doing health check-ups. Dharavi Diary has served more than 6000 families so far during this crisis, they hope to serve 4000 more through this campaign.
The essential kit that you donate towards contains groceries to help the families prepare nutritious meals, soaps, hand wash and sanitary pads. While the world is battling with Corona, the residents of Dharavi are struggling to rebuild their lives.
A pandemic isn’t just a crisis. It’s a time that makes us realize that love, care and a little help can go a long way in rebuilding a person - in this case, even a community.
Donate now to give Dharavi, the heart of Mumbai the second chance it truly deserves.
About Dharavi Diary - Dharavi Diary is a co-learning and unlearning space for lower-income communities in Dharavi to create sustainable ways of problem-solving and education. This learning centre empowers local communities to become change-makers themselves. Dharavi Diary has been working to help the residents of the slum by working proactively on the ground, they have tied up with a ration store within Dharavi and have been delivering ration kits to the families in need. They started with a target of 145 families and have succeeded in a short time to feed more than 2000 families.
Note: Donations made towards this fundraiser in INR on and after 29th September 2020are eligible for Indian Tax Exemption.
Products
Make A Difference Every Month
With our Social Investment Plan, you can now be a changemaker every month, and help uplift and empower those who are suffering.
Donors (0)
No Donors Yet