India – Care, food and human closeness: Salesian commitment in times of pandemic deliver

03 June 2021

(ANS - New Delhi) - The initiatives of the Salesians in India to help the needy population affected by Covid-19 and its consequences continue unabated and on a wide-ranging basis. Care of the sick, feeding the poor, and also gifts and support to health personnel are among the activities carried out.

In Yercaud, in the Shevaroy Hills area, Tiruchy Province, the contagion situation is still worrying. Even an extremely isolated village in the region's interior that had its own access control system for outsiders is experiencing positive cases, while there is still some reluctance on the part of some people to undergo swabs.

In any case, the Task Force promoted and coordinated by the Salesians of "The Retreat" has already put Phase I of its program into full operation: tests and vaccinations are proceeding, the info-point for raising awareness on Covid- 19 is well received by the public and, thanks to the support of the benefactors, the volunteers are working to distribute food rations, both already cooked and in the form of food supplies, to the needy; in helping health personnel in tracing the infected; and in the practical and psychological support to the sick, their families and those who experience the harshness of the lockdown measures.

Also, the Task Force, thanks to their good relationship with local authorities, has fully entered Phase II, opening the Covid patient care center, which has 100 beds. The center already hosts 25 patients, isolated and undergoing basic care.

In Nerul, near Navi-Mumbai, instead, the community refrigerator initiative continues to be fundamental. Launched last January, it allows those who have something to leave their food and those in need to take it autonomously; it is proving to be a very effective means of community support: from the 25-30 people who supplied it every day at the beginning, it has reached over 100 daily in April and May.

Finally, in Bangalore, the NGO "BREADS", the Planning and Development Office of the India-Bangalore Province, in collaboration with the Camillians and the Catholic Youth Movement of India, paid tribute to over 500 nurses who work in two large hospitals in Bangalore, on the occasion of the International Day dedicated to them, last 12 May. They did so with gift kits and the promise of moral support from young anti-Covid-19 volunteers from Bangalore. “The nurses were delighted to see their service appreciated,” testified Fr Anil D'sa, SDB, Director of Youth Ministry of the Archdiocese of Bangalore. “Their joy was boundless and tears flowed into their eyes when the young people wished them well and promised support and prayers.” Sister Maria, a nurse who treats Covid-19 patients in one of the two hospitals, observed: "It is the first time that people have come from outside to wish us well and to invoke God's blessing for us."

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