HSR Community Support Group: Report for July – September 2020

This Joy of Giving Week, our communities express their gratitude to all our Donors who truly lived ‘Daan Utsav’ in spirit during their difficult times. A big Thank you from us too. We couldn’t have supported the vulnerable families without your generous contributions and timely help.

As some of us started getting used to the new normal of working from home, with the help of video calls and home-cooked meals, people from other walks of life have been forced to stay home with no work and no money for basic necessities. Where do the auto drivers drive if employees work from home? Where do the domestic workers go if the resident welfare associations keep them out?

The children are having a tougher time. While our children have online classes, kids from these disadvantaged communities are losing out on precious education due to lack of smartphones and internet access. Their only hope for a better life is receding with no end in sight. Some children have even been forced to take up odd jobs to support their families.

Seeing these problems first-hand has further strengthened our resolve to help in whatever ways we can.

In our first quarterly report (available at link), we shared 2 areas where we intended to work:

1. Relief
2. Beyond Relief

We would like to share the few small steps we have taken in that direction.

Relief

We continued our efforts through July, August and September and were able to provide 450 grocery kits to approximately 200+ families. We continued our attempt to improve the grocery kits taking into consideration their actual needs. As a result, we distributed additional rice and oil in the last round of kits.

Beyond Relief

Labour Cards

In the last quarter, we had started an initiative to make Construction workers understand the process of applying for Labour Cards. Till date, we have been able to submit 70 applications with the help of our committed on-ground volunteers Shyam, Keshav, Hema Akka and Ravi Anna.

It was a Day of Joy for us when 40 Labour Cards were ready, and this joy was doubled when the BMTC team also came to issue annual bus passes worth Rs 12,500/- as part of the benefits for Labour cardholders. This entire initiative couldn’t have happened but for the support of Mr Lingaraj from CITU and his team. Mr. Lingaraj had earlier helped us by making arrangements for cooked meals during the most difficult days of the lockdown

Please visit the link for more details about the eligibility criteria and steps to apply for labour cards

Savings Bank Accounts

One of the prerequisites for Labour card is a bank account. Several of our community members do not have a Bank Account as they have been told they don’t meet the eligibility criteria.

We visited 4 Nationalised Banks to find out the process and prerequisites. Every Bank wanted an Aadhaar Card and a local address proof besides a minimum account balance ranging from Rs. 500 to Rs. 2000. Where do Construction workers living in temporary shelters find address proof?  A conversation with the NGO 'Haqdarshak' gave us a way out. Department of Posts now has a digital postal account which only needs an Aadhaar card and the phone linked to the Aadhaar card to open a digital savings account with Rs. 100/- as the minimum balance. The Account holder can deposit or withdraw cash from any Post Office or through a Postman at their doorstep.

We have just begun the process and hope to help more members of our community open Savings Accounts. We have started informal conversations around financial literacy, and we will gradually develop this as the economy improves and they start earning their wages.

Please visit the link for more details.

Empowering Women

Three families, consisting of single women with young children, and another family with a new-born, needed additional financial support. We reached out to a few landlords and managed to get the rent reduced for two of them. Fortunately, a few generous donors came forward to support these women by taking care of the balance rent.

Noticing a few cases of domestic violence, we had begun our efforts last quarter with 'Gamana Mahila Samuha’ an NGO working towards empowering women. During this meet, the police joined the community to reassure them that they were just a call away and would be happy to help in case of any difficulty. As the women in the community were fondly enquiring about the next meeting, we organized a second session in September.   

Though the families are living in BBMP limits, they weren’t familiar with all their entitlements, hence the focus of this meet was on discussing what they were entitled to. We discussed the basic entitlements that each of them could have.  Few government schemes were also discussed.  We are trying to bring various departments from BBMP to address the needs of the community.

Initially, women were not too open to discuss their concerns, Mamatha initiated a song on ‘women empowerment’ and ways to initiate the voices etc. This encouraged the women to initiate discussions and created a space where the women felt that they could express themselves and be heard.

The domestic violence has reduced a bit; however, we have miles to go before we can fully address the problems of alcoholism in a few families

Children with special needs

We took 4 children with their parents to the Unit of Hope[1] at St. John’s Hospital for a complete assessment. One of them, an infant, was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and will need continuous physiotherapy to develop his motor skills. We were happy when a donor stepped in and supported us with Rs10000/- to support the family. When we communicated this to the Fathima* she revealed that she had just pledged her chain to handle the mounting expenses.  

The other 3 children between 8 – 10 years were speech and hearing impaired. Thanks to a special program at St. John’s and timely help from donors, we were able to get funds to support all 3 children with hearing aids. The first one has received his hearing aid and the other two will shortly get the process.

Given that the 11 years olds brain hasn’t been trained to process sounds, the initial objective of the hearing aid is to help Krishna*[2] at least recognise select sounds to keep him safe (e.g. vehicle sounds while crossing a road). Krishna who received the hearing aid is quite energetic and smart, so the doctors have suggested that admission to a dedicated school for speech and hearing impaired will have a better impact. The reality is, this would mean relocating and finding new employment for the parents as there are no such schools in the vicinity of the community. We aren’t sure if this is a feasible option but will continue to work with the family.

[1] Unit of Hope has dedicated Wednesday for assessing Children with special needs

[2]* Names have been changed

Just in time delivery

We had to step in to address an SOS call,

By 6 pm we received an SOS call to help Tanya(name changed).  We visited their house and enquired with her husband and neighbours where would they like us to take her for her delivery. As the hospital she was visiting for her check-ups was converted into a COVID care centre, we called other private hospitals and were told that the delivery charges would be Rs 40000/-. Tanya's husband mentioned that he had no money as he worked as a helper and was jobless for the last 10 days. We collectively decided to take her to Singasandra Government Maternity Hospital. Shakku (name changed), her neighbor packed a few cloth pieces, a bedspread and some cutlery.  

Driving carefully over road humps and potholes with Tanya moaning in pain all through, at around 7 pm we reached the Singasandra maternity hospital.  The nurse in-charge who examined her told us that she would deliver in about two hours if all went well.  Shortly, there was a power outage in the hospital and we were asked to shift to Chandapura / Huskur or Jayanagar Government hospital as there were no signs of power returning.  We had no choice but to shift Tanya to another hospital.  After several rounds of discussion, she was shifted to Jayanagar Government Maternity Hospital by the Government ambulance, while we followed them in our vehicle and reached the hospital by 8:15 pm. The COVID situation helped this time as we could drive past the dreaded Silk Board junction and reach the hospital in less than 30 minutes.

Tanya was immediately shifted to the labour room, in the next few minutes, she delivered a BABY BOY.  We wondered if the term 'Just in time delivery' was coined because of similar situations. Thanks to the benefits of the Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) they came back home safely along with husband and Shakku in the Govt. provided ambulance without spending anything for the delivery

Read link for more details of our experience in Just in time delivery. 

                        

Summary (July – September 2020)

We hereby certify that the expenses mentioned above are incurred for the said project only.

For HSR Community Support Group

Lalithamba B.V. & Anil Misquith

Our gratitude to:

1.  All our friends and supporters – we couldn’t have stretched to the extent we did, without you
   ·   
2. Our on-ground community coordinators (Shyam, Binod, Ravi anna, Chandra anna, Hema akka, Keshav) who helped us interact with the community and consolidate the needs
3.   Mamatha from Gamana Mahila Samuha for initiating work with women in distress
4.   Labour Department and Lingaraj from trade union for issuing the labour cards and 23 ration kits
5.  BMTC for issuing the free bus passes to labour cardholders 
6. Gubbachi Learning Community for facilitating fund collection on our behalf  (GiveIndia)

 

Media Coverage:

1. Meeting a Community's needs during Lockdown:  Citizen Matters

2. Holding hunger at Bay during Lockdown: The Wire

3. Episode 12 - COVID Cares interview with  Dipankar Khasnabish: Heartcrafted Foundation   

Background of the group

We are a team of 4 volunteers from HSR Layout with a passion for empowering the urban poor.  

Lalithamba B.V.

Lalithamba is a corporate employee, inclined towards social and civic activities.  She likes to work with people and environment-related activities and has been supporting a few children with education.  She has been contributing to social causes for over a decade. She co-founded Hasiru Mithra, a citizen’s forum which believes in Sustainable Living. She has been championing the cause of waste segregation and local bus transport.  She has also worked on other initiatives like Tree Plantation Drives, Blackspot removal, Water conservation etc.

Shilpi Verma 

Shilpi is a house maker, who has been working for social cause from last few years.  She has been teaching street kids, worked for adult education and has helped few old age homes. Waste segregation programs is another of Shilpi's area of interest as well.

Ramya Ramakrishnan

Ramya has been working in the Corporate Sector in the IT field for 16 years and has been engaging in CSR activities.  She passionately supports NGOs in initiatives across - Educating children and improving health and for the safety of underprivileged women and children. 

Anil Misquith

Anil Misquith transitioned into the development sector from Corporate and did a Masters in Development from Azim Premji University in 2019, with a special interest in Sustainable Livelihoods and Public Health.  Anil spends half his time in Gudalur, Nilgiris district, with ACCORD, an NGO that works with Adivasi communities. During the lockdown, he began volunteering for COVID relief in South Bangalore.  

Home page: https://hsrcommunitysupport.blogspot.com/

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