Incredible teams create incredible impact. We all know this, but each time we see it in practice, it is a wonderfully satisfying and warm feeling all over again.
Over the last two months, I have had the benefit of seeing and experiencing the best of human spirit and endeavour rising up to meet the soul-crushing challenge posed by the Covid crisis.
Over the last two days it was on display again - this time with our own team of community teachers and an extended team of volunteers who came together to plan and execute the vaccination drive and camp for the economically disadvantaged. This was a team that came together for no specific gain - other than for the profound impact they knew they will have on the community if they execute this project well. From project planning to helping load vaccines, to manning registrations, to house-keeping, to crowd control - there was nothing that was beyond this team.
A ‘Thank You’ seems insufficient - but is the least that can be said. Here’s to an amazing team that can make an Herculean effort seem simple. You are an incredible team, Team OBLF!
We ran our first ever free vaccination camp for the economically disadvantaged today. Planned to cover 250 today. Ended up with 344. Incredible level of planning & execution, to avoid crowding, and the rush. It mostly went according to plan; there were still disappointed people who had to be turned back because our stock for today ran out; Tomorrow will be another day, with an additional 350+. But proud to have made this possible working together with EO for Bangalore and Narayana Health. Great teams working together to make a strong impact on the ground.
With today's camp ONE Billion Literates Foundation is also happy to have activated yet another vector of its strategy to address the covid health crisis.
And by the way, we also opened our third covid care isolation centre yesteRday along with our partner Enablers United...this is in an interior rural village and will serve the growing number of infections in the rural interiors.
Over the past few days, we have started working with ASHA health workers and Panchayat task force members, who are at the frontline of the fight against the pandemic. We have been providing them with high quality N95 masks, sterile gloves, face shields, sanitisers, caps to bear the summer heat, as they work tirelessly, with most of them doing multiple door to door visits every day, putting themselves and their loved ones at risk.
Our team has also been doing a very targeted distribution of ration kits to highly marginalised communities who have been hit hardest. It is heart breaking to see the predicament the people find themselves in, with nobody to turn to for help.
Kudos to our team members, Mahesh and Anthony, and a big big thank you to our frontline team and cadre of teachers who have been going out every single day to make this happen!
We’d also like to express our gratitude to EO Bangalore for providing the ration kits.
◉インド国外からの寄付
For International Donors (via Global Giving):
➡︎http://goto.gg/24430
（１週間前に届いたメール）
Our first Covid Care Centre (CCC) with 24/7 medical support and oxygen supported beds is running as efficiently as it possibly can under difficult circumstances. The centre has been treating patients for the last several days now and seeing an increasing case load day-by-day; more importantly, it is serving its purpose of providing critical primary care to patients and relieving pressure on the overburdened state health system.
Our second covid care centre is currently being operationalised. It is a large community venue that is being repurposed into a CCC. All our formal permissions are in place and the ground work to get the centre ready is going on in full swing. In this centre, in addition to 50 beds which will be oxygen supported, we will have an additional, separately enclosed 20 beds exclusively for women/pregnant women from nearby slum/blue-tent settlements who just do not have the wherewithal to isolate at home if they or their family members test positive;
We have been incredibly fortunate to have Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO) be an infrastructure partner for very critical capital equipment requirements at this centre. We also assembled the very innovative, easy-to-assemble, and low-cost corrugated bed specially designed to be used in these circumstances.
And last but definitely not the least – our Education & Awareness campaigns have started in full swing; our team has been in interior villages and by-lanes over yesterday and today (literally) driving information campaigns via loudspeakers mounted on an autorickshaw, distributing masks and other information collateral.
Our task is far from over. And neither is our fund-raising drive. We have to sustain this momentum, and we need your help to continue to amplify our messages and our updates; Thank you so much!
（昨日、届いたメールの一部）
the CCC is almost ready; the OCs are also here; tomorrow the Oxygen Cylinders will get delivered; and the portable toilets and bath units will also come within the next 24 hours;
もしもわたしの言葉に、共感を覚えてくれる人がいるならば、ぜひ、ロベルト・ベニーニ監督／主演の『ライフ・イズ・ビューティフル (La vita è bella)』（1997）というイタリア映画を、見て欲しい。ナチスの強制収容所に送られた父と息子。父親の「機知」から生まれた「嘘」によって、息子は希望を失うことなく生き延びることができた。
Our first Covid Care Center (CCC#1) is now operational. Since late last evening, the centre has been receiving patients referred by the local primary health centres and taluk level govt hospitals. Images below will give you a sense for the intake…and yes, my heart broke to see a 2½ year old baby girl who has come in along with her mother, both of whom have tested positive.
This centre will scale over the next day or two, and should be reaching its full capacity very quickly. Incredibly hard work and heavy lift by our implementation partners – Enablers United - and teams on the ground!
We are on track with our second CCC (CCC#2). The location has been identified and we are on our way to securing the necessary permissions; we have also, in the meantime started planning & sourcing the infra items needed, so that we can operationalise this centre also quickly – within the next 7-10 days is what we are hoping for.
The Oxygen Generation Plant is also on track. We have finalised the manufacturer/supplier and have placed the purchase order. This will take 6-8 weeks to commission and operationalise; and there is work to be done in between to get the site ready to have this heavy equipment be placed.
And our groundwork to prepare for the awareness & education sessions is almost fully in place; We are gauging the situation closely given the full lockdown currently, and will take a decision quickly.
“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies!”…The Shawshank Redemption
✏️IITデリーの卒業生による非営利団体によって開発されたばかりのCOVID-19関連のアプリケーション
CovRelief is a Not-For-Profit initiative of a Team of IIT Delhi Alumni. In partnership with Covid Survivor force India we would like to extend help and support.
➡︎https://covidrelief.glideapp.io/
Please find below the management protocol that I usually recommend for my patients infected with SARS Covid - 2 and who is advised home isolation, once they are diagnosed positive for the virus either by the RT-PCR or the RAT tests.
1. Do not panic. This is a time in which the body's inherent immune system (none of us do not know what level of capability our immune systems are at any point of time to defend our body from external pathogens) needs to be supported by a calm and relaxed state of mind.
2. Practice CAB (Covid Appropriate Behaviour - wearing a face mask, sanitising hands frequently, physical distancing), especially if there is someone other than you (who is either Covid Positive or Covid Negative) living with you.
3. Ensure cross ventilation and sunlight into the room that you are confined to. Try not to use the air conditioner as much as possible. Avoid refrigerated food and drinks.
4. Use a pulse oximeter, frequently check and record the SpO2 (oxygen saturation in the arterial blood). Normal range is 95-100%. Be wary if the reading is between 90-94%. An SpO2 of below 90% requires hospitalisation. Frequent use of a pulse oximeter is important especially if there are no symptoms like loss of taste and smell, fever, cough, loose bowels, body ache or headache.
5. Practice Proning (lying down on your stomach; change to the left and right sides every 30 minutes; never lie down face up). 3-4 times a day, sit down on your heels with the knees flexed and bend your body forwards so that the chest touches your thighs and the head is touching the knee. While in this position inhale and exhale deeply. This will help the fluid accumulating in the base of the lungs to be eliminated more easily.
6. Do frequent steam inhalation (inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth and vice versa ten times each) using either water boiled with a handful of fresh Tulsi leaves or a mixture of rock salt and organic turmeric powder.
7. Drink 8-10 glasses of water each day.
8. Have the regular medications for any co-morbidities you may be having (High Blood Pressure, Diabetes, etc)
9. Eat according to your appetite. However, dairy products are best avoided.
10. Sleep well following the Proning method as mentioned above.
11. Avoid oil application on the head or on the body. Have a body bath in lukewarm water. A head bath in mild lukewarm water may be taken if you are feeling unduly stuffy.
12. Dasamoolam Kaduthrayam Kashayam: Shake the bottle well. Mix 15 ml (use an ounce glass - a measuring vessel) of medicine with 45 ml warm water and add a small teaspoon of honey to it. Have this mixture half an hour before breakfast and dinner.
13. Sudarshanam Gulika (tablet): Have one each after breakfast, lunch and dinner.
14. Agasthya Rasayanam: Lick a small teaspoon (5 gram) of this herbal paste at bed time.
15. Mix a little honey with half a teaspoon of Organic ginger powder and have it half an hour after breakfast and dinner.
Miho, please feel free to ask for clarifications, if any. Please leave a text on Whatsapp if you are emailing so that I could respond quickly.
2010年４月より、RTE (The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education ACT) 法、すなわち「無償義務教育法に関する子どもの権利法」が導入されて、徐々に教育の現場は改善されつつある。そんな中、少しでも公立学校の環境を整え、子どもたちが登校する意欲が沸くよう、インド全国で無償の給食を提供し続けているのが、アクシャヤ・パトラ財団だ。なお、同団体は「第21回日経アジア賞」（2016年）を受賞している。
🌸「ミューズ・クリエイション」は南インドのバンガロールにある慈善団体 (NGO)です。2012年、坂田マルハン美穂によって創設されました。このブログでは、ミューズ・クリエイションの活動レポートだけでなく、坂田が2007年、個人的に開始した社会奉仕活動「ミューズ・チャリティ・サーヴィス」時代の記録も掲載されています。Muse Creation is a charitable trust based in Bangalore, India, founded in 2012 by Miho Sakata Malhan.