What does corona mean for Isai Ma(i)yam?
What does corona mean for Isai Ma(i)yam?
As of mid of March we needed to shut or projects down completely. The childrens’ homes needed to be closed and we needed to place all children with family or elsewhere. The daycare for our handicapped children is also closed. We’ve managed to place most children with families, but for a few it was impossible. They are still with us and the local government keeps telling us it’s not allowed, but we don’t have an alternative for them. These children are being checked by local government on their medical health. So far they have notmade any further extreme interventions. Our staff tries to keep in touch with the children who are now with their families or placed somewhere else. This to ensure we don’t lose track of them.
The government lockdown measures have been extended until at least 17th of May and we will need to see whether we can open up after that and how. We imagine we need to take extra safety measures, but at the moment that is still unclear. Once we know more about the next steps and what this means for Isai Ma(i)yam we will update you accordingly.
At the moment we continue to pay our staff as much as possible. The government provides some support also with food packages for local people. However not everybody receives that and lots of people we know in the surrounding villages don’t get any salary anymore. Therefore we are looking whether we can support the local people with food packages.This week we started with compiling food packages for the families of our children, including the handicapped children. In addition we know of various other families in the surrounding villages who really need some support and therefore we would like to provide them with food packages as well. Our staff can prepare them and distribute them. This way our staff can contribute to the community as well in these difficult times. One food package for one family will cost INR 1.000,- which is equal to more or less EUR 12,-.
We are aware these are difficult times for many people, but if you would like to support the above mentioned initiative, you can already do that by donating an amount of EUR 12,- for 1 food package (more is of course always welcome as well) by transferring this amount to account no: NL73INGB0004865196 tav Stichting Isai Ma(i)yam