Dream a Dream’s frontline response and the in-house COVID-19 warriors
As the 2nd COVID -19 wave crippled India and chaos surged, Dream a Dream formed a core team to respond swiftly to the emerging needs from young people and their communities. In a matter of a week, the team that had over decades worked on life skills related interventions pivoted towards relief related interventions. In the month of February 2021, the team ensured that the Career Connect Centres and the After School Life Skills programs moved online completely as COVID-19 positive cases were on the rise. However, what did come as a surprise was the magnitude of the problem, the team was shocked and overwhelmed with the kind of requests that started to pour in. The team had 300–400 requests flooding in every day that meant that they had to work and respond quickly on everything from medical requirement, medical awareness, ration, food, emotional and mental health, learning kits, solidarity fund for teachers and young people apart from looking at requests for device support and scholarships!
Speaking of Dream a Dream’s relief work, Suchetha Bhat, CEO, Dream a Dream said, “During the second wave existing adversities were heightened, and we at Dream a Dream had to respond swiftly to ensure the right support was provided to our young people and their communities. Through this effort, we could commit to give every child the opportunity to thrive and create a world for themselves on the values of dignity, respect and love. We are immensely grateful to our supporters who came forward during this critical time and made it possible for us to respond to the calamity and be there for our young people”.
Responding to requests for Medical support
The team handling medical requests experienced the horrors of COVID-19 firsthand. The concept of time had faded even as they continued responding to requests from young people 24/7! More often than not, a bulk of these requests were a matter of life-or-death situation. Mahendra from the team recalls the midnights he struggled to get life-saving injections for young people and their families and the days he spent trying to get a bed for a COVID19 patient. There were days he felt powerless, “We once had a young person who called us seeking help for a bed with oxygen for her father, By the time we managed to get a bed, we were too late”, he shares. But fortunately, some days were better than others, especially when they could manage to fulfill requests from young people and make a difference! For instance, they were able to help a young girl’s mother who tested positive for COVID-19 and helped her till she recovered completely. The team managed to fulfill 463 medical requests over the last few months.
Distributing Ration Kits to help families
The team was concurrently distributing ration kits to young people, parents and teachers in the communities. Given that many of the young people’s parents lost their jobs because of extended lock downs, the teams understood that there were survival related challenges, where both young people and teachers were struggling to make ends meet. 14,900+ families were provided ration kits during the 2nd wave of pandemic. Chandrashekar and Ravi, who were a part of the ration kit distribution team share, “We worked tirelessly to ensure that ration kits were available to those who needed them. We faced many difficulties during this time, we had to wear PPE kits while distributing ration kits, faced resistance from local authorities, commuting was a problem for many of us during the lockdown and we had the fear of the virus itself, but we were determined to support our young people.”
Young People needed Emotional Support
As the situation worsened, the team on the ground understood that it was critical to continue to extend emotional support as well. Young people were experiencing emotional and mental strain because of different reasons, some because exams were cancelled, others because of the lack of awareness about COVID-19, a few had also taken on additional responsibilities of family, lack of medical care amongst others. For some, their existing adversities had further heightened, for others they suddenly had become decision makers in their families, quite a few of them had to deal with the emotional turmoil within their families and some were facing economic pressure because of the loss of jobs. The Dream a Dream’s emotional support group for young people primarily focused on ensuring that the young people had someone to listen and help validate their emotions. The team had volunteers who turned into mentors on weekends to help young people on a one-on-one basis and helped 872 young people cope with their anxiety and stress. “There was so much pressure on young people, I remember being overwhelmed by the feeling of helplessness. All I could do was validate their feelings and provide them with emotional support. It personally took a toll on my mental health as well. However, thankfully, we could depend on the team to motivate us and the organisation that encouraged us to take breaks to process our own emotions as well”, shares Sheetal, one of the members of the Dream a Dream COVID-19 relief team. Sheetal also spoke of a happier instance where the team helped reboot the livelihood of a family. The family was ostracised from the community because their daughter committed suicide after one month of marriage. Their extended family members and neighbors did not come to their aid. Dream a Dream stepped in and provided both financial and emotional support to them.
Supporting Teachers
The prolonged school closures had an impact on the school ecosystems as well. Teachers were struggling to make ends meet since they were unpaid or only partially paid for months. The team supported 426 teachers with ration kits and direct benefit transfers for extended time periods to ensure that their families survive, have access to decent livelihood and are well prepared for the time when schools re-open. “I used to check on teachers and provide them with emotional support. Many of them were suffering since they were not able to pay rent or buy ration. It was important for us to ensure that nobody goes to bed hungry.” shares Shruti, member of the Dream a Dream COVID-19 relief team.
“The journey was difficult, we were dealing with over a 200 requests a day which ranged from requests for hospital beds, medicines and unfortunately even cremation related support. We were not only dealing with crisis outside our homes but inside as well. Many of us from the team suffered personal losses and some of us even tested positive for COVID 19. But we all knew that it was time for us to stand together and help our young people. Every time I closed my eyes, the only thing I could think of was the requests from the community. There were so many challenges, so many difficult decisions that we had to make. We had to constantly be on our toes lest we miss an opportunity to help someone.”, shared Pavithra, Director — Innovation Lab, Dream a Dream.
By the first week of June, the Dream a Dream’s COVID-19 task force team had reached out to 15,000+ families. What really stood out was the journey of the team itself, that had ably managed to navigate through their own personal loss and yet found a way to help the community and more importantly show up for young people every single time they needed help. Many members from the team also tested positive for COVID-19 or had family members who tested positive or lost someone dear. However, this never deterred anyone from the team to continue to respond to the requirements coming from young people. Like Vijay Kumar, another member of the team, shares, “It was really the sense of gratitude we received and the thought of making a change in someone’s life that motivated us to continue despite the odds, even today I receive calls of gratitude from young people and that feeling really keeps us going.”
While we are out of the second wave, the pandemic is nowhere close to over. We recognize that this is a time for rest and rebuilding our resilience. Schools continue to be closed, families continue to be vulnerable, instances of emotional distress, early marriage, drop-out from education, abuse and violence continue to rise. Our teams continue to keep a close tab on ground realities and are preparing to respond to continued uncertainty. We are working on identifying at-risk families, building awareness in communities around vaccine hesitancy and listening to young people, parents, teachers and school principals around strategies for safely opening schools.
Authored by Suchitha Balasubramaniam , Manager, Communications & Advocacy at Dream a Dream. We thank the Innovation Labs team for sharing their experience on the ground even as they worked tirelessly to support our young people and their families during the 2nd COVID wave.
