Assisi Aid Projects

August 2020

India now has the third highest rate of COVID-19 infection in the world, with over three million cases and 56,700 deaths. The generous support of private donations enabled Assisi Aid Projects to provide a much-needed widespread relief distribution across 30 tribal villages and rural hamlets in Tamil Nadu. Overall, 2463 women and their families were supported by the distribution of 17,000 kilos of rice together with lentils, face masks, soap and COVID-19 prevention information.

As you can imagine, this was a major undertaking for our partner organisation, Integrated Development Trust, to plan, coordinate, purchase and deliver such a huge amount of food and supplies while ensuring that both staff and all the people receiving the donations stayed safe and well.

To give you an idea of the impact that donations had in the community, I wanted to share with you just a few examples of the feedback that we received about the distribution:

During this time no one visited our village for a health check, but the temperature test conducted during the relief distribution helped to allay our fears that we might be infected with the coronavirus. We had no money to buy a mask and we never used it also. However, IDT helped us to get it. Further, awareness leaflet information was also helpful”.
Mrs.Kanniyammal, Kozhiyalam village

I go for a daily wage for lumbering and brick kiln work. I managed my family needs with that small income.  But CORONA -lockdown has severely affected my livelihood and family care. I am unemployed now and unable to feed my children three times a day. Sometimes, it will be hard to feed them 2 times a day. I do not have enough money to buy vegetables, rice, fruits, eggs or even hair oil. It created lots of mental stress in the family. At this stressful situation, I am grateful to IDT and the supporters for helping us with 10kg of rice bags, dal and mask. Now my family eats three times and eat quality rice.
Mr Shankar, Nellie Hamlet

The situation in Tamil Nadu continues to deteriorate, with restrictions on movement and the closure of schools and businesses. The state of Tamil Nadu has the second highest number of COVID-19 infections and deaths in India. On 23 August, Tamil Nadu had over 373,000 cases of COVID-19 infection with 6,000 new daily cases and 6,420 deaths.  Four districts across Tamil Nadu have been identified as hotspot red zones for the virus and two of these districts (Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu) are where our programs are based.

The need for this assistance continues to grow, so, if you’re able, please donate to help us continue this work: Please click here to contribute to our India COVID-19 response.

We will continue to closely monitor the situation through our partner, and if necessary, will consider a further distribution. 

Regards,

Prue Ingram
CEO Assisi Aid Projects