India - these days

 

It is spring time now, in Norway. Easter season is behind us, and soon it is May.

In spite everything that has been happening around us this past year, here and all over the world; with challenges that for many could seem to be queuing up, we still have an inner Joy that cannot be quenched. A joy and peace that we can carry with us wherever we go. 
Easter reminds us about just that, that no matter how though and 'dark' life could seem, Easter morning will come, one day! - Likewise, after winter season spring season starts.

It is Summer in India now. The sun has turned on its' heat, and the temperature is stretching itself higher and higher up on the Celcius/Fahreheit scale. It hs not yet reached its peak for the Summer and today it only climbed up to 36041 C...(weather forecast varies a bit depending on the ones giving the forecast). Though this is still 'quiet a bit colder'😀, than the peak temperature for Summer, it is still hot enough for many, and especially for the people who live in small 'houses' in the slum areas. - Inside there; with no AC, a fan if you're lucky, one can really get a taste of Indian Summer!

Just thought, and wanted to share a little bit of what is happening in India these days.
One get a lot of informtion through reading internet and by watchin news, but otherwise we get to hear hands-on from family and friends through phone.

- It is fantastic to hear about those who are doing well! - And so terrible to hear the ssad news of people who are struggling with so many things, people who are getting sick of Covid-19, and many who dies. It is so so sad.


Crises now - in India - In Nagpur.

Yes, now India is going through a crisis. Especially in the state of Maharastra (where Nagpur is the 2nd capital city) the infection-rate is high. The hospitals have no vacant beds, and in addition to that there is a huge lack of oxygen. People are being told to stay indoors to avoid getting infected, because if they get infected and sick the situation is now so bad that they might not get medical-help. The enormous spread of the virus combined with less/no medical help causes many lives to get lost. It is a horrible situation.

But there are also many who have gotten infected of the Covid-19 virus that have gotten well.
SO, there is hope. I am what someone might call ' a hopeless😃 optimist', which I like to better term ' a hopeful optimist' who carries the thought 'that as long as there is life there is hope'. A life/philosophy is one thing, yet on the other hand it is not always easy to stay positive when life of a close one seems to disappear right in front of your eyes, and hope fades...

The situastion in India is very critical, and it is so sad to hear about what is happening there. 
So incredible sad.

Suhas talks daily with dear ones in Nagpur, who shared the daily updates.
We get news of dear friends who has passedd away. Precious lives are leaving this earth.

The other day one of Suhas' acquainted who had gotten infected by Covid-19 was driven a distance of about 400 km by car in search and hope to find a hospital somewhere that had a vacant bed/place and available ventilator. The search was done in 4 mega cities, without luck. At last the family decided to go to check in their hometown, and the man was admitted in a hospital there. About 2 hours later he died. He was a man in his mid 40-ties. Wife and kid are now left behind without a husband and father.
Today, we got the sad news about 2 other pastor-friends who died of Covid-19. One was in his early 40-ties, and had wife and 2 sons. The other one was in his late 40-ties, who had wife, 3 children and a grandchild that was born less than a week ago.
It is horrible.

It is not only India who has gone through the crisis of Covid-19. People around the world have been and still are facing this horrible virus-situation.

Now India is being hit really badly, so we share from our hearts.
Suhas hear from people who shares how they are 'scared'.
The believers are not 'scared' of death itself, but are not ready to leave now in such ways; not ready to leave their loved ones behind.


Thinking: What can we do to help?

With lockdown people loose their jobs. The parents of the sponsorship children from the slum-areas mainly have jobs as daily-wage-workers or as house-help in peoples' private homes. The maids or house-helpers have lost their jobs, and so have any daily-wage-workers. Many building-works are put on hold, and so-forth people will not get work, means no means of income.

The sponsoship children are still not seeing the light in the end of the tunnel. Their school-situation is pretty much the same as it was one year ago when schools closed down because of lockdown. In between, like in late December nad a few weeks into January some schools opened again and some students could start going to school ON campus again. The joy of that was short-lived facing a new lockdown.

Without job and means of income, there will be shortage of food. Our thoughts go to the children and their families in the slum.
We have a little dilemma; people are in the need of food, and through food-distribution programs we have earlier/this past year been able to help them with that, but with the situation we now are faced withtwe do not dare risking that the Spread workers go out to arange for distribution of food-packages. Having this situation at hand, we have chosen, like we otherwise would no recommend ourselves:/to do, to give the families money, so that they themselves in the best way possible can arrange what they need of food. In the future, when things have calmed down, we will again continue to provide the families with the food-packages like before, rather that giving the money directly.

On behalf of Spread International and the work that we do in Nagpur, Suhas and i want to organize help for those who are in the midst of this crisis and who really need someone to help them.

Our focus now is first and foremost:

- Those whom we come in contact with who have been infected by Covid-19 and now are sick. We want to help the financially, by helping them cover as much of the hospital-cost that we are able to, and help provide for other needs they might have regards to the situation that they and their family are in.

- Families of the ones who have died, those who are left behind.
We want to provide as much help as possible to husband/wife, children of those who have lost their dear ones. This regards financial help to cover for hospital-cost, other medical-cost, further schooling for children or other needs they might have regards to the situation that they are in.

- The poor people who live in slums and in villages, families of sponsorship-children, who these days are going through a fatal economic crisis now, and who are in absolute need of help to have money for food.

If there are some of You who want to help with any of the above or help in general, please don't hesitate to contact us. You can contact us directly (Suhas and Wendy Wakode, Spread International) or through our contact-person in Norway in 'Med Hjerte For India'; Tolli H A Frestad (contact details are given under the buttons above).

Spread International partners with 'Med Hjerte For India' ('Heart for India') who functions as a fund-raising charity. ' Med Hjerte For India' arranges and organize programs and events for the work Spread International is involved in, in Nagpur, India.