Organisation’s Name: Humanitarian Aid International (HAI)
Contact Person: Sudhanshu S. Singh
Contact Email: info@hai-india.org
Correspondence Address: 2nd Floor, H-753-A, Ansal’s Palam Vihar, Near Metro Hospital, Gurugram Haryana - 122017
Website: https://hai-india.org
Project: Ensure at least a month’s food security among the food and income-insecure refugees living in Majnu Ka Tila and Signature Bridge refugee camps of Delhi
Thematic Area: Food security, Menstrual hygiene
Location: Refugee camps in Majnu ka Tila and Signature Bridge, Delhi
Target population: Refugees
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1. Nasiba
Nasiba is a resident of the Majnu ka Tila refugee camp. Prior to the lockdown, her husband was engaged in daily-wage work, which was just sufficient to make their family's ends meet and put food on the table to feed their five children, including a child with disability. However, since the lockdown, his work has been disrupted, leaving the family without a source of income. Her difficulties are compounded by the fact that one of her daughters, Sundari, is paralyzed and thus, certain additional arrangements, such as medical care, are required as well. The loss of income has led her family to suffer from severe food insecurity, and their ration had completely depleted at the time of the distribution. In the face of these challenges, she says she is extremely grateful to HAI and CAF India’s dry ration support as they have provided her family with a lifeline with which they can sustain themselves for another month and a half.
2. Meera
Meera is another resident of the Majnu ka Tila refugee camp. She is a person with disability and requires crutches to walk. She says that her family currently has no money, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns. Her husband's work resumed only a few days prior to the distribution, and she hopes for normalcy to return soon. Her family, which comprises of 7 members, has been surviving on HAI's previous food distribution ration kits. She is thankful for the HAI and CAF India dry ration support, which would sustain her family for 15 more days.
3. Poonam
Poonam is a 19-year-old woman residing in Majnu ka Tila refugee camp. Her father is the head or ‘pradhan’ of the camp, and her mother is a homemaker who works at HAI's sewing centre to supplement the family income. Poonam has received formal education only till class V. Now, she helps her mother with sewing work, and tries to study by herself at home whenever she finds the time. The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the residents of the camp, says Poonam. Recounting the multi-faceted issues, she says, "All our men and women are forced to sit at home because all their livelihoods have been disrupted. There is no work, no income, no ration and we were afraid that we would die of hunger. The lack of hygiene and sanitation facilities in the camp makes us vulnerable to all kinds of infections and diseases, not just COVID-19." For Poonam personally, the pandemic has resulted in an increased burden of unpaid care work at home. Prior to the lockdown, the children in the house used to go to school and the men would go for work. This would allow Poonam to have some free time between household chores to focus on her sewing work, and also on her self-studying. But now, since everyone is at home the whole time, the little time she had for her own personal development has been snatched away from her. She is grateful to HAI and CAF-India for providing one month's ration and sanitary pads, as this distribution has alleviated some of the many challenges she's facing.
4. Saraswati
Saraswati is a 14-year-old refugee living in Majnu ka Tila camp. Her family came to India in 2013 from Tando Allahyar, Pakistan due to religious persecution and fear. Her father, Kanwar Ram is a mobile cover vendor, and her mother Jamuna is a homemaker. She is a bright girl who hopes to become a police officer one day. The ongoing pandemic has severely impacted Saraswati's family. Her father is not able to set up his shop, and everyone has been at home for the past few months. For her personally, the disruption in education is a major concern. She says, "we cannot go to our school these days due to coronavirus, and we are behind on all our coursework. We now have to study via WhatsApp, but it is difficult for me to understand through that. We don't even have books for the new academic year." The closure of schools has brought up another major issue for Saraswati. Prior to the lockdown, she used to receive sanitary pads from her school itself and has thus been facing a shortage of this essential commodity during the past few months. These challenges were compounded by extreme food insecurity. In light of the same, Saraswati says she is grateful to HAI and CAF- India for providing her family with one month's ration and sanitary pads.
5. Dropadi
Dropadi is a 16-year-old refugee living in Majnu ka Tila refugee camp, currently studying in the 9th standard. Prior to the lockdown, she used to enjoy going to school, meeting her friends and studying her favourite subject, maths. But now, as the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our entire education system, she is struggling to cope up with the shift of her education to online mediums. Her father, a daily-wage labourer, has had little to no work over the past few months, leaving her family with no means of income to arrange for ration and other basic needs. Her stock of sanitary pads was also almost depleted at the time of the distribution. She is thus thankful to HAI and CAF-India for their support in these challenging times, and says, "it's good that there was a ration distribution, else we would have died of starvation".
6. Pooja
Pooja is a cheerful 15-year-old girl residing in Majnu ka Tila refugee camp. Her father runs a soft-drinks vendor on the road near the camp. Unfortunately, the lockdown forced her father to close down the shop for a few months, severely depleted his earnings. With the only flow of income for the family completely disrupted, they were struggling to arrange food and make ends meet. To add to Pooja's troubles, the family was unable to afford sanitary pads, forcing her to use cloth instead, which she finds extremely uncomfortable. Now, due to HAI and CAF- India's interventions, not only has Pooja and her family received a month's worth of ration, but Pooja can also switch back to sanitary pads, an alternative that is much safer and more hygienic.