Tirupati, July 06, 2020: As many as 223 tribal families have been provided relief by SOS Children's Village in Tirupathi town of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh.
According to authorities from SOS Children's Village, the Corona induced lock down has came as a big bolt on the families of Below poverty line particularly the tribals, as they are suffering financially and due to lack of jobs due to the lock down imposed by the state and central governments due to the prevailing Corona virus.
In view of this more than 223 underprivileged families from tribal communities – including 900 women and children – have been provided relief by SOS Children’s Villages in Chitoor District of Andhra Pradesh to help them survive the Covid-19 crisis.
The much-needed assistance has come at an opportune time when most of the families and daily wage earners who find their daily bread from daily income, were affected due to lockdown eventually leading to low food availability in families.
The SOS Children’s Villages team distributed hygiene kits among the families and created awareness about Covid-19. The team went door-to-door and explained regarding the disease and the precautions. Posters in vernaculars were prepared and distributed in villages, regarding the same.
Said Secretary General of SOS Children’s Villages of India, Mr. Sudarshan Suchi, “The lockdown severely disrupted regular income-generation activities of these families of landless migrant laborers. The children were badly affected. With no income source, there was an acute scarcity of food and other essential provisions at their homes. Their emotional and psychological needs were immense, as they felt vulnerable and isolated. Their daily routine was halted due to the strict lockdown norms. The children were also fearful of their nutrition intake and felt helpless.”
SOS Children’s Villages team has also been providing tele-counselling support to families and children with the help of professional counsellors. Further, the team facilitated online tuition support for 23 children appearing for 10th Class Board Examination.
The hygiene kits given to each family was meant to meet the safety needs of members, especially children. This included hand washing soaps and face masks.A team of doctors and nurses educated the migrant families on social distancing norms, wearing of masks and hand washing.
The families developed kitchen gardens for growing tomato, spinach, bitter gourd, brinjal and other green vegetables for self-use or selling. Said Mr. Sudarshan Suchi,” These are testing times for the whole nation. The migrant families are the worst affected. One way to support them is to ensure they get some basic income and enough food and do not contract the Covid-19 infection. Their foremost challenge is to continue providing adequately for their children, and SOS Children’s Villages is fully supporting them in this.We are determined to ensure that children do not lose out to this pandemic or otherwise.”