Ramavaram Food Donation, October 21, 2008

As discussed in previous posts, today a group of Sangam India members went out to Ramavaram to distribute essential food items to each household in the Ramavaram community. Our aim was to deliver to each household the following items:

• 2 kilograms of uncooked rice
• 1/2 kilogram of toor dhal (pigeon peas)
• One packet of Sunfeast biscuits

The biscuits were a last minute addition, due to a generous donation by Swathi, and they were certainly appreciated.

We had a good turnout at the slum today, with plenty of new members. We were very systematic in our efforts to make sure that no house was missed - and no house was. As we gave the food to the houses, we asked everyone if they knew of any cases of fever (which might be due to malaria) or diarrhea. The incidences of both tend to rise sharply when there are heavy rains. These cases were treated. Fever cases were treated with antipyretics and the people in the houses were advised to visit the hospital if the condition worsened or if it continuted. Diarrhea cases were treated with oral rehydration solution (ORS.)

Though 2 kilograms of rice only lasts for a short period of time in households as populated as these, we hope that this small measure can help these families in some small degree. It was clear that the offer was appreciated as the families were truly grateful of our desire to help.

As the rains continue, we may have to repeat this activity to help the residents of Ramavaram as much as we possibly can. We see it as our duty to aid them in this time of difficulty. Here is a breakup of our expenditures:

1. Rice, 2kg: Rs 39
2. Toor Dhal, 1/2kg: Rs 26

Though this comes to a mere Rs 65 (USD 1.30) per household, covering one hundred houses in total cost us Rs 6500 (US 130.) This is a somewhat heavy cost for our group to bear. We thank people who have donated to us in the past who made this possible. If you would be willing to sponsor even a few houses, it would be of great help to us. Please contact us if you can be of any help.

Click here to view photos from today's event.

This effort would not have been possible without the dedicated work of Pamela and Vasundhra, who took charge of this activity. In addition, we are deeply appreciative of Anand Trivedi and Shilpa Menon for allowing us to use their vehicles. Finally we'd like to thank all of our first-time comers: Samson, Amrutha, Kiran, Kirshnaja, Manmitha, Tejasvini, Sheetal, and Jananee. They all did a terrific job and were very dedicated to the work at hand.