By Jane Manson with Parveen Choudhury | Fundraising, Programme Co ordinator
On 19th December our team distributed emergency rations to 20 families in crisis. Many lost their livelihoods in the COVID lockdown and have been unable to get back on their feet. Other families are torn apart by domestic abuse, illness or bereavement. Rations are distributed to the female head of the family.
Aklima lives on the street under a flyover in Kolkata, West Bengal. She is fifty years old and a widow. She is supporting three daughters and two sons (aged between 15 and 22 years). She is a ragpicker. She collects solid waste to be able to feed her family. She walks 4 to 6 km to meet daily necessity. She earns three hundred rupees (£3.00 or USD3.60) by spending six hours daily collecting materials such as- plastic items, bottles, tin, iron as well as soft toys. She sells tin and iron at Rs 4 per kg and bottles at Rs 8 per kg. Desperation has forced her to do this work. Security has become a long distant dream. The rags collected by her are sold after two or three days. The work is not regular. The situation forced her to beg as well. Whatever she earns is not sufficient to maintain her family’s daily needs. She is unaware about any kind of Govt. schemes hence, not getting any help from Govt. She does not have Swasthya Sathi (health insurance) card under the West Bengal Govt. scheme. Nor does she have a ration card which would entitle her to food rations.
Aklima badly needs help. On Monday, thanks to your generosity, she received a pack of emergency food rations. Moreover our livelihood team will link her with the various government schemes available to society’s poorest. We will also work with her sons and daughters to find them employment so that they can become independent of their mother.
Each ration pack should last a family of four one month.
10Kg Rice, 5kg wheat flour, 2litres cooking oil, 1 kg salt, 1 kg sugar, 500gm Bengal gram, 500kg semolina, 100gm turmeric, 100 gm chilli powder, 200 gm puffed rice, 1 kg soyabean chunks
The cost is Rs 1262 for the pack. Your donations directly enable us to rescue these desperate families from the terror of hunger.
That's USD15.25 or GBP12.57 - to feed a family of 4 for a month.
Thank you
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