Hope Project Newsletter, December 2021

written by Samiur Rahman and Elisabeth Henschel; edited by Heiko Schrader

Overcoming Challenges: Hope Brings Back Life in The Project

Dear friends,

As it has all over the world, Covid-19 has altered life as we know it here in Delhi, here in the Basti. Too many lives have been lost, too many of our near and dear ones gone forever. Many in our community have lost their livelihood and it is slow and tedious trying to find new jobs. The children lost their source of socialization and regular live education for many months.

Hope never lost contact with its beneficiaries though. With the distributions of dry rations to the families in need, milk and eggs for the children and online teaching we were able to stay in contact with the neighborhood. When the second wave subsided, we were also able to assess the situations better through personal interactions and visits to people’s homes. This helped to keep families from migrating back to their rural homes, trips that would surely be more dangerous than beneficial at this point.

We are relieved and glad to report that the MMU and Health Centre are providing medical care for people in need again, both in the Basti and in our Trans-Yamuna communities. In this time of need, we have also expanded our service area and have reached hundreds of new patients, all of them with no other access to healthcare.

The educational programs including Creche, Pre-Primary, Non-Formal School, Tuition and Evening School have been able to resume, of course taking the necessary hygienic precautions. Several of our students have been able to finish their schooling with us and a few have gone on to enroll at PGDAV college, University of Delhi, others have started their vocational training with Hope. We are so very proud of all of them.

While we are all still struggling, your donations and your endless support have made it possible for us to keep our doors “open,” to provide for and assist a community that would otherwise be cast aside or forgotten. Thank you for always believing in our work — you make it possible.

Iram Kamal Parvez — A Journey to Health

Iram has been a student of Hope’s evening support class since 2019. Her family has been facing tremendous financial issues because both her parents are severely ill. Her father needed extensive surgery and her mother suffers from a hernia complication. The only income in the family came from her brother who is employed in Mumbai. To add to their miseries, Iram’s appendix burst, requiring her to undergo multiple surgeries. An alarming situation arose when due to the complete lockdown, her doctors left the treatment halfway, which left her bed-ridden. When lockdown ended, she went for a check-up, but her doctors determined that Iram was too weak for further surgery. The whole matter was discussed in a meeting conducted by Hope’s executive director, wherein it was decided that Hope would be providing financial as well as medical help. Subsequently, food and medicine were delivered on daily basis to her home by one of Hope’s outreach workers. After two months, she was ready for surgery. Iram had the surgery a few days ago and it was successful. Now she is gaining strength quickly and a complete recovery is expected. We wish her good health!

Ziyan — Skilled and Self-Sustained

I am Ziyan, a 16-year-old boy studying in XIth class in the government school. I started my education in the pre-primary of Hope Project. I am able to support my family. Thanks to Hope! I was interested in computers from the very beginning so with my elder brother’s suggestion, I joined Hope and learnt the basic skills of computers which further proved beneficial for me as I started to work at a cyber cafe during lockdown. At the time of my exams, I used to come to the the Hope Project for online exams and got good marks in my exams. It was a second reason for me to be grateful to Hope for its services. Computers, to say it as a cliché, are my passion. My thirst for computer skills didn’t quench there and I started to learn Photoshop at The Hope Project. In a span of two years, I learnt almost every skill of computer and currently I earn 4000 a month and support my family. I have found Hope in the walk of my life as a strong pillar of support when I needed it the most!