CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE LOCKED-DOWN SOUL | FOOD AT RAFA

Amidst the constraints of Covid-19 lockdowns, one thing the children at Rafa Homes continue to enjoy is the food.

Times around the dining table are special. The boys especially like paneer (Indian cottage cheese), chicken curry, parantha (Indian bread), rice and dal.

The girls have had lots of fun learning to bake, helping the carers shape momos (Tibetan dumplings), digging into some jhal muri (puffed rice stir-fried with spices and lentils) at snack time, and celebrating with gujiyas (nut pies) on Holi!

This spring, the boys got to try their hands at barbecuing chicken and paneer. They also learned to bake cakes.

Some girls say that having a healthy diet improves their ability to think more positively and gives them joy. The boys like eating fruit and are growing to appreciate green vegetables.

Recently when some of the children were sick, they particularly enjoyed chicken soup. They said it helped them to eat even when they didn’t feel like it.

We at Rafa strive to maintain our home environment as a family-style space of delight and joy, especially around the dining table...similar to our own homes from days of childhood.

To know more, write us at contact@newgenerationtrust.org.

Hands Of Love | NGTs COVID-19 Relief Initiative

The initial periods of lockdown in India to protect the country from a widespread outbreak of COVID19 resulted in a near-complete halt of economic activity across the nation.

Responding to the Government of India's call to organizations to partner in Covid relief, the NGT team acted quickly to serve those near us going hungry and in need of basic amenities. By setting up Hands Of Love, a special initiative for this purpose, we raised funds to procure essential groceries that we distributed to those vulnerable to hunger across Delhi.

Through this effort we helped provide 112 Relief Ration Kits to 99 families in desperate need. Each kit consisted of one month's ration of rice, wheat, two kinds of dal, cooking oil, sugar, salt, washing powder and dish-wash bar, tea leaf powder, toothpaste, soap, onions, potatoes, garlic, ginger and cloth masks. Each package weighed over 25 kg.

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Hands of Love focused on those most vulnerable,

such as single mothers without income and families with disabled children.

The majority of those to whom we gave were daily wagers and migrants.

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Part of our response also included helping people avail of a variety of schemes launched by the government in collective efforts with civil society, such as e-coupon schemes for a certain quantum of rations. Knowing the government had set up wet kitchens at various collections points across Delhi, we partnered with the District Administration, South Delhi by providing them with rice, dal and oil equivalent of a meal for 50 people for 60 days. We also provided them with 248 cloth masks voluntarily sewn by women from Atulya Home, to be further distributed in the communities they worked with.

We were further able to assist 200 more people by partnering with the Indian Gorkha Federation and Inspire, who had arranged transportation for 600 Nepali migrants returning to Darjeeling and Kalimpong Hills, Siliguri, Mirik and Doors (Bhutan border). We helped them provide water and dry food packets to sustain them during their long travel back home.

We are thankful to all who came together at this time and supported us in making Hands Of Love possible. In the words of Helen Keller, "Alone, we can do so little; together, we can so much."