India is going through an extremely difficult time. The country has already registered more than 21 million Covid-19 cases, with around 450,000 daily new cases. The health system is already completely overstretched, and with the scarcity of hospital beds and oxygen, the fatality rate is spiking up. This dire situation is affecting the children either directly or indirectly through the loss of family members.
Our two KinderHaus facilities in India are also struggling. During the first wave of the pandemic, the PATRIZIA Foundation has already supported their partner organizations with funds from the Corona Fund Education Healthcare. But with the outbreak of the second, much worse wave, more help is urgently needed.
The current situation in the PATRIZIA KinderHaus facilities in India
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the PATRIZIA Foundation has been in close contact with its partner organizations, including the Evangelical Lutheran Missionary Society in Lower Saxony (ELM), and its partner church in India, the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC), which operates the PATRIZIA Child Care Porayar. Almost all the girls from the dormitory had to be sent home, but many families live in great poverty and so the risk of the virus still comes from hunger. Many parents have lost their jobs in the lockdown or have themselves got sick with Covid-19.
PATRIZIA Child Care Govindpur is our second KinderHaus facility in India. It was supposed to be completed in the summer, but the construction work had to be stopped due to the new lockdown. The Indian state has also closed all kindergartens in the country. It is not possible to make a reliable forecast of when construction can continue. The partner for this project is the Gossner Mission and the Gossner Church in India, which will run the kindergarten on site. Within the members of the Gossner Church are many sick people and also deaths to be mourned.
“We are shocked by the escalating situation in India and the many sick and dead that also exist in the families of the children and employees of our KinderHaus facilities,” says Petra Ellert from the foundation’s partner management. “In addition to the emergency measures, we will work to ensure that children can finish their education, even if their parents’ income is lost due to the lockdown or they may even have lost a parent through Covid-19. Only if they can go back to school will they have a chance for a better future,” says Petra Ellert.
Donations to the coronavirus relief fund are therefore still urgently needed.