Kindly take this mail as a token of appreciation for the overwhelming
support people
It's been more than a month that I've been traveling in the remote
affected areas, have given to GOONJ's 'RAHAT FLOODS' campaign in
Bihar.with the help of boats, motorcycles or tractors. I can only
tell you this is something unimaginable. It's probably not right to
call what's happened in Bihar, as floods. It's basically a large
scale displacement where hundreds of villages now fall in the new
path of the Kosi river. It's not like normal floods where the excess
water of the river creates problems rather it's a disaster where
hundreds of villages, thousands of houses are submerged in water and
thousands of people and cattle have lost their lives. The scale, the
suffering and the kind of devastation is mind boggling; even after a
month, thousands are still stuck inside villages still submerged in
water.
Imagine if Ganga stops flowing through Varanasi and changes its
course to flow through Lucknow&what will happen to the land and the
people of this new route???
I have to confess that even after witnessing and working in many
disasters since 1991 I've never seen such scale, such tough terrain
to work in. There is a sea of suffering with no end to the tunnel
because these are not just victims of this disaster but most have
been victims of extreme poverty for the last many decades&
The reality is that for many months the situation will remain grim. A
state which hardly had electricity or pakka houses in the villages, a
state which is a synonym of bad governance and minimal
infrastructure, where in many parts women barely manage with a torn
saree, where millions have not seen a doctor in their entire life; in
short even before this disaster, life for many was already much below
the normal living standard. Now there are over 20 lakh people
homeless, on the roads, with the cloth on their back as their only
possession.
GOONJ is not a big or international agency, it's a small bunch of
dedicated souls & a large number of dedicated volunteers, working
24x7 to do our best.. The way people took up our campaign and trusted
our work has been heartening and extremely touching. We don't believe
in putting up big banners and working on the easily available
aspects/areas. In Bihar also people/organizations know us for our
focus on reaching places where no one has reached so far.
My appeal to you right now is to keep your patience with us; whether
it's getting your receipts or getting acknowledgements for material
given. Be assured that with our limited resources we are on the job&
We assure you that every single person/organization will get a due
acknowledgement/credit/receipt. I do appreciate the corporate houses
that have done tremendous proactive work to support our relief
campaign. Many organizations have even motivated their employees to
give one day's salary to GOONJ. Thanks for all your sincere efforts;
we assure you that every bit of your trust, material and money will
reach the deserving people.
But I would certainly like to send out a word to a few CSR people who
call up our office and ask questions like- "how far is Kosi river from
Saharsa" and if they don't get the exact no of kilometers they
threaten to report my colleagues to me. Or the wife of a CMD of a
public sector company who gave us some ration and clothes at a
function with a lot of fanfare; three cameras, a speech delivered
thrice to get the right flavor; resulting in wastage of precious time
of a GOONJ team member. Or arguments on why a truck can't be unloaded
at 2.00 am in the night? Please do understand that our team is
working round the clock under tremendous pressure and with very
limited resources. They are also human beings and without any logical
reasoning it's not right to make uncalled demands on them. (The truck
would anyway be allowed to move out in the morning only). A person
from a reputed organization told us that they would give us their
contribution at a special function organized for the purpose, for
which someone from GOONJ would need to be present. When we said that
we didn't have an office in that city the person wanted someone to
travel out or else threatened to give the money to some other NGO. My
humble submission to such demands; kindly go ahead& My humble appeal
is not to use this as the only opportunity to show how concerned we
are. Good work always shows and one doesn't need banners all around
for that. The need of the hour is to spend our time and resources in
the most effective manner.
We anyway never force you to give us everything and we certainly
don't see a disaster as an opportunity for raising money for GOONJ?
Besides, money alone can't solve this problem. We need people on the
ground to do something..
Many people have asked us for volunteer need in this campaign. Right
now is the time for you to visit our stores to see the work and to
help in sorting etc or visit the affected areas to take part first
hand in the distribution and see how this operates.. The fact is 5000
kgs of rice may be a big quantity here in the city but when we give it
in the affected areas; this is just a one-day meal for 10,000 people.
Now imagine, we are talking about millions and their survival for a
few months.
This is just the beginning- a possible outbreak of an epidemic and
the approaching winters are going to be much bigger disaster in this
region.. And even when the media attention over GOONJ will
continuremain in Bihar for a few months.
We have already initiated an additional campaign for the flood
affected regions in Orissa and the demand might grow further& We have
already sent 5 trucks of material to Orissa and many more will go.
Keep a track of us therefore and do continue your support&
Do refer www.goonj.info <http://www.goonj.info/>
for first person reports from me and my colleagues and to know more
about our ongoing activities & plans. Please also refer- Our relief
work pictures <http://www.goonj.info/Finalbiharfloodpic08.php>
With best
Anshu
----------------------------
RAHAT FLOODS BY GOONJ: Highlights
GOONJ is running one of its biggest relief campaigns in Bihar right
now; in terms of network, area covered, material & ration generated
and distributed...
Scale of our work-
Geography
� GOONJ is working extensively across many flood- affected parts of
Bihar. Widespread work is going on in the worst affected 5 districts
of Saharsa, Supaul, Madhepura, Purnia & Khagaria.
Our city patrons/partners
� Over 200 corporates, institutions, schools and hundreds of
volunteers from across India and abroad have been a part of this
campaign. GOONJ mobilizing 30 to 40 trucks of specific material from
Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahemdabad, Bhopal, Nagpur, Hyderabad,
Amravati, Bangalore & many other cities.
� The material includes tones of dry ration, clothing, thousands of
new sarees, utensils, tents, milk powder, torches, buckets, blankets,
mats etc. More material is still being dispatched from collection
centers in different cities.
Implementation on the ground
� GOONJ has mobilized its network with over 18 grassroots partner
organizations/Panchayats/activists in Bihar with focus on reaching
the completely cut off villages on a large scale.
� So far GOONJ has reached over 30 completely cut off villages using,
boats, tractors, motorcycles, bicycles or even by walking on foot.
Over one lakh kgs of food grains have already reached about 8000
families in these villages.
� A GOONJ packet is approximately 12 kgs, aimed at providing eatables
to a family, for at least a week. To fill up gaps in relief material
we are also giving a cooking vessel, a bucket, a glass and a plate
with the same after assessing the needs in the villages.
� Distribution is taking place on the basis of a coupon issued by us
after a proper survey and listing. The data base generated from this
exercise will be used for the next phase of relief material;
primarily clothing & woolens. This database will also be useful in
our future interventions in these areas.
� Apart from supporting a kitchen in 3 camps for the first 15 days
GOONJ is now focusing on filling up gaps in relief efforts in terms
of ration, tarpaulin and other material in different areas.
� On September 7th GOONJ started first of its kind medical aid at
Sukhasan village, about 15 km deep into the flooded area. Instead of
waiting for people in the area to come out to the relief camps, this
timely medical attention proved critical in saving lives.
Furthermore, a new boat has been given to the village and the doctor
is traveling to different waterlogged areas, in a 2 kms range. This
new experiment has been able to support over 1000 patients. It has
also helped in preventing forced evacuation due to illness apart from
taking care of pregnancy and acute diarrhea cases in the village
itself. Even after 5 weeks the village is still in a few feet
water...
� Apart from supporting various organizations with material for their
medical vans/ambulances, we are also supporting doctors in the relief
camps with medical supplies. GOONJ's cloth sanitary napkin (under its
initiative 'Not just a piece of cloth') is addressing a very widely
needed and ignored requirement. We are tapping different health
camps, vans and the women health worker network in the area to reach
deep inside the villages. GOONJ ladies undergarments are also being
given as an integral part of the napkin programme.
Mid & Long term plans- Apart from a large scale relief operation
GOONJ has launched 3 long term initiatives in the area-
Initiative VAAPSI: aims at bringing people back to their livelihood.
An initiative finding a high level of acceptance among the flood
victims, it focuses on generating large scale self employment in the
area.
GOONJ children's' activity centers: Aiming at one of the worst hit
groups i.e. children, GOONJ has initiated the concept of creating a
center for them - to play, read, learn and enjoy in various camps and
villages. One such center is already operational on Beldor Nehar,
(with SSVK, in a relief camp area in Madhepura). Another one is
coming up in Pratapganj block, one of the worst affected areas of
Supaul. Many more are in the pipeline across the region. GOONJ is
providing tents, mats, clothes, toys, clothes slates & stationery etc
for these centers.
'WARMTH' campaign is aimed at dealing with the upcoming severe
winters in the region. As part of this initiative GOONJ has
conceptualized a family kit consisting of blankets, mats and woolens
for the entire family.
Long-term approach: GOONJ is working through its immediate and mid
term plans and has clearly defined long term plans in the flood
affected areas (which spreads till March next year) with a cushion of
extending it further, if needed.
So far GOONJ has emerged as one of the biggest agencies working in
the flood affected areas, on the long term. More than a month down
the line, as the media attention is fading; many organizations/people
are winding up their support work. GOONJ will continue its work here
till March 2009, primarily keeping in view the winters; a disaster
which is just round the corner.
GOONJ has established linkages with volunteers from many cities as
well as from within the affected villages and other grassroots
organizations. They are working closely with us on information and
coordination support. The packing of material has been decentralized
at hubs in Triveniganj and Purnia apart from our base office and camp
in Saharsa.
Breaking the Myth; Clothing is in excess in Bihar
As always the reality is very different & as always clothing is
still an ignored issue. The reality is, Clothing is needed on a big
scale as over 20 lakh people don't even have an extra pair to change
into. This in turn is adversely affecting health and hygiene and skin
diseases are most common here. Strangely not much appropriate clothing
has reached the affected areas. In some cases it's been the most
inappropriate clothing thrown at people in a very humiliating manner.
Apart from our main centers in Delhi, Mumbai & Chennai, GOONJ has now
set up its own processing center in Saharsa, where volunteers from
villages are involved in need based sorting of clothes and other
material.
GOONJ's philosophy revolves around preserving the recipient's
dignity, therefore careful matching of material with the needs of the
people, has been the focal point of our relief work. In turn this has
ensured effective distribution with least wastage. In most cases
material is going as part of family packs, based on information
collected through family surveys.
Our TEAM- Mr. Anshu Gupta, Founder Director- GOONJ is personally
supervising the relief operations, based in the temporary GOONJ camp
in Saharsa (Bihar) together with key member Ajay Sharma and a few
volunteers. GOONJ has a formal set with a team of 20 people, 18
big/small grass root organizations as partners and 7 storerooms in
Saharsa with decentralized centers in Triveniganj, Pratapganj &
Madhepura.
Further requirements-
� Woolens & blankets
� Milk powder
� Toys- large quantity
� Sarees & petticoat
� Mosquito nets
� Slippers
� Slates, notebooks and stationery
Address of GOONJ Base Camp
GOONJ
Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan,
D.B. Road, Near S.B.I
Saharsa, Bihar
--------
Anshu Gupta (Ashoka Fellow)
Founder Director
GOONJ..
Tel.- 011- 26972351, 41401216
Add.- J-93, Sarita Vihar, New Delhi-76
Email- anshugoonj24@gmail.com <mailto:anshugoonj24@gmail.com>
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