'Namma Jeeva - Namma Javabdhari' awareness for tribes to fight against COVID-19

MYSURU: 'Namma Jeeva – Namma Javabdhari’ (Our Life – Our Responsibility), awareness programmes for tribes to fight against COVID-19 has been jointly organised Baalya Trust, DEED (Development Through Education) organisation and Youth for Seva.

The volunteers of the organisations are visiting tribal hamlets in the Mysuru district and are educating the tribes about the safety measures to be adopted to stay safe and fight against Coronavirus.

This awareness programmes will be held till August end covering over 40 tribal hamlets community in the district.  

Recently, awareness programmes have been held at Hanumanthanagara tribal colony, Jere Haadi, Alanahalli Hamlet, Mangaluru Mala Hamle and Hanumanthanagara Tribal Haadi community at HD Kote and Hunusur.

The volunteers gave demonstrations on how to maintain social distancing, how to wash hands for 20 seconds, how to cover mouth while coughing and sneezing. They were asked not to touch eyes, nose, mouth; and informed about the importance of wearing masks, how to disinfect surfaces frequently and much more.
 
Ambika, a tribal from Hanumanthanagara Hamlet said, “The awareness programme was very useful. We were taught about the best health practices to be adopted to stay safe in our day to day life and informed about how to dispose facial masks, gloves and used tissue papers, scientifically.”

Agreed Pavithra, another tribal woman from Mangaluru Mala hamlet, said, "There is a fear among the community about the spread of the virus, but most of us don’t know much about this. The gram panchayat heads have asked us to be aware and to stay safe. However, the awareness programme has made us realise we should not neglect this deadly disease and we have learned what we can do to prevent it from spreading. The demonstrations were very helpful to adopt and practice.”

Anantha, founder of Baalya Trust said, “We are doing our bit to educate tribes and thereby support the health and safety of the people. Only through proper awareness and taking preventive measures can we fight against this deadly disease and build a healthier society. In this testing time, it is important to ensure we all stay safe and healthy. This sort of awareness programmes will be helpful in a long way to make the tribals adopt healthy practices and fight against the spread of Coronavirus.”

Srikanth, director of DEED Organisation gave inputs about the usage of herbal plants (Thulasi and Nela nalli plants) and its benefits. He asked the tribes to drink immunity booster drinks to develop resistance in the body, as it will be helpful to resist the COVID virus.  

The volunteers will be distributing free face masks to tribals who stay in Hunusur, Saragur, HD Kote by this month-end. Face masks were distributed to over 350 tribals by Youth for Seva, and ration kits were distributed by Labournet Mysuru for 60 families at HD Kote and Hunsur tribal hamlets.

The kit includes 5 kg rice, 5 kg wheat, 1 kg sugar, 1 kg salt, 1 liter cooking oil, 5 bath soaps, 5 washing cloth soaps, tea and sambar powder.