Dear all, at the moment I am back home in Germany, corona positive and in quarantine. Definitely not how I imagined to spend my holidays at home!
But I am symptom free, together with my family, at a warm and comfortable place and don’t need to worry about going to bed hungry. For all that I am very grateful and I know it is so much more, than what many others on this planet are having right now.
Before Christmas I donated 1000 € of your donations to the NGO Chetna in Delhi to distribute warm clothes to 150 Street Children who are suffering in the cold right now.
I thank you all very much for your contribution.
Here the letter from the NGO:
Out in the cold: Street children and their families survive the bitter cold-Winter Clothes Distribution CHETNA has been working with street and working children in the slums of Noida for the
last 4 years. Recently, these settlements were demolished by the authorities in Sector-37
Noida forcing thousands of households to live on the street in severe cold. Winter, rain and
the ongoing cold wave has made it increasingly difficult for children without homes to
survive in the city. They sometimes warm themselves up with the thin bed sheet provided
by some kind-hearted people. Unfortunately, those blankets are often stolen when these
children go out in search of food for the day. They suffer from seasonal ailments due to the
chilling cold, and some will perish. “I share a bed sheet with other friends. Our parents
often take drugs to keep themselves warm and not feel hungry,” said a 14-year-old street
child. Another said, “We build fires with the textbooks that you all study.” The same books,
different purposes!
These families spending their life on the streets and footpaths have become a common sight
in sector 37 Noida. These children used to reside in slum areas by constructing shacks and
wooden huts with available materials. Now they don’t have clothes to cover their body, and
they spend their winter without a blanket. They can’t manage the budget to buy a roof over
their head struggle to survive on the footpaths and flyovers of well-built metro stations in
different areas of the city.
Our mission is to spread warmth in the lives of such innocent children and thanks to
generous contributions from Sarah and Chalo Reisen we reached more than150 children
aged 8-14 with much-needed warm winter clothes, to help them cope with the harsh
weather. Each clothing kit contains a thermal outfit, a winter jacket, a woolen hat, as well as
winter shocks.
“I sometimes had to miss school because the only sweater I owned was not dry on time.”
Golu 7 years old boy shared with a wide smile on his face after receiving the winter clothes
set.
Arun 9 years old and Raam 7 years old is a sibling and they shared that “Now together with
their family, they live a small room along with the few belongings they could carry during
the demolition of the slum. Before receiving the winter clothes distributed by CHETNA, the
two children had one outfit; whenever their mother did laundry they had to stay at home
and wait for their clothes to dry, sometimes missing school.”
These warm clothes will ensure their well-being during the winter months. Thank you so
much for making this possible. We’ll be forever grateful to you for such an abundance of
kindness and empathy for children in need.
