What is happening in Mumbai? How is the Good Samaritan Mission dealing with the health emergency? Has the Covid-19 affected those living in the GSM homes?
Many of our supporters are asking for news since our media rarely report on India and merely list numbers of daily infections, which are indeed very high. There is no particular coverage, except for a few quality magazines such as Internazionale.
Mumbai remains the most affected Indian metropolis and the entire country is now close to 100,000 deaths; however, the figure is vastly underestimated, as are the number of contagions. People are dying mainly in slums, around railway hubs and in rural areas, and not only because of Covid-19, which complicates an already problematic health situation, but also due to the impossibility of eating.
In a previous report, we described how the closure of railway stations had prevented any activity for the homeless living near the railway tracks in Dadar, Victoria Station and other hubs. The central and Maharashtra governments are trying to contain the contagions with partial lockdowns and, therefore, most trains and buses are still stopped. The situation is so serious since the Mumbai area, like other megalopolises, has been on lockdown from March until July, allowing some businesses to slowly reopen.
What is more, the same government that had ensured a supply, albeit minimal, to many families, has excluded the outcasts, children included, namely the ones born and raised on the streets who, for this reason, are not recorded at the registry office and, therefore, do not exist for the authorities. These are individuals with no identity, yet familiar to Peter Paul, since many of the children who now live in the GSM come from these very streets, children who escaped from the shadow of non-existence through education and social inclusion.
An indispensable support
Peter Paul and the older boys of the GSM continue to bring basic necessities to the homeless in the stations and in some forgotten slums. And not without taking risks. In addition to the other influenza coronaviruses, this coronavirus has entered the mission mildly affecting some girls and boys but seriously affecting Sangeeta, the woman who has been looking after the homes for more than 20 years and who lives in the Silvano Niwas. The Vikhroli district remains a red zone, people have died, the hospital nearby is full of sick people, and oxygen supplies have run out with dramatic consequences. Sangeeta herself preferred to take care of herself at home, isolating herself on the top floor for three weeks, when she finally began to feel better at the end of August.
Now she seems to be recovering, and her breathing problems, fever and other Covid symptoms have disappeared.
The Good Samaritan Mission remains a protected place where rooms are carefully sanitised. The older girls and boys pay attention to hand hygiene and encourage the younger ones to do the same. Face masks are used systematically, and the children avoid going outside.
School is done remotely, and teachers have provided a few mobile phones for the children to be able to connect with them.
