This post lists resources to help India during the catastrophic Covid-19 surge
We all come from somewhere.
A place. That ground that we learned to crawl, fall, stand and eventually run on. The smells, tastes, sounds and textures that gave us nourishment and language. The stability of people, roots and a value system that helped us soar. These set of things called culture, that entered our lungs and bloodstream to bolster us from within. We come from this amalgam of place, people and culture called home. It becomes a touchstone over the years that we repeatedly return to whenever we are unsteady or injured. Like the tender hug and fierce protection of a mother. No matter how far we fly, we stay tethered to that bond of love and when that ground shakes, we shake with it. India is that for me. It will always be in my tissues no matter how long and far I live. And now, my motherland is shaking. That ground is shaking, knocking over what I love and my heart with it. And I feel the seismic waves of trauma, fear and helplessness this far. Over the course of my lifetime, I hope to tend to many people and places but―as its descendant―the pain of this land and the responsibility to tend to it is my right and honor. We simply belong to each other.
We all come from somewhere. You too have a home, and you may be called to tend to its pain one day. This is as it should be. If we buffer ourselves to the pain of home, we buffer ourselves to one another and thereby humanity. By embracing the hardest of our pains, we increase our capacity for empathy and resilience. Tending to our own grief creates capacity to contain another’s grief. Tending to our own pain tunes us into another’s as they tend to theirs. This is precisely why humanity is such a powerful collective: our individual bodies weren’t designed to contain all the trauma in the world as digital media now asks us to do. If we truly absorbed all the pain thrown at us on a daily basis, we couldn’t function. Each of us is called to the frontlines at a different time and our job is to show up with grace and strength when called, and serve a backstop for others when it’s their turn to step up. Each of us are designed to tend to specific places and causes so the whole world can be enveloped with the care it needs.
You will be called to the frontlines one day. Please tend wholeheartedly to what you call home. The place, people and culture that nourished you to give you a ground to stand on and a sky to soar in. Be there when it needs you, however you can. And that day the rest of us will be there to hold you.
“Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.” ― Sa’adi Shirazi
Below is a list of verified accounts to help India during the catastrophic Covid-19 surge. Every drop counts. Thank you!
Note: Some employers may offer a contribution match.
- Harvard Business School Alumni – Dr. Sahil Gupta, my friend and HBS alumni, has worked in the Indian healthcare sector for over a decade. He is using his personal resources to purchase oxygen concentrators so those in need can borrow at no cost. He has also assembled a team of doctors to advise patients on home treatment and hospitalization.
- Mission Oxygen
- Hemkunt Foundation
- Goonj
- Milaap (various efforts) – Relief fund for daily wagers, help for healthcare professionals
- Help Now (ambulance services)
- MCKS Food and Hygiene Kits – https://mcksfood.com/covid19 ; https://mcksfood.com/donate
- Dharma Bharati Mission
- Help India Breathe
- Go Fund Me, verified accounts
- Give India – various projects – https://covid.giveindia.org/; Project started by South Asian Students in the US; Plasma matching
- Seva Kitchen
- UNICEF
- PATH
- The International Medical Corps
- Care
- AmeriCares India
- Indian Red Cross
- Oxfam
- Save the Children
News articles to help grasp how devastating this crisis is:
- Short reads:
- Long read, with emotional context:
