How to Support India's Covid Crisis

A letter from our Yoga Nidra Healer/Teacher, Celeste Tandy

As someone who has greatly benefited from the ancient Indian practices of meditation and yoga and travels to India every year to continue my ongoing education, an important way to express my reverence for the ancestors of this contemplative tradition is by extending resources to their people today.

India needs our support. To say that their country is experiencing a humanitarian crisis is an understatement. Over 300,000 new people are reporting COVID-19 symptoms every single day and there is no relief in sight.

The virus has surged to heights that have put the population of India in complete desperation. Overwhelmed hospitals are running out of beds, oxygen, medicines, vaccines, and other vital supplies as new and more severe variants of the virus are spreading. Unfortunately, the government and political parties are placing blame on each other instead of taking charge. To put things in perspective, things are so bad, that they are running out of wood for cremations. 

What’s happening in India is deeply heartbreaking. In the West, we have been blessed to learn from their ancient traditions and wisdom of yoga and meditation. And it's time to step up and use our privilege and wallets to give back by sending resources to the people in need.

The Buddhist adage of “we are all connected” has never felt more real. We can’t beat the pandemic if a substantial part of the world’s population is not immune to COVID-19.

List of resources that you can donate to:

• Athrout x Kashmir Box: providing daily rations AND medical supplies to Kashmir that is systematically underfunded and neglected, and currently has a ban on most NGOs’ ability to receive foreign funds. Athrout has found a fantastic workaround in a time of dire need.
• Parivar Bay Area: partnering with on-the-ground partners across 26 locations 8 states to bring health kits and food to the Trans community.
• Mission Oxygen: helps hospitals across the country get immediate access to oxygen cylinders and concentrators.
• Ambulance Network: HelpNow is an Initiative by young students providing a safe, 24x7 logistics network for transporting COVID patients/suspects, Drugs, Phlebotomists, Healthcare workers (docs, nurses) and Blood/Organs/Medical supplies in India.
• Project Mumbai: works with several public hospitals to provide them with life-saving healthcare equipment and supplies, to cope with the significant stress on the hospital system.
• Khaana Chahiye: distributes meals to the most vulnerable in the city of Mumbai. Has distributed 60,000 meals so far in this phase of the lockdown. 
• People for Change: battling hunger through daily rations to the trans community and sex workers in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. Sex workers are battling a complete loss of income, high HIV rates that increase. susceptibility to the virus, and so many other challenges right now, these are folks we really want to rally for.
• The International Medical Corps, which works in conflict areas around the world, is raising money for a campaign to help provide medical equipment, P.P.E., isolation facilities and other essential supplies in India.
• United Nations agencies, including UNICEF and the World Health Organization, are delivering personal protective equipment kits, oxygen concentrators, diagnostic testing systems and other supplies to India’s frontline health care workers. 
• PATH, a global health nonprofit based in Seattle, says it has a team of more than 200 people working in India to procure oxygen supplies and accelerate Covid-19 testing and surveillance.
• Care India says it has supplied hospitals and frontline workers in India with more than 39,000 P.P.E. kits, along with masks and other supplies. 
• The Association for India’s Development, a Maryland-based charity that partners with nonprofits in India, says it has volunteers distributing food and protective equipment in most of India’s 29 states.
• Adventures Without Boundaries Foundation: organizing vaccination access and support for folks with disabilities across Mumbai.

Further reading: 

• We are witnessing a crime against humanity - The Guardian
• How countries around the world are helping India fight Covid-19 and how you can too - Time
• How to Help India Amid the Covid Crisis - New York Times
• White House is split over how to vaccinate the world - Washington Post
• Giving to India? Compliance with the Newly Amended FCRA - CAF America

With love,

Celeste