About a week after COVID-19 shut down pretty much all the gatherings, I was trying to connect with one of the learners that I work with at an adult literacy program.

“Hello?” I yelled into my phone. “Can you hear me?”

“Yes,” Sam (a pseudonym) replied. “I can hear you, but aren’t we doing a video call?”

“Yes, we are. But when I tried to FaceTime, it wouldn’t connect. Is your phone on WiFi?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“Hmm… Do you see a wedge with bars in the top left-hand corner of your phone?”

“Yes, I have bars on my phone. So why can’t we see each other?”

“I don’t know. Let me think…”

The two of us tried to fiddle with the phone to connect it to the WiFi for at least 20 more minutes to no avail.

Sam said, “Oh, I was really looking forward to seeing you.”

Knowing that I’m one of the very few people that he sees on a regular basis, my heart sank a little when I heard that. And that’s when I said, “Okay. We’ll have to use your cell data.” This was the last resort when I knew that he couldn’t really afford to pay for data overages.

When we finally managed to see each other, I could see how happy he was and how much this phone call meant to him.

Sam and I have been working together every week for more than three years. A man in his fifties, he dropped out of school after Grade 6. He moved from the east coast to Toronto more than thirty years ago and along the way struggled with addiction and mental health. After getting his sobriety, he decided to work on his literacy about five years ago.

After having worked together for three years, Sam and I now have our weekly routine down. We would work on spelling, reading a news article out loud and doing a bit of math. But much of our work is not really about the words and the numbers on paper. We work on our relationship with each other based on a quote from Lilla Watson: “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

The relationship we have built with each other is important to both of us, although there is no doubt much more so for Sam than for me. It is just one of many aspects of life that are unequal between the two of us. Although I thought I knew all about inequalities and privileges after having spent well over ten years tutoring adult literacy learners, it took a serious fallout between us in the first year we worked together for me to really learn an important lesson. And this is one of the biggest lessons I have learned about ahimsa.

“Do you think I’m a slow learner?” asked an unexpected email from Sam in less than six months after we first started working with each other. “I want you to be honest with me.”

Even though I had no idea why he was asking me the question, I didn’t really think much about it, and so I replied, “You’re about average, not the fastest and not the slowest.”

The reply that I spent less than a thought to compose turned out to be anything but helpful. Sam reacted very badly to my reply saying that I was calling him slow and that I was a terrible person. Words like scum and the meanest person were used. To say that I was caught by surprise would be an understatement. I was shocked! No one had EVER called me that! Why? I thought to myself — I was definitely not trying to do harm in any way. What happened?? He was angry with me, and I was rattled and baffled although I had no doubt that what I said was most definitely harmful to him.

I tried to explain myself: I didn’t mean that; I’ve been too busy and so I wrote something without thinking; etc. But it seemed to only make things worse. One of the staff members at the program where we meet had to intervene to help us out. After weeks of agony, silence and mediated conversations, Sam and I met in person to clear the air. Neither of us could explain what actually happened. He told me how much he was hurt by what I said. I apologized. I told him how much I was hurt by his reactions, and he was surprised. He didn’t think I’d care about him whatsoever because I could just walk away from it all. He also apologized. We both learned a bit from the episode. We agreed that whatever happened just went out of hand and that we could try to work together again after taking a few months off to cool things off.

Since then, I learned that not to do harm in thought, word or deed is a bit more complicated. It’s not just not to do harm from my interpretation. In fact, my intention is beside the point. I could have the best intention, but that is zero guarantee that I would do no harm. I need to listen, to really listen to work together. This is especially challenging when we cannot truly be equals with each other.

I have learned so much about ahimsa from my three years of working with Sam. In our three years together, I learned that it’s not always easy to do no harm in thought, word or deed. Although we have never had a fallout quite as seriously as this, I’m pretty sure I have unintentionally hurt his feelings more times than I would care to admit, simply because I can’t always appreciate how my thinking process or my words would seem to him. But I keep trying my best even knowing that my foot ends up in my mouth every now and then. My experience working with Sam teaches me that ahimsa requires me to constantly think about peace is only peace when we can both live with it together.

Hi everyone, hope you are staying safe and doing well despite the very real concerns of Covid-19.

Many have been asking how we can help those in need in our community. With that in mind, our NDP team has been reaching out to a number of community organizations to determine how to best help those who require assistance.

The message we heard repeatedly was that the best way to support residents in our community was to make a financial donation.

The Barrie Innisfil NDP Riding Association is making donations of $250 each to two of the many terrific community organizations in our County:

1. The David Busby Centre

https://www.busbycentre.ca/about/

2. The Innisfil Food Bank

http://www.innisfilchurch.com/ministries/innisfil-food-bank

I hope you will take a moment to check out their websites. If you are in a position to make a donation, you might want to follow up with one or both organizations.

Another wonderful organization that works throughout the County is The United Way Simcoe Muskoka. See below for a message from President Dale Biddell. Donations to the UW would also be extremely beneficial to our community.

Our best wishes to you and your loved ones.

Take care!

Pekka Reinio

President, Barrie Innisfil NDP

A message from CEO, Dale Biddell, to let you know how United Way Simcoe Muskoka is helping those most affected by COVID-19 and how you can help:

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed and will continue to change our way of life in Simcoe Muskoka for months to come. While we are all feeling the impact that this time of uncertainty brings, there are some in our communities who are more vulnerable than ever.

Our older residents are going to be impacted by greater social isolation; mental health challenges often increase in reaction to major events; those unable to call one place home are even more vulnerable, as organizations scramble to locate additional spaces in order to comply with social distancing.

That’s why United Way Simcoe Muskoka is focusing all our efforts on the COVID-19 Fund. This new fund is raising money to support the basic needs of those who need a helping hand during this crisis. That can take many forms: food, transportation, alleviating isolation, responding to an emergency following job loss—tangible supports that can make a real difference to people. We will be there to help Simcoe Muskoka residents when they need it.

I know our environment is a turbulent one, but I am reaching out to see if you would be able to support the new COVID-19 Fund and those who would benefit from it. We are facing unprecedented times right now, so I hope we can come together and help one another out.

If you are able, you can make a donation at https://uwsimcoemuskoka.ca/covid-19-donate/.

Every dollar counts for those experiencing hardship during this pandemic, so we are grateful for whatever gift you are able to give.

Dale Biddell

CEO The United Way Simcoe Muskoka

This one is for those who like stories. Two of them. One I have named Operation Muskaan and the other Operation Ruby. Right from day 2 of the lockdown, our #GBGB activist Jameelabegum Eathakulla has been coaxing me to somehow fetch 3 young girls and their brothers from Diva near Kalyan to their parents homes in Shivajinagar, Mumbai. They were on their way back from their school in Kerala when the lock down was suddenly announced and their train was terminated at Diva. They were staying at a distant relative's house there. I was ready then but everyone around me advised me against it saying that the police would not allow me do that. The rules of lockdown is pretty strict here. Everyone is expected to have a police pass mentioning the start point, the end point, the time for which the pass is required and the route. Only a driver and a maximum of one other person is allowed in the car and the other person too has to have a pass. The vehicle no has to be mentioned in the pass. It is 17 days now and we have so far managed to operate unrestricted in all areas of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan, etc and one might think I have some super pass😂. Well I have learnt the psychology of security people and policemen well. A letter head has a lot of value in India and if it has a rubber stamp on it, however illegible, so much the better. Well my passport to unhindered relief work is a letter written on my organisation #HelpingHands letter head authorising Anil Hebbar to carry out relief work in all the areas of Mumbai and the suburbs till the end of the lockdown. And this letter is signed by Anil Hebbar, Chairman. In addition, I have a printout on my windscreen blaring out RELIEF OPERATIONS. I am stopped at least 20+ times every day at naka bandis but this letter has never failed me😂😂.

One of the girls in the group, Muskaan, a student of Std 10, has been in touch with me, every time begging me to take her to Mumbai. There was no food at the place where they stayed. I one day went and gave them enough ration to last a week. Then they ran out of water. I transfered some money to the account of one of them so that they could buy water. I sent enough ration to her mother in Mumbai as they had run out of food and money. Her mother was a house maid and father was unemployed. One day, we took a chance and I requested my colleague Suresh Rasam from Yusuf Meherally Centre who was in the vicinity to bring Muskaan and her brother back somehow. He managed to bring the younger sister and brother back as Muskaan felt they were missing mother more. I was biding my time to fetch the others. Operation Muskaan takes a pause and Operation Ruby takes over.

I got a call yesterday from Brinelle D'souza asking me whether I could take a HIV positive patient, her husband and daughter Rubina, a 8th standard student, who were languishing opposite JJ Hospital without food for three days, to their house in Nerul? I said ok as Nerul is not very far from Mumbai. When I reached them, I realised it was not Nerul but Neral near Matheran which was a good 100 km away. When I expressed my unwillingness, as I did not have a pass, the man broke down and I had no choice but to try rescuing them from death due to hunger in this hot summer. They were so famished. Brinelle had transfered some money to them which helped them buy medicines. Nothing except tea was available there even if one had money. He had bought a musambi and given it to the two of them. When they were in the car, he was continuously crying and explaining how his wife was vomiting blood and how he brought her to the hospital in a 108 ambulance. However the hospital was not ready to admit her as she had no symptoms of #COVID and since then they were outside the hospital harassed by one and all to clear the place. He didn't know what to do. While driving, I had to stop the car twice so that mother and daughter could puke, they were both dehydrated. Nothing was open anywhere, not a fruitwala in sight. I drove 50 km to our godown, gave them a family kit of ration and suddenly remembered that #LodhaWorldSchool at Thane was providing cooked meals to the needy. I took them there and requested the security guard to give us four meals even if the time was over. He was kind enough to do that. I too was very hungry by then. Once we had lunch we set out on our ordeal. There was no way my car could go to Neral, so I requested Mateen Dewan of Yusuf Meherally Centre to send a car to Panvel from where they could be dropped to Neral. My letter worked everywhere except in Panvel where my car was stopped and I was asked to meet the Senior Police Inspector. He was just not ready to listen to my stories and wanted me to stand at a distance of more than 6 feet. He wanted to know where I was taking these people and how they were related to me. I finally threatened to go near him to show her report when he cursed me that I will give him Corona too, having taken the risk of dropping them in my car, and asked me to get lost😂😂. So I finally reached the place where Narayan was waiting with a car and they were safely dropped home. That was Operation Ruby named after their daughter.

Now back to Operation Muskaan. On the way back from Panvel, I decided to give it a try and bring the kids back. I drove the 45 mins to Diva, took Muskaan and her brother Nasir and brought them back to Mumbai. One girl decided to stay back as the local host was her relative. Muskaan was so happy as she was seeing her mother after 11 months. It was a long stressful, risky day but in the end, a very satisfying day. All is well that ends well. This unplanned #SurgicalStike against #CORONA is going to affect the poor heavily. More people are going to die of hunger and diseases other than #COVID. I do wish and pray, both Muskaan and Rubina see through this patch without much sorrow and lead happy lives. Bilal Khan Lara Jesani G.g. Parikh Guddi Ymyb #TimesOfCorona

It all started when Bilal Khan sent me a budget for distributing relief to migrant workers in slums he has been working in, heading the GharBachao GharBanao Andolan. He was worried that in the suddenly announced lockdown, lot of people in the slums will be jobless and will have no money to buy food. He wanted to support 800-1000 families with rations for a month and the budget came to about Rs. 30 lakhs. He also had a list of things that would go into each kit which would sustain a family of four for a month. I had two apprehensions. First was whether we could raise 30 lakhs. Second was how each food kit which weighed more than 50 kg could be handled. My suggestion was to go in for 10 day kits for a family of four which would weigh about 16-17 kg and was more manageable. 1000 such kits would need about 10 lakhs which was less daunting. If we managed to raise more, we could repeat a second and a third round and could reach out to more families. I offered to host the fundraising with a trust I help run, #HelpingHands Charitable Trust. We are an organisation without any paraphernalia or overheads, only a few pairs of helping hands but we have always been there in any disaster situation. Now came the challenge of procurement of foodgrains during the lockdown when even big grocers found it difficult. I chose a newly opened shop in our complex in Thane, just because they had very few footfalls and could take us seriously unlike the others which had large queues in front. The man Khemchand Kukreja was immediately receptive and said that he could deliver us 25-30 packets a day using his Ertiga to lug supplies from APMC Vashi, Kalyan, Bhiwandi, Ulhasnagar - wherever he got supply and his entire family of 5 and 2 employees making packets. We were a team of 3. Bilal, Lara Jesani and I. They handled Shivajinagar/Mankhurd and Malad/Malwani and I handled Navi Mumbai and Thane using my i20 and my wife's Creta for deliveries. Ravi Kuchimanchi and Association for India's Development gave us the seed money. We were then lucky to get introduced through Mukta Srivastava and Sucheta Dalal to Sanjay Pande, DG, Civil Defense and Homeguards who provided us vehicles which increased our purchase and distribution volumes. Mukta also got us a godown through Cosmos Builders in Thane and this enabled us to scale up our operations. The builder's employees who were locked down joined our packing team. We started bulk deliveries to groups. We got more people into our group. My colleagues Joy Mukherjee from Navi Mumbai, Harish Rao from Thane, Vicky Parde from Kalyan, Chandan Shukla and Narayan from Yusuf Meherally Centre with their Sumo. As our fundraising got a reasonably good response, we scaled up 10X adding distribution centres in Vikhroli by Uday Mohite, in Chembur, in Ambujwadi. Many activists like Prince Peter, Sumit Wajale, Dolphy D'souza, Anita Dhole Patil guided us to needy places we have never been before.

We started a camp for nearly 300 migrant workers and jobless people at Versova with Civil Defense, Harmony Foundation, Moneylife Foundation and other NGOs and have sustained it so far with admirable support from GBGB volunteers and from the Lokhandwala church volunteers. In order to make our efforts sustainable, community kitchens have been started in Ambujwadi and Mankhurd.

We have pioneered distribution of sanitary napkins made by self help groups of Adarsh Sanstha, nutritious food for pregnant women and children, food for street dogs through Nidhi Sawant. Our social media warriors led by Monica Raheja, Arvind Vyasaraya Ballal, Kusumakar Kaushik, Jasmine Mehta of Bhagini Sanskar Parishad work round the clock disseminating information, raising funds.

Sunil Devnani of Rotary Clubs, Yogini Sheth of Inner Wheel Clubs, Anil Goradia of Lions Clubs, Sabit Tisekar from One for One and many more have consistently supported us. What has been done in the last 30 days with everyone's help is far more than what we had set out to. We have fed more than 1,00,000 people in the past month which is easily more than what the state government of a small Indian state would have been proud to achieve in these restrictive times when people are even scared to step out of houses. But the tadk before us is onerous. More and more people are getting desperate with hunger and the calls are only increasing. We need our supporters to keep up their tempo and see to it that #NobodySleepsHungry.

Donations may be made in the name of 'Helping Hands Charitable Trust' and sent to SB Acc No.012200109000876, Saraswat Bank, Juhu Branch, Mumbai. IFSC Code:SRCB0000012.

Tac exemption certificate will be issued under Section 80(G).