On a 21-day ‘staycation’

From setting up bird feeders to stitching masks, volunteers engage in various tasks during the lockdown period.

Remember how we would wait for weekends and holidays - a welcome break from work - before the 21-day lockdown was announced in the country to check the spread of Covid-19?

Now, in an attempt to convert this lockdown into a fruitful ‘vacation’, 70 volunteers of the Hubballi-based Deshpande Foundations’s Lead (Leaders Accelerating Development) Programme have begun to engage in ‘vacation tasks’ in their homes.

This group comprises students of engineering, management, computer science, arts, science and commerce, who come from Vijayapura, Belagavi, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Ballari, and Hubballi-Dharwad.

Santosh Biradar, manager, who accepted the ‘Break Covid-19 Chain’ challenge, crafted 21 Home Tasks for the volunteers. He was guided by Abhinandan Kavale, Lead Coordinator, Guranagouda Kuragund, Project Officer, and Vivek Pawar, CEO of Deshpande Foundation.

The tasks are sketched out keeping in mind that no volunteer has to leave home, the dependency on mobile phone is minimum, and they engage with their families during the tasks.

The tasks are communicated to the volunteers through WhatsApp and Facebook.

Sharing information

For the first two days, the volunteers successfully controlled ‘digital junk’ using social media, where they identified misinformation on Covid-19 and instead disseminated fact-checked news.

On the third and the fourth day, they produced ‘TikTok’ videos on guidelines for people in order to check the spread of Covid-19: like hand-washing, wearing face masks when needed, using sanitisers, consuming foods that improve immunity etc. They reached thousands of people with this information.

On the fifth and sixth day, the volunteers built ‘bird feeders’ and ‘water bowls’ using the materials available in their homes to aid birds during the scorching heat.

On the seventh and eighth day, they carried out a campaign to feed stray cattle and dogs. They kept food and water for the animals in front of their homes.

For the ninth and tenth day, the task was to play folk games like ‘pagade’ with their family. On the 11th (today) and 12th day, they will work on bringing out an e-book containing videos of songs, moral stories and other art forms that were taught to them by their grandparents.

For the 13th and the 14th day, these leaders want to build ‘Best Out of Waste’ models using junk.

They are tasked with cooking two special dishes and serving their families for the next two days.

On the 17th and the 18th day, the plan is to craft paper bags out of old newspapers and later deliver them to medical stores.

On the 19th and 20th day, they intend to prepare seed balls, which must be dispersed during rainy season.

Talk of turning a lockdown into jolly days!

(Translated by Divyashri Mudakavi)