As flood-relief materials began pouring in at the Government Women’s College here, one of the delivery points for such material, there was another flood on the premises. Volunteers, young and old, from across the district, waited for a chance to be of use.
They were asked to wait outside, as the hall inside brimmed with volunteers, a sizeable among them schoolchildren and college students. In one of the desks inside the large hall, clothes that are delivered in small packets are unwrapped and segregated. Handling this is a group of students from St. Mary’s school, Pattom. Vaishnavi, a Class 12 student from the school, seems the sprightliest as she organises the show with ease. “I heard about the relief work from my school Whatsapp group,” she says. Her team segregates the items, labels them, and gives them away for final packaging.
At times, the cartons for packaging the items get over. It is when Devaki chips in. She runs about fetching cartons for the group. Well past 55, she matches the pace of Vaishnavi and her bunch. “My family is in a relief centre in Thrissur. If I sit at home, I will keep thinking about them. I would rather be here and be of some help,” she says.
Sorting, packing
Another counter has an array of medicines which are sorted into packets. Food packets are carefully put together in another area. “The priority of materials we pack keep changing. Now, with some areas inaccessible, food has to be airdropped. So ready-to-eat food items such as biscuits and bread are preferred,” says Balan Madhavan, secretary of Sree Moolam Club, who is part of the relief coordination.
He got involved in the relief-coordination process after the State authorities called him up for space to collect the materials. Later, Sobha Vishwanath of ‘Anbodu Trivandrum’ and her team joined in.
“It was manageable till August 15. The team was compact and the inflow of items for distribution to northern Kerala was also steady. The spurt in the number of volunteers and the relief material came in after Wednesday, when we moved to Women’s College,” says Anna Koshy, one of the coordinators.
On Friday, the inflow of volunteers was so huge that over 200 volunteers had to be kept waiting. The inflow of relief materials is also a surplus. For every 15-18 tonnes that are sent, over 50 tonnes come in for packaging. “We are very touched by the response of the people at this moment of crisis,” says Bindu Joy, another coordinator.
