Chp 805. PPE Volunteer's Group update

Today is Day 16 of the Total Lockdown in India, and Day 19 of a Lockdown in Mizoram.

As promised, here's an update on what the PPE Volunteer Group has been doing till now. For those of you who are visiting my blog for the first time, I wrote about this grand initiative 12 days ago: Day 3. Donating for Mizoram, and thanks to social media and all your shares, the story even got picked up by many renowned national media as well.

It's been almost 2 weeks now since that post, and the Volunteer group has done a lot of tremendous work since then. Here's an update on their work.

Before I begin, and for those who came in late, let me briefly take you through what has been going on for the past 2 weeks:

• Due to the spread of CoVid-19 pandemic in India, Mizoram has been on lockdown from 23rd March, 2020.
  
• Members of Puanthan WhatsApp group consisting of different designers, tailors and fabric retailers were discussing about the shortages of PPE's among the medical staff in Mizoram.
  
• Puanthan WhatsApp group member Bethel Lalparmawii along with her designer friends Jenny Lalduhsaki, B.Lalremruati, Lalhriatpuii Varte and Lalthakimi from Aizawl stepped up and volunteered to stitch PPE's for free.
  
• A "Volunteer's Group" WhatsApp group was created by Bethel on 25th March for this purpose.
  
• Ruby Ngente from Maharashtra who had been supplying fabrics to these designers in Mizoram became the main bank account holder where donations could be sent.
  
• Various designers and tailors across Mizoram started joining the group, all volunteering to stitch PPE's for free.
  
• Within hours, words started spreading about the initiative and more people joined the group. The WhatsApp group reached its maximum limit in less than a day.
  
• As more people started donating, within just one day, the amount donated crossed one lakh rupees!
  
• By 26th March evening, due to the sheer number of designers and tailors across Mizoram volunteering for this, various sub-groups were created based on locations and districts.

And so, that was the movement that touched the hearts of many people in Mizoram. In these dark times of uncertainty and fear, a selfless act like this can give us all a glimmer of hope in humanity.

Today we shall look at how these people operate, what have they made so far and whom have they donated the PPE's and other medical kits to etc., in detail.

1. Modus operandi.

How do they operate? First and foremost, for anything to function efficiently, there must be some form of an organized structure, even if it is a voluntary program, otherwise everything will be chaotic.

Initially it was Bethel and her group of friends who were in charge of the whole group, but as the group grew and sub-groups were created for different districts, other people took charge of their respective sub-groups, like Dothangpuii at Lunglei, Daisy Jothyu at Siaha, Lalchhanhimi Khawlhring at Champhai, H Lalmuanawmi at Kolasib and so on.

In Aizawl, Bethel and her friends are in charge of the whole cutting part. In fact they are known as the "Cutting Crew" (not to be confused with the 80's British rock band of I just died in your arms tonight fame).

All materials for Aizawl are purchased from Lalluaii & Sons, Bazarpui. They open their shop only for them in the night, with permission from the Local Level Task Force.

Once the materials are selected, Ruby Ngente transfers money from the donation to the shopkeeper and the materials are then carried back to JT Fashion House, which is the Cutting crew's main base of operation. The Local Level Task Force members usually help them carry the materials as well.

At JT Fashion house, Jenny, Bethel, LRi, Kimkimi and Hriati get to work immediately, and they cut all the materials as required.

Once the required materials are cut, they are then sent to all other designers and tailors within the city who are members of the voluntary program.

I will be writing more in detail about Bethel and her team in my next post, all the hardships they have faced etc., as I believe people need to know about the sacrifices they have made, so do keep a look out for my next post.

Notice the labels in all the cut materials below, those are the addresses of various teams across Aizawl who have volunteered to stitch them.

Team Vaivakawn receiving the consignment.

Team Zotlang receiving the cut materials.

Once they have received the material, all the volunteers get to work immediately (I have covered the working part separately below). Here is Team Ramhlun announcing to the group that they have completed their task.

Team Dâm veng reporting to the group that they too are done with the stitching.

Once the stitching is completed, volunteers who are in charge of the logistics deliver the finished products back to Bethel & Team, and they in turn distribute them to other people (this part is also covered separately below).

And that is how the whole system currently operates in Aizawl. A well-oiled mechanism indeed, simple and efficient. A true power of what humans can achieve when we all rise up together.

All the expenditure from the donation account spent on materials and other things are recorded and shared with the entire group by Ruby Ngente, guaranteeing a complete transparency.

As you can see from the above list, money was transferred back to different accounts from the main donation account once different sub-groups were created with their own independent source of donation. This is a classic example of decentralization and it really helps in facilitating better co-ordination at a micro-management level (yes, I'm making use of the jargons I learnt at B-School before I dropped-out :P )

Likewise, in Lunglei town too, money was initially transferred to them by Ruby before they became an independent unit, and Nu Madovi and family bought materials for them to start stitching.

Materials too were received at Kolasib town and the volunteers started making masks immediately, according to an update from Lizzy.

H Lalmuanawmi (Mami), creator of the sub-group "Volunteers Kolasib" also informed us that they had started working in full steam.

Mami, who is also a beautician apart from being a designer, pointed out that before they received the materials, they were already stitching masks from materials meant for a gown.

Such is the dedication of all volunteers in the group.

In Lawngtlai town too, the PPE volunteers got into action immediately.

The shop below belongs to Pi Zuali and it is the biggest fabric shop in Lawngtlai. She has allowed all PPE volunteers to take any material they want, free of cost!

Likewise, there is tremendous support in Lawngtlai coming from CYLA President Pu Joseph and Lawngtlai DC Shashanka Ala (who is also my FB friend, yay), and according to a report from Lawngtlai, they had already stitched more than 5000 masks by 1st April!

And so those are some of the information and details on how this whole volunteer program is functioning in Mizoram.

2. Group Discussions.

I was added to the Volunteers WhatsApp group from the very beginning. I didn't know anybody but since I was planning to blog about it, I read every message posted by every member carefully. One thing that became very clear to me was that, most of these members didn't even know each other!

It was the first time that they were all talking together. And deep inside, that made me so proud to be a Mizo because there was this complete blind trust among them. Somebody would ask, "Who can sew so and so stuff from this and that locality?" and immediately a couple of people would raise their hands (technically the "raising hand" emoji :P ) and after giving their addresses, the materials were sent to them immediately, no further questions asked.

Little things like that, the fact that people trust each other immediately and nobody is out there to swindle or profit from this are the reasons why this Volunteer program is such a big success, and it may not be possible to replicate this at some places outside Mizoram.

Everything is discussed in the group, like who are they stitching the next batch of PPE's for etc. Those decisions are taken by the respective sub-group leaders. Like for example, this is one such message that was posted, apparently what the Mizo border guards at the border town of Saichal village were wearing – just a bed sheet wrapped around their face!

Do know that Mizoram shares 700+ KM long borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar, and so those people were kept at high priority to receive the free PPE's.

Apart from that, the group is also actively used to discuss about the masks and PPE's that they're stitching. Some people would ask questions, and others would reply. It is like one big knowledge sharing portal where all doubts were being cleared through simple instructions and tutorials in the form of arrows…

Apart from that, these designers and tailors are continuously guided by medical professionals like Dr. Zorengi of ZMC and Dr. Doris of Synod Hospital, and they make sure that all the proper protocols are being followed while making these kits.

3. Stitching In Progress.

Maybe it's just me, but when I saw pictures of all these tailors and designers selflessly stitching PPE's, masks, boots etc. for free, I don't know, I just fell in love with each and every one of them. Nothing is more attractive than a kind heart with a caring soul.

Forget the six inch Louboutin heels or the Maybelline mascara, take away the Estee Lauder lipstick or the Louis Vuitton handbag, this right here, a selfless, sacrificing woman doing the best that she can for our community, is the epitome of true beauty.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not demeaning our Miss Mizoram beauty pageant contestants in anyway, everybody is special in their own way, but I was thinking, maybe we should also hold a "Miss PPE Volunteer" contest across Mizoram, you know, and the winner… is all of them.

And so here are some pictures of our lovely volunteers across Mizoram working diligently while most of us are at home getting bored of the lockdown. I have taken all these pictures from the main Volunteers WhatsApp group, and so I have captioned them the way it was posted in the group. If I have made a mistake or missed out on anybody, I do apologize in advance as there were just too many to choose from.

Also, a big shout-out to the very few male tailors who are also taking part in this initiative :) And so, here are the heroes of today:

Team Vaivakawn.

Team Champhai.

Team College Veng.

Team Electric Veng.

Team Venghlun.

Team Zotlang.

Team Ramhlun Venglai.

Team Tanhril.

Team ITI Veng.

Team Thenzawl.

Team Kanan Veng.

Team Kolasib.

Team Lunglei.

Team Lawngtlai.

Team Armed Veng South.

And yes, I know, I have missed out a lot of other volunteers as well, and I apologize once again for that. Also, in case I have captioned some of the photographs above wrongly, please don't mind :D it took me 6+ hours just to find all the images above from my gallery folder and then cross-referenced each one with the WhatsApp group's 10,000+ long message thread just to find the correct caption! Not to mention many images didn't specify which locality the team was from.

So, let us all give a big round of applause to all these people. Wooohooo! :)

4. Products made and distributed.

All the volunteers across Mizoram are now making PPE's and other protective outfits based on the demand of the people. First of all, those who need the items are identified, and then the item is then made.

Champhai Volunteers Group made PPE outfits and PPE boots.

Lawngtlai Volunteers Group distributed face masks to their Local Level Task Force.

Kolasib Volunteers Group distributed protective masks to their police and LLTF.

Lunglei Volunteers Group Nu Madovi distributed free gowns and mask to Lunglei Bazarveng LLTF.

Lunglei Volunteers Group donating plastic gowns to nurses at John William Hospital.

Armed Veng South members donating PPE gear to their LLTF.

Aizawl Volunteers Group sending crucial protective equipments to Vairengte.

Various volunteer groups washing and sterilizing the masks they made before sending it out.

Kolasib Volunteers Group ready to ship out Face-shields and other PPE's they have made.

Kolasib Volunteers Group also distributed free hand sanitizers to the police, LLTF and people kept in quarantine.

Synod Hospital staff coming to collect the PPE's from Aizawl Volunteers Group.

Aizawl Volunteers Group and various Aizawl teams handing out masks and PPE's to different LLTF  and police across the city.

Siaha Volunteers Group handing over PPE's and face shields to the DC of Siaha Bhupesh Chaudhury.

I'll stop here for now. There are so many more wonderful photos of the volunteers group giving back to the community, but this post is already becoming too heavy because of the 130+ images.

According to Bethel, the total tally of everything that the Volunteers Groups across Aizawl, Champhai, Kolasib, Lawngtlai and Siaha (other sub-groups haven't sent her their report yet) as of right now (9th April 2020, 16:00 GMT) are:

PPE suits stitched: 624

PPE suits distributed: 543

Masks stitched: 13035

Masks distributed: 9635

Face shield stitched: 44

Face shield distributed: 44

Hand sanitizers distributed: 3 litres

That is a really impressive total so far. And they are still working as I write this.

5. The Unsung Heroes.

Last but not the least, there are a lot of other people behind-the-scene who have made this voluntary project a big success. All the Local Level Task Force members of every locality have been extremely helpful to these teams when it comes to logistics and permission.

And then there are the delivery boys and girls, whose sole task is to deliver not just the cut materials and finished products but even get food and water for the designers and tailors who had remained locked up in their houses or shops due to the lockdown.

As the saying goes, not all heroes wear capes, and in this case, the cape-less crusaders are Mavena Ralte, Lalhminghluii, Lallawmkima, Malawma Chawngthu, etc., just to name a few.

In fact just today, Mavena Ralte from Aizawl Volunteers Group drove all the way to Kolasib to deliver a very crucial PPE cargo for the Kolasib Volunteers Group!

And of course let us not forget the role of the authorities for giving all these people permits every day to go outside. Officials like Pu Lalfakzuala, Sub-Divisional Magistrate and Pu David H Lalthangliana, Deputy Secretary, Home Dept., play a very important role in granting all these volunteers daily passes without any hassle.

Pu David H Lalthangliana even arranged special sanitation trucks to collect all the fabric wastes that had accumulated at the volunteer's places. Awesome people indeed.

Lunglei Volunteers Group also had these permanent passes made for all errand boys and girls.

And then we have our local media and celebrities who have visited all these volunteers and even interviewed them. Gestures like this encourage the people to keep fighting the good fight.

Even Vanlalsailova personally video-called Bethel and her team, and gave them moral support and encouragement.

As I end this very long post, I would like to thank all the volunteers once again for the fantastic work that they are doing. Some of them are dead tired, and remember, none of them are getting paid for all this. So let us continue to keep them all in our prayers.

In my next update, I will take you through the personal experience of Bethel and her team in Aizawl, and I hope that will shed some more light into how much effort they are putting in this. I'll end this post with this picture I really love. It is one of the volunteers (I think Electric Veng?), and apparently her specs broke while working on this project, but she just continued working and simply tied her glasses with a rubber-band :D

And so, until my next post then, take care everyone.

Chp 804. Day 12: Palm Sunday & The Mizo Church

Today is Day 12 of the Total Lockdown in India, and Day 15 of a Lockdown in Mizoram.

Today is also Palm Sunday, one of the holiest days here in Mizoram as it is a predominant Christian majority state. Every Palm Sunday, various Christian group members would take out a procession on the streets, shouting "Hosanna, Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord".

This year though, the streets were completely empty as nobody was allowed to come out of their house due to the Lockdown.

Instead, a short Palm Sunday service was conducted at each locality using loudspeakers!

Everybody stayed inside their houses and listened to the sermon, and prayed and sang praises to God without stepping outside. And then we all chanted, "Hosanna, Lalpa hminga Israel Lal lo kal chu fakin awm rawh se!" in one great unison that echoed across the entire valley.

Here's a short video I posted on twitter this morning. This was how the sermon and service was conducted in my locality Chaltlang. Increase your volume.

A blessed Palm Sunday to you all 😊🙏🏻 Here in Mizoram nobody is allowed to leave their house or go for Palm Sunday processions, so a short 10 mins service was conducted over the locality loudspeakers. Took this video just now from my balcony. pic.twitter.com/mVAcXPBRGT

— Kima (@Mizohican) April 5, 2020

This was totally different from previous years when the streets would be filled with Church members taking out processions. Here's how today would have looked like in Mizoram if there was no CoVid-19 pandemic outbreak:

[thank you, Salvation Army Commander Zodini Hnamte of Pune for sending me the above video]

Beautiful right? Church members of all denominations would participate in a Palm Sunday parade around their respective localities, and since there are different denominations within each locality, it was common to see different groups passing each other. And of course the one I always wanted to see the most was the majestic Salvation Army Corps with all their usual trumpets, clarinets, drums, tambourines, etc.

But today was a different experience for all of us in Mizoram. No parades, no processions. As one of my friends aptly stated, this was a "Palm Sunday, home-delivered".

My relatives from Chaltlang, Chanmari and Kolasib too took part in this "home service" today, listening to the sermons from their respective balconies and lawns.

And to prevent people who live in the borders of different localities from being bombarded with different sermons at the same time, the timing was planned in such a way that no two neighboring localities were conducting their sermons at the same time. (Imagine hearing multiple loud sermons at the same time :D That wouldn't be a Palm Sunday, that would be a face-palm Sunday :P ).

Likewise, as I have mentioned above, there are different Churches within one locality, and so the entire service was divided among different leaders, like for example, in Mission Vengthlang locality, a Pastor from the Baptist Church of Mizoram started the service with a Bible reading and prayer, and a Pastor from the Presbyterian Church of India ended the service with a blessing and prayer.

Similarly other localities had Catholic Priests, UPC Pastors, ECM Pastors etc. conducting parts of the service. And so that was how Mizoram celebrated Palm Sunday today.

We may all be separated by distance due to the lockdown, but nothing feels more unifying than seeing all the different Churches come together as one to lead the masses. Hosanna indeed.

As I have mentioned in my previous post "Mizoram: Setting an example for India, people in Mizoram are following the Lockdown order by our PM very strictly. Among the reasons I have stated, I forgot to mention one very important factor, and that is the role of the Mizo Churches.

First and foremost, the MKHC (Mizoram Kohhran Hruaitu Committee), the apex body of all Christian denominations in Mizoram had already issued an official statement during the first week of March about CoVid-19 and the cautionary steps everyone should take.

And then shortly later, every Church denomination in Mizoram started canceling all Church services along with other Church-related functions like fellowships, weddings, conferences etc. This happened in mid-March and even though that may seem recent, do keep in mind that this was much before our Prime Minister Modi addressed the nation on March 24th and ordered a Total Lockdown.

I know the date very well because I became a butt of a joke! After months of facial treatment due to my pimples flaring up, I was finally healed and I planned to start going to Church from mid March onward. I even went shopping and bought a couple of new shirts to wear at Church!

I was really looking forward to my first Church service, and my friends were making fun of me like, OMG, you're finally going to Church, the world is going to end! etc… And then just two days later, our Church issued a statement that all Church services had been canceled indefinitely! Lolz. Yeah my friends had a field day laughing at me again.

I personally find the Church's decision to cancel all services very impressive because as a Christian majority state, we could have easily continued with our religious functions and gathered in public together etc., like how we saw some states in India still conducting large-scale religious functions recently.

Faith is a double-edged sword. Sometimes it can be a beautiful thing, but other times it can be a dangerous thing as well. If the Church leaders didn't close down the Church and continued the services, or even if they announced something like, "Due to CoVid-19, you don't have to come and attend Church service, those of you who are concerned can stay at home", there would still be many people going to Church.

But no, our Church leaders were against it and they shut down the Church with an iron fist. Historically speaking, this is apparently just the second time in our 130 years of Christianity that Church services had been suspended, the first time being during the insurgency movement of the MNF in the 60's. That is how important people are considering this pandemic to be, and this is probably one of the reasons why we still have only one positive CoVid-19 case in Mizoram as of today.

All the Churches are also doing many other work related to battling CoVid-19 and helping other people, but as I mentioned in my post about the Local Level Task Force, all office-bearers of different Churches are members of the LLTF, and so everything that they have done is in the name of LLTF and not an individual Church per se.

Apart from giving financial aid to the LLTF and those who are in need, the Churches are also contributing money to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund. As of 2nd April, 2020, the donations made by various Churches of Mizoram to the CM Relief Fund according to DIPR (Directorate of Information and Public Relations) is almost 40 lakhs INR!

Mizoram Synod, PCI - Rs. 9,00,000

Kohhran Thianghlim, Mizoram - Rs. 8,00,000

Baptist Church of Mizoram, Lunglei - Rs.3,00,000

United Pentecostal Church, NEI - Rs. 2,00,000

United Pentecostal Church, Mizoram - Rs. 2,00,000

Mizo Conference of 7th Day Adventist - Rs. 1,00,000

The Salvation Army, E.India Territory - Rs. 1,00,000

Catholic Diocese of Aizawl, Mizoram - Rs. 1,00,000

The Salvation Church (SAC), Mizoram - Rs.50,000

Assembly of God, Chaltlang - Rs. 50,000

BCM Hmeichhe Pawl HQ, Lunglei - Rs. 50,000

Zomi Baptist Church, Mizoram - Rs. 50,000

Evangelical Church of Maraland - Rs. 50,000

Evangelical Free Church of India - Rs. 20,000

BCM Zotlang Pastor Bial - Rs. 20,000

Apart from that, there are many things the Churches are doing, like the Relief and Development Department of BCM Lunglei went to different families distributing soap and sanitizers, the Salvation Army are also getting involved in other relief work, while other Churches are also distributing masks and rice to the needy.

Church groups like the Champhai North Adventist Youth Federation have been donating blood every day till today at Champhai Blood Bank, in batches of 6 members per day (due to the lockdown restriction).

There are definitely a lot of other contributions to mention, but for now I will stop at this.

It feels so great to see the Church stepping in and getting involved in this. More updates coming up soon, so do keep visiting for more. Once again, I wish you all a blessed Palm Sunday. Good night everyone.

Chp 803. Day 9: Thanks for the shares!

Today is Day 9 of the Total Lockdown in India, and Day 12 of a Lockdown in Mizoram.

I am extremely overwhelmed to see the number of shares my previous post got, not just among our Mizo community but outside the state as well, and words can't express enough to describe how much I appreciate you all for that.

There are more than 80K unique visitors to that particular post as of now, and over 150 comments, which are not the usual BOT generated "looking for hot sexy escorts nearby?" spam comments that I usually get on my blog. :D

I have read each and every single comment, and I love them all. However due to the sheer volume of comments and the outdated blog interface, I simply cannot reply to each and every single comment, so I really hope you forgive me for that. But I truly appreciate all of them, and if there was a "react" button, I would have heart emoji'd every single comment.

I also thank all the news and media persons who had contacted me, and I just want to make it clear that all the posts I have written about the lockdown in Mizoram (along with future posts) are all for public usage. The more people can read about them, the better for us. Feel free to use any of the images or information for your own reproduction.

Having 80K visits in just 2 days certainly puts a lot of pressure on what I'm planning to write next, lolz. Those who visit my blog regularly will know that I just write random stuff like this all the time, but to those who visited my blog for the first time, I really hope I don't disappoint you by telling you that I'll take some more time to research and collect pictures to post something like that again…

But I am definitely planning to write more positive things about Mizoram that you would want to share with your friends in the coming days. I'll just need some more time to do that. Meanwhile, it's back to the usual updates for now.

Here's one confession though. My friends in our "Mizo Bloggers" WhatsAppp group already know about this, but thought I'll just share it with you all - even though I was super excited about getting so many visits on my blog for the past three days, I was actually in paranoid mode!

Yup, since yesterday afternoon, I was extremely anxious, and I couldn't even sleep properly last night. And the reason for that is because of the same high visit count!

Since I want to give people who visit my blog a great experience, I do not use the in-built free image hosting service. Instead, I host all the images of my blog at my own personal AWS server. There are many advantages to that, like faster loading, better optimization, high-resolution option, simpler control panel etc etc., but I won't bore you with all the technical aspects.

The disadvantage is, I get charged for all that bandwidth usage. I usually get around 2K visits for every new blog post I write, so my monthly bandwidth usage comes to around $2 - $5. And that's ok, you know, that's the price I pay for entertaining you all, and I am fine with that. 

Now… (you're starting to see where I'm going? :D ), now, after I had published my previous blog post, people started sharing it and it started going viral. I was initially very excited. It quickly crossed the average 2K visit mark in less than an hour! I was like, whoah. And then soon it reached 10K. Man, I was in seventh heaven.

But then, it reached 20K, 30K, 40K, 50K, and I was starting to panic!!!

The first thought that came into my mind was, "Oh oh… my bandwidth usage!" Because the particular post people were all visiting not only had a lot of images, but they were all high resolution images!

I checked my AWS dashboard immediately, but it freaking takes 24 hours to refresh, and so my current bandwidth usage was still happily sitting at the $3 mark only. Lolz.

Last night, I checked my dashboard again. The bandwidth usage had gone wayyyyyy up, just as I feared! Like a protruding Antila mansion surrounded by the slum areas of Mumbai. This is the latest bandwidth usage chart as of today:

As you can see from the chart above, my monthly usage was being maintained at a steady $2 - $5 for a long time, and then suddenly in just two days, it shot past the $40 mark! And that $40 is just the raw data transfer cost, apart from that there are various service charges, storage charges, GST etc., and my bill for the month of March came to 76 US Dollars!!!!!

Man… I was just… laughing and crying at the same time :D

I was already thinking what all I could have bought instead with that $76, imagine how many "kuhva hring" I can buy during these hard times when it is not available anywhere! Damnnnnn.

And so I spent the whole day today discussing with my techie friends on what to do, and finally, I moved all the images of that post to imgur, a free image hosting site, and re-linked all the html codes again. Now if you visit that particular post again, you will notice that all the images are now taking a much longer time to load, and they will be of lower resolution as well.

I feel bad doing that, but since I'm not earning anything from my blog, I had to do that, otherwise I can no longer afford to blog anymore, lolz. I had already deactivated all advertisements on my blog a long time ago because I blog out of passion and not because of the money.

And so, those are the things that had been going on with me for the past 2 days. For the rest of this month, I'll be hosting all my new blog update images on imgur only, I dare not touch AWS again for the time being, lolz. And from tomorrow onward, I will get back to writing relevant topics again about the ongoing lockdown. So until my next post then everyone, cheers.