CHENNAI: The boredom of sedentary life in the pandemic led Sai Sudha Chandrasekaran, co-founder of volunteer group COVIDuthalai, to the coastal hamlet of Kovalam in November 2020 for a surfing endeavour. A regular, amateur student at Ocean Delight Surf School, she slowly became well-acquainted with the owners. Unfortunately, the practice came to a halt when the recent lockdown was exercised.
It was only months later, after the conception of COVIDuthalai and several relief projects, that she learned the need for her services in the village. “I noticed that three-four of my acquaintances from Kovalam would check COVIDuthalai’s Instagram stories. I reached out to them regarding continuing surfing. They asked me to bring my friends when the situation eases since they have been struggling during lockdown; the entire village has been. I realised I could do more to help with COVIDuthalai.
After discussing with my team, we decided to distribute rice bags to affected families,” explains Sai Sudha. Home to a little over 8,000 denizens (Census 2011-2021), Kovalam fishing village is one of the top surfing spots in India. Lack of education and under-representation has kept the fishing community in the shadows. Sai Sudha, herself, did not know about the village until last year. “Despite being home to several medal-winning surfers, there is hardly any coverage of the place. People cannot empathise or help those they do not know exist,” she adds.
While the younger generations have tried to branch off into other lines of work, fishing remains the community’s primary occupation. Beaches and fishing practices being restricted during lockdown has cost the village their daily income. “The fishermen catch fish and the women of the house sell it in markets. That’s a daily affair. They do not have deep freezers or cold storages to withstand the duration of the restrictions. Furthermore, customers at markets had become scarce.
Their entire work cycle is at a standstill,” she says. COVIDuthalai will be providing 2,000 kg of rice in bags weighing 7-10 kg to cater to 250-300 families of the community this Saturday. They will be distributed from the two ends of the village to avoid overlapping resources. “There is panic in the village. Of 2,800-3,000 families, at least 30-40 per cent still belong to traditional fishing livelihood.
They have been deeply impacted. I am working with twothree people to make sure it is distributed to any daily wage workers who are struggling to make ends meet ,” she elaborates. The vo lunt e e r group of 100 members has been actively working towards diverse projects for COVID relief.
Recently, they procured and provided more than 2,600 kg of rice to the Narikuravar community of Chennai. In an upcoming effort, they are raising funds to donate medical equipment ICU beds, ventilators, bi-ventilators, syringe pumps, HFAC, CR machine, flowmeters, oxygen concentrators, CPAP, BiPAP to the Collectorate of Thiruvananthapuram under the banner Unite For Kerala.
To donate to the Unite For Kerala campaign, visit https://www.ketto.org/ fundraiser/unite-for-kerala. To offer volunteering services, contact @COVIDuthalai on Instagram or Twitter.