Brooke India’s Women Equine Welfare Groups fight COVID19 by stitching homemade face masks

Ghaziabad: Amidst the COVID19 pandemic, the sudden huge demand for facemasks led to a spike in their prices. The general demand was of surgical masks and N95 respirators, but gradually due to Government’s intervention, cloth facemasks were popularised for use by the general population. According to a report published in Pub Med, a journal published by National Center for Biotechnology Information, US National Library of Medicines, “Wearing a homemade mask could block 95.14% of the virus from transmitting”.
Post the advisory by the Government on the usage of cloth facemasks, procuring facemasks was a daunting task for the poor equine owning communities across Brooke India’s (BI) operational areas, especially due to its shortage. BI was quick to respond to the situation and got in touch with our widespread network of NGO partners and associated Community Based Organisations (CBOs) comprising of Equine Welfare Groups (EWGs), Associations and Federations in 10 states of India to find a tangible solution. The use of homemade face masks emerged as one of the best low-cost solutions advocated to deal with the COVID19 crisis. BI’s task was made easier as the Government of India, had issued a manual on homemade masks on March 30, 2020. This information was readily passed to our CBOs through BI Field Assistants and the NGO partners.BI then connected with our Women EWGs through video calls and trained them on basic nuances of cloth facemask making. The cloth for the facemask was to be locally procured, sanitised after production and then sold.
19 Women Equine Welfare Groups (WEWGs) took up production of cotton facemasks to help the poor needy communities in our operational areas, especially brick kilns. This initiative was further given a positive thrust by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, through its advisory of April 4, 2020 where it directed the State Rural Livelihoods Mission (SRLMs) to involve Self Help Groups (SHGs) for making facemasks.
Four Women Equine Welfare Groups (WEWGs) in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, have so far sold 380 masks to the local medical stores and distributed 60 masks, free of cost among the equine owning community in Rahta and Sriram villages. Chhaya Jadhav, President, Morya Mahila Saving Group, Kolhar, Ahmednagar district, who is leading the initiative, is thankful to the BI team for timely guidance and support. She is confident that her group will continue their fight against COVID infection.
Similarly, 20 women members from Kali Mata, Devamayi & Shanti EWGs in Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh have produced 1000 single and three-layer cotton facemasks and distributed them free of cost to brick kiln workers, equine owners in their vicinity. In Banda district, Shankar EWG comprising of 42 women members has produced 950 double and triple layer cotton masks for self-consumption and free distribution.
Few EWGs have also taken up mask making as an alternative income-generating activity. In Ghazipur (UP), Saheli EWG initially produced 50 masks for their own families and then sold 200 masks in the nearby market. While Roshani EWG from Fatehpur district (UP) has sold 197 masks and earned Rs 5910. Additionally, one of the WEWGs in Farrukhabad (UP) has obtained a Government order to stitch cotton facemasks.
In the time of the COVID19 crisis, WEWGs members have emerged as Corona warriors. They have not only helped to in providing affordable facemasks to a large population but have also leveraged this opportunity to earn additional income during the lockdown period. These cotton masks are washable and reusable. BI teams with its partner NGOs continue to work towards encouraging more and more EWGs in mask making exercise and assisting them in marketing and distributing them./ (Sharat K Verma/Ludhiana)