Savitri Devi, the Covid warrior from Gumla

In the recent past, the second wave of the Corona Pandemic created mayhem in the whole country, and the state of Jharkhand was also badly affected. Numerous people were affected. Unlike last year, this time, rural areas were also witnessed a very high number of cases everywhere. Thus, it was important to aware the rural mass regarding the preventive measures of Covid and about the vaccination.

JSLPS (Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society) came forward with a clear-cut strategy to create a massive level of awareness among rural masses to prevent and curb the spread of the virus. To achieve this goal, once again, like last year, JSLPS reached all the Sakhi Mandals in remote rural areas. 23 Lakh of Women Sakhi mandals were given offline and online awareness training to the women members. These women further generated awareness in their own villages. Sakhi Mandals were once again united against the spread of Coronavirus in the rural areas of Jharkhand. These rural women spread awareness regarding the spread of Covid and the ways to prevent the spread. In addition to this, they made all people aware of the importance of vaccination to prevent the disease.

Savitri Devi, a resident of Patsaar village, Jarmundi block of Gumla; is a member of Radharani Aajeevika Mahila Sakhi Mandal. She is one of the thousands of corona warriors of Sakhi Mandals who made a tremendous contribution in spreading awareness about the pandemic. Constant efforts of Savitri increased awareness regarding Covid in her own village. She motivated more than 115 villagers to come forward and get vaccinated. Savitri shared her experiences and stated, “ It is a hard time for everyone but we can overcome this situation only when we are together. I have been working as a Community Coordinator and spreading awareness about government schemes in the villages. It gives me immense pleasure and pride when I am able to do something for society.”

Savitri Devi received training for spreading awareness regarding Covid through JSLPS. It was difficult for her to mobilize villagers in the beginning as there was a lot of myth and misconceptions regarding the pandemic and effect of vaccination. But slowly her efforts yielded results and the people of her village started coming forward for vaccination and started following standard preventive measures. Savitri emphasized on the usage of masks and regular washing of hands. Savitri is one of those 23 lakh women of Sakhi Mandals who were trained and are still constantly trying to spread awareness regarding Coronavirus in villages.

Across the districts, trained women of Sakhi Mandals are spreading awareness regarding Covid and the standard preventive measures to control its spread. These trained women are taking the help of posters etc in specially organized meeting and are even moving from door-to-door so that the awareness reaches to the very last member of the family, in the remotest of villages. In West Singhbhum, members of Sakhi Mandals are moving door-to-door with ANM of the village and still now mobilizing people for vaccination. They are propagating safety measures (such as usage of mask, regular washing of hands) and to stay at home and to step out only when necessary. These women of Sakhi Mandals have declared a war against the pandemic.

Efforts of these women are showing up results in form of the increased number of vaccinated villagers. These women of Sakhi Mandals are acting as Covid Warriors, working in the frontline to spread awareness regarding preventive measures to all the rural families.

Source : Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM)