Delhi Winter Campaign for the Homeless

Every winter, homeless children, women and men battle for their lives in the bitter night cold, and many die lonely deaths each year.

For many years, caring young staff and volunteers of Aman Biradari and Koshish have attempted to reach out support for dignified survival to homeless people, for whom Delhi’s fierce winter threatens those with no roof over their heads every year. Each year, we learn from the last, and try to improve our out-reach interventions for egalitarian caring.

Planned interventions this winter

1. Aman Homeless Winter Shelters:

Day-Night Shelters, Community Kitchens and Health Centers

1. We observed in past years that a big limitation of the program to distribute blankets is that homeless people have no place where they can store this the next morning, and the blanket at best serves them a single night. We experimented last winter with 2 fixed distribution points, where staff and volunteers will distribute blankets and mats free every night, and collect these again the next morning, and store it at a room nearby. We propose to augment our services by establishing day-night shelters itself in homeless concentration locations of Hazrat Nizamuddin and Jama Masjid and Yamuna Pushta.

2. Homeless people die in winter not just because they are homeless, but also often because they are poorly nourished. Research has established that people exposed to extreme cold need more calories simply to maintain their body temperature. Therefore we resolved this year to serve a hot cooked meal in the night at each of these fixed sites. Here a hot nutritious meal would go a long way in ensuring body warmth, and this coupled with blankets could effectively combat the winter deaths. Hence we propose that at the fixed distribution sites, we will also distribute a free hot cooked meal each night to the homeless from the blanket distribution site itself.

3. At these locations we will also store medicines and provide basic first aid if so required.

In summary, for the high-density homeless concentration areas of Hazrat Nizamuddin, Jama Masjid and Yamuna Pushta, we will establish 3 Aman Winter Homeless Shelters, in which staff and volunteers will provide the following services:

Ø Dignified place to sleep with blankets and mattresses provided every night

Ø Hot cooked nutritious meals

Ø Primary Health and Referral Services

2. Mobile Blanket Distribution and Health Rescue Services:

There are some scattered single homeless persons, who are the most vulnerable (including those who are mentally ill). They cannot be reached by the fixed blanket distribution points. For them, we will propose 2 mobile units. In these equipped vehicles, teams of 3 or 4 volunteers plus one staff member will travel around the city through each night, and distribute sheet and warm cover to all in need. Dr Amod Kumar and others have found that the best alternative is bubble plastic sheets, both for base and cover. These are very warm because they keep out the damp and cold, and are cheap and light. It is especially valuable as homeless people can carry these around easily during the daytime. The mobile units will also provide basic first aid if so required and also carry out rescue operations which includes taking the needy to hospitals and homeless shelters as the situation demands.

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