Public authorities working to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus often remark upon its invisibility. As a policewoman in Ahmedabad...
Public authorities working to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus often remark upon its invisibility. As a policewoman in Ahmedabad said: “This time the enemy is all around us and cannot be seen”. But also invisible during this crisis are many who work quietly to help others. These are public spirited individuals who make societies resilient and sustainable. They defy any kind of label. They are sometimes called social workers or community workers, terms that have come to be viewed with derision in recent years.
Many of them work independently, while some are part of civil society organisations, also called non-governmental organisations or NGOs, which have also faced suspicion from society and harassment from governments. During the coronavirus crisis, these community workers did not wait for projects to materialise, plans to be drawn, funders to come on board, before deciding where to work and how.
Instead, they saw the need around them, knew they had to respond, and found a way to do so. As the lockdown was announced, while most of us scampered to ensure that we were stocked up on groceries, these public spirited individuals hurried to reach out to the people who they knew were very extremely vulnerable: the...
