With all residents testing negative for Covid-19, Notun Leikul village situated near Haflong town in Assam's hills district Dima Hasao had nothing much to worry about. But residents of the village were concerned for the economically weaker sections in and around them, who are struglging to meet basic needs during the curfew and the pandemic.
This concern, shared recently on a WhatsApp group of the village, led the youth club form a "Blessing Hut", where anyone can donate essential items and the needy can pick up from there free of cost.
The hut was formally inaugurated on May 25 by pastor of the village, Ropianga Hauhnar. Notun Leikul village, about 11 km from Haflong, has around 90 households belonging to Kuki community.
"Take what you need, leave what you can is the slogan of our initiative. As people cultivating vegetables and fruits can't sell their produce due to the curfew, their crops are rotting in the jhum fields up on the hills. So those willing to help others can just walk in and donate such items and the needy are taking them for consumption. Our purpose is to ensure that none in and around us goes to sleep without food during this difficult time," Pasiem Singson, a member of the village youth club, told DH on Wednesday.
Singson is a healthcare worker and is posted on Covid care duty in Silchar in neighbouring Cachar district.
"The idea emerged from a WhatsApp message of our club secretary, Lalngam Hengna, recently who left some banana on a roadside shed and asked those in need to take. Then I proposed why can't we start such an initiative in a formal way? Everybody liked the idea and some of the residents donated money as well. A daily-wage earner in the village, Liena Singson, came forward and donated the timber required for construction of the hut," Pasiem said. "We are appealing the residents to drop their used items like clothes, shoes or toys and those in need can pick them up even after the pandemic," he said.
The villagers also donated fresh vegetables from their gardens and delivered it to those living in containment zones within Haflong town twice last week.
The village committee also set up a Covid task force, which is strictly enforcing Covid-19 safety protocols to ensure that the villagers remain free from the deadly coronavirus. "A mass Rapid Antigen Test test was conducted last week and no one tested positive," Singson said.