This Foundation Has Joined Hands With Muslim Clerics To Fight Corona In Mumbai’s Dharavi

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In a bid to save one of the most vulnerable communities living in Asia’s largest slum, Dharavi, Bhamla Foundation, an almost entirely volunteer-driven organization, has joined hands with about 180 Muslim clerics (maulvis) to contain the spread of the pandemic in the area.

Comprising of more than 10,000 patrons, spread across several cities in India, the foundation has been largely working for children affected by cerebral palsy, autism, and spasticity. They had also launched a campaign to save the environment back in the month of June.

Ever since the pandemic began, the foundation started its collective battle against the global virus. In Dharavi itself, Bhamla foundation has stationed about 200 volunteers. They took up the challenge to clean and sanitize the community toilets used by hundreds of people each day. About 25 doctors on call helped to take control of the situation out there.

The foundation has also aided the families living in Dharavi by distributing 75,000 food packets over the last 6 months. Moreover, their volunteers have been also working towards spreading awareness for social distancing, hygiene, and wearing masks.

In order to make the campaign even more effective, Bhamla Foundation took the help of around 180 Maulvis and maulanas in Mumbai’s Dharavi who made door-to-door visits to spread awareness and give a reminder to stay inside after the call for prayers every day.

According to Mr.Bhamla, the situation was chaotic and people in Dharavi were not ready to wear masks. There were a lot of misconceptions regarding the guidelines among the people. That’s when the foundation got the idea of involving the clerics to direct the public.

“We realized that if we explain things from a religious perspective, people would reckon that they should take precautions to fight the virus, and not jeopardize their own lives, their families’ lives as well as the lives of the members of their community, since it is against their religion,” said Mr. Bhamla.

Shedding some more light on their process, a volunteer of the NGO, Sohail Khan explained, “Our first task was to reach out to the maulanas and maulvis and get them onboard. Since the mosques were closed, we spoke to only three of them. But, once they were convinced, they brought more religious preachers from the area. Slowly, the group began to grow.”

The maulanas have been trying to persuade the people in many ways. They have been carrying photographs of the deceased during their visits so that people can see for themselves the havoc COVID-19 has wreaked on so many families. They also quote how this grave crisis has shut down the holiest of all places like Mecca and Medina.

Farooquie Sheikh, who heads the Jama Masjid, the biggest mosque of the area explained, “Since the early days of lockdown during every namaz we have been explaining to people how important it is to take proper precautions against COVID-19. We are asking families to keep the kids at home. We keep a track of police guidelines, market timings, and we repeat those announcements so that people are well aware of them, and there isn’t any confusion.”

Bhamla Foundation’s work has been highly praised by residents, officials, and celebrities of Mumbai. In the foundation’s video, Assistant Municipal Commissioner Kiran Dighavkar is seen reiterating the same. The foundation was officially felicitated by Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for their extensive work to contain COVID19.

Many Bollywood celebrities tweeted in support of the Bhamla Foundation.

What can’t be achieved if all of us come together to fight the virus that has been threatening us for several months now. Kudos to NGOs like Bhamla Foundation who are channeling the public in the right direction, saving millions of lives.

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