[17 April 2020] The Coop: The Giant Guide to Help Your Family Survive Quarantine

Last week we sent out a call for donations

& you truly opened your hearts to give.

We are over 80% of what we asked for and we could not have done it without your love, generosity and compassion. We are already reaching out to the families and ensuring that they are accessing provisions & feeling secure and well. A detailed and formal report will follow in the next edition.

But again, thank you very much. And with a reminder that we are still accepting donations, we welcome you to the 3rd edition of The Coop.

As more homes go into containment and with the lockdown stretching deeper into time, we hope that you and your loved ones are well & happy & on occasion still manage to get all the way to a full bloom cheery.

That’s pretty much what this edition is all about. We have put together a comprehensive parenting guide that intends to help families get along, be together, be safe, be happy and survive the lockdown & quarantine.

Follow that up with the full & formal report of the rapid assessment that we conducted with the families we were working with on the ground on how they are coping.

Then there are good intentions & wise words from the world of philanthropy. And finally, we ask you – Do you webinar? Great. We got you covered.

Surviving Quarantine

The Great Big Parental Guide To Surviving Quaratine

How do you ensure that a household under quarantine doesn’t buckle under stress and descend into the kind of toxicity that triggers violence & abuse? Here’s The Ten Clicks Program we came up with, with a little help from parents, experts & friends.

1. Click here & Start by ensuring that Domestic Responsibility in the Household is Equally Distributed among both Parents

2. It helps if everyone in the house including the children have a Clear & Practical Understanding of the pandemic & the way it has affected our lives.

3. Make sure none of this information has been influenced by Fake News.

4. Figure out that elusive balance between Routine & Flexibility when it comes to engaging children.

5. Disciplining children during this time is going to be tough but there’s an entire range of Gentle Approaches to choose from.

6. Despite your best efforts, children will experience Boredom, Anxiety & Restlessness. Here’s what you will have to do then.

7. You are going to need your space & the children are going to need theirs. Set up the Boundary & Privacy Rules.

8. Is your child a bhakt or a liberal? If you are not the same, there’s a war brewing in the living room. The Differences will have to be reckoned with.

9. Everybody is online all the time which means you need to be more watchful of Risks Online. You can ensure that you & the children are safe & secure.

10. And in case you face an emergency, make sure you have the Great Big List of Helplines handy. It covers helplines related to the pandemic, government schemes, children, women, suicide and mental health.

Congratulations, you have survived the quarantine.

Ground Report

Full Report: How Families Victims of Sexual Abuse are Coping with The Lockdown

We spoke with 127 of the over 250 families that we are connected with as part of our work with Child Protection Systems in Mumbai. The families reported alarming scenarios of economic distress and lack of access to basic sustenance and any form of welfare or aid.

Philanthropy

A Call To Action: Philanthropy’s Commitment During Covid-19

About a month ago, one of our funders signed onto this commitment which implores foundations to take urgent & necessary action to enable civil society to respond to the pandemic. We can vouch for the stability it provided us during these times and it makes for an interesting read.

Lessons From Those Who Have Been Here Before

We have been receiving a fair share of crisis advice but this piece has stuck around in our minds.

Webinar

A Crisis of Care: A Webinar Series

A 5 part webinar series by the redoubtable Zubaan Books that brings together feminist perspectives on the pandemic & lockdown. You’ve missed the first one one already but do register for the remaining four.

A reminder again that our donation page to help families of child victims of sexual abuse survive in lockdown is still accepting funds. We appeal to you to donate or just share it with someone who may be interested in donating.

The Great Big Parental Guide to Surviving Quarantine was put together by Aditi, Teemol, Sudipta, Uma & Sid.

The Rapid Assessment Survey & Report was Put Together by Aarti, Mallika, Priyanka, Minal, Arjun, Aditi, Shefali, Sawleha, Teemol & Uma.

That’s it for this Week. See You In the Next!