DU STUDENTS EXTEND A WARM GESTURE TO REFUGEES
It wouldn’t have looked nice giving them clothes directly, so we in wrapped them newspapers and labelled them. MUSKAN BEDI,
Ram Student of Daulat College
Change begins with a simple gesture — a nod of encouragement to a colleague, a smile to the doorman or a warm meal to a homeless. And the youth of our country understands this now more than ever. Under Project Helping Hand by Students For Seva, North Campus, a group of 40 youngsters recently embarked on a donation drive to the refugee colony at Majnu Ka Tilla, which houses Hindu refugees and immigrants from Pakistan. Students set up collection centres and went from door to door collecting clothes, which they later distributed in the settlement.
“The streets (of the colony) are not well maintained, I could see lack of privacy in houses due to unavailability of doors. Moreover, women and children had no warm clothes. We also distributed masks and food packets during the peak of the pandemic,” shares Priya Sharma, an alumna of Delhi University.
The group, which was formed two years ago with just five members, now comprises students from Satyawati College, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College, Ramjas College, Hindu College and Daulat Ram College (DRC).
Muskan Bedi, a second-year student from DRC, says social media has enabled accessibility and reach. “I saw snaps and messages my seniors and others in the group posted, that motivated me to volunteer for this project. I also received messages from other friends who got inspired by this drive; so it’s a cycle of change that gets created.” She further spread the word in her neighbourhood, which then came forward to help.
As part of this drive, the volunteers used old newspapers to wrap clothes. “It wouldn’t have looked nice giving them the clothes directly, so we wrapped them in newspapers and labelled them according to the items,” explains Bedi.
The inhabitants of the refugee colonies spoke a language different from these students, yet with their gestures and smiles, connected. “They were happy to see us and through their body language, conveyed what they felt. These gestures warmed our hearts,” says Bedi.
Sharma adds that in the near future, the group plans on distributing sanitary napkins in the basti.