In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, the Barzilai Foundation has done much to support the community, including prosthetic limb camps, vision screening for students and vocational training for women. When flooding devastated Vijayawada, a city in Andhra Pradesh, it not only threatened the futures our foundation has been uplifting, but also put many families at risk of survival.
Exceptionally heavy rains over a short period overwhelmed the Krishna River causing massive water flow back into the city, resulting in more than 35 deaths. Immediately following the storm, over a quarter of a million people were affected; since the flood, the ripple effects have impacted over six million people.
To support some of the most vulnerable families in Vijayawada, the Barzilai Foundation launched a grant fund for flood victims. These grants complement the basics being provided by emergency aid organisations; with our funding, impacted families have the chance to rebuild rather than simply survive.
“Natural disasters cost their victims not just the present, but the future, too,” said Brandon Sosa, CEO of the Barzilai Foundation. “In an instant, parents find themselves struggling to provide safe, stable homes. For children, it’s even more stark. They lose access to education overnight. Their whole world shifts from future potential to how they can survive the present.”
The grants are designed to support families who were most vulnerable to the flood. Recipients are low-income families in heavily-impacted areas who have school going children or family members with long term illness. These families saw everything they owned damaged or destroyed by the flooding, and now need to replace essentials such as beds, stoves, schoolbooks, medicines. The Barzilai Foundation had the opportunity to meet with each recipient and see the flood’s impact firsthand.
“These grants will give the families enough to restart their lives,” commented Kesava Majji, Program Advisor for the Barzilai Foundation. “Meeting each family member and discussing their needs, I saw the hope in their eyes when they learned we would able to provide them a grant: children eager to get back to their studies and friends, mothers who are thankful to be able to cook meals and provide a clean, dry home for their children.”
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