12000 Meals, 15 Days

THE ROTARY CLUB OF BOMBAY PROVIDED COOKED FOOD FOR TWO WEEKS, FROM MAY 7TH TO 21ST, TO AROUND 800 TRIBALS FROM THE NOMADIC TRIBE OF THE VAIDU COMMUNITY IN MALAD AND ANDHERI.

The Vaidu community in Maharashtra traditionally practiced medicine and healing with locally available herbs, plants and fruits. With modern medicine making inroads, their profession has devolved into potions and powders that promise miracles. In Mumbai, about 12,000 members of the Vaidu are settled in 14 ghettos across the city.

Before the lockdown, they earned their livelihood by door-to-door selling of basic household items, cleaning gutters, doing electrical works and working as house-maids. Their monthly income then lockdown was between Rs 4000 to Rs 8000.

Now being jobless and without support, they do not have the resources to manage a single meal per day. So RCB‘s initiative to serve hot meals, at least for 15 days, came to their rescue.

The meals were curated keeping their age and location in mind. And a group of Vaidu women in their own communities got together to cook for 800 people every day.

This empowered the women of the community and brought out their entrepreneurial skills, as they effortlessly cooked in large quantities for 15 days and supplied delicious meals on time. The Anum Foundation, run by and for the Vaidu community, organised the cooking and distribution of the meals.

RCB is grateful for the opportunity to be able to provide hot meals to the Vaidu community and are thankful to Ms Durga Vadilu and her volunteers at Anum Foundation who have worked selflessly towards this cause.