Matters India Reporter

Darjeeling: A group of ten Non Government Organizations (NGO) in the hills have come together to fight Covid 19 with a 15 week Well Being Campaign. Their slogans include: ‘Bring Back the Smiles’, and ‘We Build Each Other.

“Using the hashtags #Bringbackthesmiles #Webuildeachother, the Well Being Campaign provides information and support in these trying times,” says Adarsh Rai Founder of Encompass and team member of Hayden Hall Darjeeling.

“We plan to do it from top-down directives to modeling everyday safety standards, from negativity to positive action language, from fear and doom to healing, well being, hope and growth,” says Psychologist Susan Subba of Heart-Works.

Art Mile Kalimpong director Virgil Sequeira says, “The multi-platform digital media campaign provides simple life coping strategies that can also impact the community beyond the scope of the pandemic.”

Binita from Hayden Hall adds, “The campaign is set to reach every household in the Hills through social media posts, tele-support, local news and community radio broadcast in Nepali.”

Radio Salesian – The Voice of the Hills, the first and only community radio of the Hills established in 2016 is the radio partner for the campaign.

The radio talk series started on May 22 will have a repeat broadcast on Wednesdays for 15 weeks.

The topics discussed in the media campaign include: education, music and the arts, social media, physical and mental well being, legal rights and urgently combating COVID through safety standards and vaccination.

The speakers, representatives of the organisations, will address issues concerning people from all walks of life.

The campaign includes also volunteers in villages calling up community members to check on them from time to time that will inform customised response to their needs in the form of linkages and content through campaign posts on the organisation’ social media channels.

The organizers solicit other non profit and community based organisations, as well as the media and opinion influencers to join the campaign, engage with social media posts, create their own posts and reach out to the community and start having conversations that build each other and bring back smiles.

Among 10 campaign partners are Hayden Hall Institute Darjeeling, Gandhi Ashram Kalimpong, DLR Prerna Darjeeling, Encompass Kalimpong, Art Mile Kalimpong, Heart-Works, Sumitra Yoga Shala, Vacay Workers, HIGLE, and DGC.