When a simple phone recharge made a difference

Chennai

I knew that the situation was bad as it had rained continuously but I realised the seriousness when I logged on to social media. People had posted photos about their flooded homes, as they were stranded without food. Since I couldn’t get out of the hostel, I decided to recharge phones for people, who were marooned at their homes, so that they could reach out to their loved ones. My friends and I stayed up all night and recharged phones.

The next day, my colleagues started with the relief work by distributing food and basic necessities to various parts of the city and I decided to join them. I got to see two sides of the city. When we were in Pulianthope to distribute relief materials, we were stopped by the locals who wanted to loot everything. On one hand, we had people jumping inside our vehicles, harassing the volunteers and looting the materials and in other areas we had  people who took exactly what they wanted. For instance, they  just took one packet of rice and even guided us to places where more help was needed. I got to know the city so well during this time and I realised we take a lot for granted. The water  has receded and the situation  is better now, but the work  is far from over. I am now working towards helping  displaced families rebuild their lives.