CODE BRAHMA: Social Work Students Initiative to Aid the Flood Affected Victims of Assam

Recently, the State of Assam was in the midst of an unprecedented flood havoc that caused wide scale devastation. The Department of Social Work, St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous), Bengaluru in collaboration with SWSA (Social Work Students Association) organised a relief drive for the immediate support of the people affected by this unfortunate disaster. The core team which consisted of SWSA office bearers, volunteered representatives from the five batches, experienced members from previous year’s Kerala relief and faculty coordinators, namely Lt. Akshay D Mandlik, the Head of the Department and Fr. Dr. G Augustine Lourdu OFM, Assistant Professor, was formed. On 25^th July 2019, the drive started with placing drop boxes in the college campus, followed by which social work students approached various institutions and shopping complexes in search of interested donors. A collection centre was opened in SG Palaya which was monitored by the students and other volunteers. The other Social Work classes also joined the efforts. After 20 days of hard work around three tons of relief materials were collected. Since the target was to reach out to a village in Assam these materials were segregated into family kits. With the efforts of the students, 220+ kits were prepared which had food materials, toiletries, housekeeping items and medicines. On 16^thAugust, 2019, the Principal, Rev. Fr. Victor Lobo blessed the students and prayed for the betterment of the people in need. The materials were then transported to Bangalore Cantonment Station and by 10:30 PM, 63 sacks of relief materials each weighing around 45kgs were loaded on to the train and sent to Assam for those in need.