COVID Response

Sports With A Mission conducted Awareness Programs in various communities to spread awareness about COVID-19. The 1ST COVID Awareness program for the children of The Hope Home. We had 15 children age groups from 3.5 yrs to 19yrs. Our theme was UNSDG#3, Good a health and Well-Being. The session was a fun filled one with a good learning experience for the children. At the end of the session during our discussion the students shared with us their experience, feelings and learning from the games. 

A few of their learning’s are below:

1. Most of the children said that they learnt about how they can be aware of the people around them and how important social distancing is in the present situation.

2. The children learnt about the symptoms of COVID 19 and the importance of Soap, it’s benefits and washing hands. They also learnt about the importance of wearing a mask to protect others and not just themselves.

3. The students learnt a abut the various myths and facts about the virus and that we still do not have a vaccine for the virus. They learnt the importance of staying at home, that it is not a punishment but a way of slowing the spread of the virus.

4. The highlight of the discussion was when a 16 year old said it is important to listen to the instructions fully before acting. She was able to learn this from a mistake made during the games when she did not wait for the complete instruction to be given and acted in haste. 

5. Many of the children were under the impression that the virus was engineered by scientists in a lab, they all learnt today that we cannot label any one without accurate data or evidence.

We conducted our 2nd COVID awareness session for the children of the Mission home. We also sponsored some items like noodles, biscuits, soap, sanitisers and masks that would be helpful for the children. The children had a wonderful experience of learning through play, their first experience of this kind. The main takeaway for them was that they need to responsible for their own safety and take care of themselves first only then they can make a difference. I was surprised to see that most of the youth were not aware of myths and facts they were under the impression that all the myths that I spoke about were facts, but after the session they had a lot of clarity. We will be doing refreshers of the games every session that we will be conducting for their fitness routine.

We conducted the 3rdCOVID Awareness Program for girls of ages 16 and above, of a Faith Formation Home in Bangalore, India. We had 20 participants from different parts of India namely Orissa, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. We were faced with the challenge of space in the home as there was no ground available due to rains, so we conducted the session in the lecture hall. We carried with us Sanitizers and distributed note pads and pens for them to make note of their learning, we also purchased a thermometer gun to check the temperature of the participants before starting the session. When the participants heard about a Awareness Program they were under the impression that it would be a boring classroom lecture, but to their surprise it was a session filled with games, fun and learning. After the session we asked for their experience and learning from the session and how they would reach out to others in the community.

We conducted the 4th COVID Awareness session in Austin Town, Bangalore for 15 girls and 3 boys of ages 8 to 18. We had the privilege of using a nearby playground for the session. We carried water and soap for the participants to wash hands after every game to encourage hand hygiene. We did the temperature check before beginning the session, sanitised their hands and distributed notepads and pens, this we are doing for all our sessions because we want to inculcate in them the habit of writing down their learning for the day or anything that might have struck them as important for them to reflect upon later. All the participants made good use of the material given and were taking down a lot of notes during the intervals between games. Most of the participants did not know the seriousness of the disease, how it spreads, the importance of good habits like using masks, not shaking hands, not touching the face. At the end of the session we distributed handouts on the myths and facts about the COVID-19, sanitizer bottles, and encouraged them to use pocket money for a more constructive purpose to protect themselves from various viruses, and juice for refreshment. We were surprised at the end of the session when one of the participants stood up and read out a note of thanks to us from what she had written.

We conducted our 5th COVID Awareness Program which we are running as a 3 day program in the Morning Start Ashram. The reason why we have spanned the program over 3 days is because the participants are slow learners who have never been exposed to this kind of learning. The group is a mixed one with children who are normal and those with special needs. We began the program yesterday and will conclude on Saturday. At the start of the program the participants were not aware of the concept of social distancing, use of soap and water and general awareness of the disease was not there. Now as we are coming to the end of the program they are talking about things like dab, social distancing, sanitisers, exercise, etc. We observed earlier on several occasions that the children who feed, food and medicines, the ones who are unable to eat on their own were not washing their hands before doing so and when asked about it during the program they replied saying, they wash in the morning so they do not wash before feeding. We are trying to spread awareness among them so that they can understand the importance and necessity of hand hygiene. We are providing refreshments at the end of all the sessions and we are distributing sanitisers for them to keep and use, this is to encourage them to take responsibility for themselves. At the end of our program the participants are now able to talk about healthy choices and ways to protect themselves and their community from illnesses. We distributed sanitisers to all the participants to encourage them to inculcate hand hygiene. We provided refreshments like biscuits, juices and fruit chewies.