Helping her hometown half a world away

In May, Sambhali U.S. sent out a fundraising appeal of significant urgency. India had become overwhelmed by its Covid second wave, and Sambhali Trust was desperately working to provide food, masks, and other necessities for those in great need including current and former Sambhali Trust participants. The Trust was also working to ensure that the people they reached were safe from abuse and registered to receive the Covid vaccine, and it was supplying medical facilities with critically needed items.

But there was a searing and heartbreaking personal touch to this message. “COVID-19 is impacting my home country of India in unimaginable ways,” began the email. “People are dying in record numbers. Many have no work and no food for their families. Others are trapped in their homes with their abusers.”

These words were written by Sambhali U.S. volunteer Ruchi Khanna. The Rajasthani native was hearing from friends and family back home that there were “long queues outside the hospital, thousands of body bags coming out of the hospital every day, and not enough space on cremation grounds. The situation was really bad.”

To add to her distress, shortly before the email was sent, Ruchi’s own parents, who live in Jodhpur where Sambhali Trust is located, contracted Covid. “My mom is doing a lot better, but my dad had a very long hospitalization of almost two months. And then shortly after coming home from the hospital, he was re-admitted with a severe lung infection.” (We are happy to report that he is home now.)

Ruchi is a member of the Sambhali U.S. Development Committee, which advises and executes the organization’s fundraising efforts. She was introduced to the organization by Elly Brtva, Sambhali U.S. Vice President. Elly was Ruchi’s mentor when Ruchi interned at the Pan American Health Organization. “Ruchi was an outstanding intern. When she heard about Sambhali U.S. and my involvement, being the talented leader she is, she asked how she could help,” stated Elly.

Ruchi remembers her internship well. “I was in Washington D.C on a full scholarship. I was fortunate to be part of the program which had 15 participants from different parts of the world. I was the first female from India to be selected for this scholarship and I represented my country proudly.”

She is still doing India proud by working to improve the lives of women and girls in her home state of Rajasthan. Continues Elly, “Her perspective brings our fundraising efforts to a higher level and her passion shows through in everything she does.”  

As of this writing, the situation is improving in India. “More people are getting vaccinated and reported cases of Covid are going down. There is no more scarcity of essentials like oxygen and ICU beds,” said Ruchi. But she remains concerned about a potential third wave to hit India in the fall. “In my opinion, people of India should not have their guard down yet. The new Delta variant is very dangerous.”

Sadly, this is a something we are learning more about every day here in the United States. We don’t know what the future of the pandemic will bring, but we do know how much volunteers like Ruchi can do to help across the many miles.