Coronavirus: Volunteers step in to help out families in Muttrah during isolation

Oman Sunday 05/April/2020 17:24 PM
By: Times News Service
Coronavirus: Volunteers step in to help out families in Muttrah during isolation

Muscat: With Muttrah currently under isolation, voluntary associations and teams of kind-hearted people are helping those in the wilayat that require assistance.
The support offered includes supplying food consisting of 15 key consumer goods, and were provided by volunteers from Al Rahma Association in cooperation with teams from charity groups in Muttrah. With the help of support from the security forces who’ve been deployed to ensure the isolation is in effect, these volunteers went from door to door to ensure those people who really needed supplies were able to get them.
Sana Abdulrahman Al Khanjari, deputy chairperson of Al Rahma Association said, “These efforts come amidst exceptional conditions and represent a national duty which requires us to stand together to support Wilayat Muttrah. This is the third initiative we’ve launched and targets all areas of the Wilayat of Muttrah affected by the ongoing isolation measures.”
To make sure that those who were in need of these supplies would receive them on time, a team had been formed, comprising of members of the association who are experienced in working under such exceptional conditions.
“Coordination has been made with the departments concerned and the security organisations for the permits necessary for entering Muttrah, and so that we can take the required precautionary measures to ensure our safety. The first stage of our plan consisted of buying and distributing 500 food parcels as well as other supplies purchased from the accounts of the association and donations raised through social media initiatives
So far our support has reached over 300 families in a relatively short time with only 22 volunteers and we intend to double our efforts to cover the entire Wilayat of Muttrah. Two of our previous initiatives have covered those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including taxi and school bus drivers, as well as those with bank loans in other sectors of employment. We aim to help a total of 2,035 families, a part of whom we have succeeded in aiding, and efforts are underway to assist the rest.
As part of the current initiative, Al Rahma Association will also distribute laptops donated by companies to students from families that fall under the social security umbrella, as well as families with limited incomes.
Mustafa Ghulam Al Lawati, a member of the Association and one of the volunteers in the Wilayat of Muttrah said, "we believe that work under exceptional conditions differs from our work across other initiatives due to the precautionary measures, thanks to the efforts of the security departments, the office of the Wali of Muttrah and the Ministry of Social Development for facilitating our task to reach the targeted families".

--