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Hill NGOs fight Covid with joint well being campaign

A group of Non Government Organizations (NGO) in the hills have come together to fight Covid 19 with joint well being campaign with slogans: ‘Bring Back the Smiles’, and ‘We Build Each Other.

 

“Using the hashtags #Bringbackthesmiles #Webuildeachother, the Well Being Campaign is all set to change the information game in these trying times,” says Adarsh Rai Founder of Encompass and team member of Hayden Hall Darjeeling. 

 

“We plan to do it from top-down directives to modelling everyday safety standards, from negativity to positive action language, from fear and doom to healing, well being, hope and growth,” says Psychologist Susan Subba of Heart works. 

 

Art Mile Kalimpong director Virgil Sequeira says, “The multi-platform digital media campaign seeks to provide simple life coping strategies that can also impact the community beyond the scope of the pandemic.”

 

Binita from Hayden Hall says, “The campaign is set to reach every household in the Hills through social media posts, tele-support, local news and community radio broadcast in Nepali.”

 

Radio Salesian – The Voice of the Hills, the first and only community radio of the Hills is the radio partner for this campaign.

 

The radio series starting on 22 May will be broadcast on Radio Salesian 90.8FM on Saturdays from 2 pm to 3pmwith a repeat broadcast on Wednesdays from 6 to 7pm.

 

The topics discussed in the media campaign include:  education, music and the arts, social media, physical and mental well being, legal rights and urgently combating COVID through safety standards and vaccination.

 

The speakers, representatives of the organisations, will address issues concerning people from all walks of life.

 

The campaign includes also volunteers in villages calling up community members to check on them from time to time that will inform customised response to their needs in the form of linkages and content through campaign posts on the organisation’ social media channels.

 

The organizers solicit non profit and community based organisations, the media and opinion influencers to join the campaign, engage with social media posts, create their own posts and reach out to the community and start having conversations that build each other and bring back smiles.

 

Among 10 campaign partners are Hayden Hall Institute Darjeeling, Gandhi Ashram School Kalimpong, DLR Prerna Darjeeling, Encompass Kalimpong, Art Mile Kalimpong, Heart-works, Sumitra Yoga Shala, Vacay Workers, Himalayan Institute of Goodwill and Living Ethics Kalimpong and Darjeeling Goodwill Centre

 

Author info

CM Paul's picture

Former HoD, Dept of Mass Communications at Assam Don Bosco University, Guwahati, C.M. Paul was editor of The Herald weekly in Kolkata and director of Don Bosco International News Agency (ANS) based in Rome. He did MA in Journalism & Mass Communication from FORDHAM University, New York.

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