Meet Faiza, a woman who chose to stand with her elderly neighbors during Covid-19 pandemic

Pandemic has taught us stories of Despair and Hope. Some were victims of the Pandemic, some fought bravely and some stood by people in distress to help them out of their trauma, helplessness and situations.

Here is the story of Faiza Pawar, who stood by the needy to help them with beds, food, medicines, coordinating with hospitals, ambulances, oxygen concentrators, and all the requirements people had during the pandemic. She also tied up with NGOs that supported in meeting the requirements of the needy.

Elderly people were the most susceptive to the pandemic. Similarly, people with low immunity, and having multiple health issues like Diabetes, BP, and chronic disease were easy targets.

The protocols that were mandated to be followed for those affected and their families affected the most. More than the disease, the emotional despair took a toll on people.

But what helped Mrs. Faiza understand what is important is an incident that took place with her neighbors. During the pandemic, her neighbors, elderly people, refused to open the door to the cleaning staff who came to take away the trash.

The Manager of the society told the staff that the residents in that house were scared of contracting the virus and hence didn’t want to open the door. The same routine took place for 3 days. The fourth day however the residents in the house didn’t pick the call or answer the doorbell. The society members were quick to act and their presence of mind was what helped them save the elderly. When they did not get any response upon ringing the doorbell, it scared them and they had to forcefully open the door.

This is when they found that the couple was elderly and both were unconscious as the man had hurt his head after he had slipped in the bathroom and the lady due to asthma was having difficulty breathing. They were immediately hospitalized and the doctor said they were lucky to have been discovered so early, else death was certain.

When the couple asked who saved them everyone said the ‘saafsafai’ staff. What if the elderly couple was affected by Covid? Would the people in the neighborhood have taken the risk of contacting the elderly people to admit them to the hospital. These covid warriors in form of the so-called ‘Saafsafai staff’ had braved the situation by breaking open the door and barging into their homes to save their lives.

Faiza, who had been addressing the cleaning staff of her community realized that this act of selflessness, risking their lives for others and acting at the need of the hour to save lives made people to look at them with the utmost respect. They were the real saviors of the elderly whose children were helpless and away from them at that hour of emergency.  People who were ordinary cleaning staff were Covid Warriors and life savers.  Covid had taught new lessons of humanity, behaviors of people towards people irrespective of their caste, creed, age, occupation etc.  Life indeed is beautiful. So are people’s minds