Israel Consul General, Kobbi Shoshani visits Gabriel Project programs in tribal communities in India

Preferring to sit on the floor with the rest of the Gabriel Project Mumbai staff in the tribal area of Mokhada, Israel Consul General Kobbi Shoshani expressed his love for India, the culture, and his admiration for the impact Gabriel Project is making in the area.

“What amazing life-saving work you do”, said Mr Shoshani addressing the Gabriel Project team that cooks and delivers daily nutritious food to a hundred infants diagnosed with acute malnutrition.

At the Mokhada Rural Hospital, the only major hospital in the area serving a population of 180,000,Mr. Shoshani toured the site of the oxygen plant set-up by Gabriel Project and Israeli organization, IsraAID, to supply oxygen to the 30-bed ward where patients receive piped oxygen at their bedside. At the Nutritional Rehabilitation Center (NRC) Dr Mahesh Pail, Medical Superintendent of the Mokhada

Rural Hospital explained medical and nutritional challenges faced by many tribal families and praised GPM’s nutrition and health outreach programs at the NRC and in the surrounding villages.

“It is so inspiring to see Gabriel Project working so closely with the government health bodies”, said Mr Shoshani while at the only major hospital for 180,000 people. “This is a perfect example of how NGO’s can work with government for the sake of the people they serve.”

Next stop was to the center of the Mokhada market place, where the entourage entered GPMs office for processing grants and registering for essential government social services. Mr Shoshani handed out grant certificates to several residents and learned about the ambitious expansion of these services to all 59 villages of Mokhada; a GPM-IsraAID initiative.

Mr Shoshani visited GPMs village industry center where different women’s livelihood collectives produce various goods for sale. At the GPM showroom the Consul General purchased several items in support of the collectives.

At the Hirve Government Residential School, Mr Shoshani inaugurated GPM’s innovative STEM (Science, Technology Engineering and Math) program for all 2100 7^th -12^th graders in the district government high-schools.

“The visit of the Consul General of Israel encourages and inspires our staff to do even more for the tribal people of Mokhada,” said GPM Senior Manager of Programs Thaiza Dias. “When dignitaries from far away come to visit our programs and communities, it boosts the morale of our local team members and validates our work. For the communities we serve, the Consul Generals’ visit helps widen their horizons and sends the message that development is not beyond their reach.”

GPM Rural Emergency Response Program Saves Lives!

Residents of the rural villages of Mokhada that GPM serves are currently facing drastic life or death emergency situations as a result of extreme weather. Seasons of long drought are now being followed by intense monsoons that have ushered in harsh flooding, destruction of property, animal attacks, health care shortfalls, and relentless food insecurity.

Severe flooding is ravaging the community. This has had many devastating impacts over the past few weeks:

• A pregnant woman with complications could not reach a hospital to give birth because her village was cut off from the main road due to surging flooding.
• A child playing in a field was bitten by a poisonous snake and only had a few hours to get to the hospital to receive the antivenom to save his life.
• The entire Botoshi village of 560 individuals experienced food scarcity of essential food items

The community of Mokhada desperately needs tools at their disposal to deal with ongoing emergencies and save lives. Mokhada, a tribal district that has hundreds of village hamlets located in remote jungles or mountainsides in almost isolated conditions. The absence of roads and bridges and other transportation services due to monsoon flooding results in life-threatening situations. This leads to severe anxiety, hardships, stress and extreme danger for the villagers.

In response to this urgent life-threatening situation, GPM has launched the Rural Emergency Response Program aimed at providing crucial life-saving equipment and resources.

The Rural Emergency Response Program, designed in collaboration with members of the community and the support of local government, includes:

• Ambulances. Emergency all-terrain medical vehicles to transport people to hospitals. The
  community currently has none.
• Local emergency medical training. Training local volunteers in emergency logistic response and medical first aid
• Emergency medical supplies. Mobilization of basic health devices, safety equipment and medical supplies including essential medicines.
• 
  
  Urgent food rations. Deployment, transportation and delivery of emergency food rations in cases of natural disasters (severe draught, climate-related crops damage)
• Home damage repair. Fixing homes damaged in natural disasters (ie flooding, monsoon rains, cyclones etc)
• Emergency helpline. The creation of emergency 24/7 helpline services for urgent transportation for treatment at nearest health clinics and hospitals.
• Continuity of services. Long-term follow-up and supervision of cases

GPM must immediately raise $100,000 for its Rural Emergency Response Program to provide emergency services to the tribal district of Mokhada serving 180,000 people!

We urgently need your help. We cannot do this without your support: https://rootfunding.com/campaigns/emergency_response

Oh...and by the way, as part of GPM’s Rural Emergency Response Program, the child that was bitten by a snake received the anti-venom in time to save his life, the entire village of Botoshi
received emergency rations and the pregnant woman delivered healthy…twins...a boy and a girl!