United Sikhs' volunteers support Ukraine war refugees
Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Mar, 2022 11:14 AM
New Delhi, March 25 (IANS) United Sikhs, the United Nations affiliated human rights and advocacy organisation, has started relief work and humanitarian aid in Ukraine for more than three weeks, serving the emergency needs of refugees escaping the war.
United Sikhs is the only organisation of the Sikhs that has reached ground zero in the war-torn Ukraine and its neighbouring country Poland serving the Ukrainian refugees, selflessly, ignoring the danger of war when two nations Russia and Ukraine are locked in a severe war, leading to huge loss to men, material and properties.
More than a dozen United Sikhs volunteers from the US, Germany and the UK have set up a relief base camp in Medyka (Poland) close to the Ukrainian border.
At least 1,00,000 refugees have been served by the United Sikhs' humanitarian mission till date and the relief work is continuing.
Its teams have been serving hot meals, sanitation kits, water, clothing, other goods of daily needs and even toys for the newborn.
A team of volunteers drove for 36 hours with a commercial van full of supplies from the UK to reach the base camp last week, delivering power generators, water pumps, blankets, quilts, sleeping bags, sanitary pads, tents, stoves and utensils, etc.
The organisation is also providing heated shelters at the Ukraine border, serving hot meals and rescuing families from Lviv.
United Sikhs is also collaborating with Polish Red Cross Polski Czerwony Krzy to provide medical assistance to the refugees escaping Ukraine.
The Biden administration has kept in place travel restrictions that have severely curtailed international trips to the U.S., citing the spread of the delta variant of the virus. Under the rules, non-U.S. residents who have been to China, the European Schengen area, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, South Africa and India in the prior 14 days are prohibited from entering the U.S.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control last week warned the Delta variant of the virus is so contagious, vaccinated people who do get infected could be just as big a risk to others as people who aren't vaccinated.
The new requirement, which will be phased in over several weeks in August and September, is the most aggressive step the city has taken yet to curb a surge in cases caused by the delta variant.
The findings have the potential to upend past thinking about how the disease is spread. Previously, vaccinated people who got infected were thought to have low levels of virus and to be unlikely to pass it to others. But the new data shows that is not the case with the delta variant.
President Joe Biden is calling on states and local governments to join those that are already handing out dollars for shots. New York, the nation's biggest city, started doling out $100 awards on Friday.
