UUFSMA: “Covid Crisis in India: Global Solidarity in the Struggle to Survive”

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Online Service

“Covid Crisis in India: Global Solidarity in the Struggle to Survive”
Speaker: Derek Mitchell

Sunday, October 17, 2021
10:30 am

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/414604040
Password: 294513

By Joseph Plummer

UUFSMA Board Secretary

How does the UU community organize to work on global issues for humanity with partners throughout the world? The Unitarian Universalist Holdeen India Program (UUHIP) offers one such example. This weekend’s UUFSMA Guest Speaker Derek Mitchell will share his global experience as Director of the Holdeen Program. Doing so, he will draw upon the extremes of the Covid pandemic in India.

“They have been without equal anywhere in the world,” Mr. Mitchell says. As has been widely reported, a vast humanitarian crisis followed the March 2020 lockdown across India. Millions of migrant workers found no more work throughout the country as markets, factories, and construction sites shut down. Hunger threatened the poor more than Covid. Then case numbers declined, and the economy recovered. But soon the Delta variant emerged as a fresh catastrophe.

During both phases of the pandemic, the Holdeen India Program (UUHIP) mobilized humanitarian relief with Boston’s Unitarian Universalist Association, which has worked in India since 1984. Its program is a reliable funder of community groups across India.

Director Mitchell was in India when the pandemic began and has since returned to California, from where he will appear online for this Sunday’s lecture. Before joining the Holdeen India Program in 2011, he held research fellowships in India from the Institute of Current World Affairs and the Fulbright Program and consulted on organizational development for non-profit organizations. He holds a degree from Columbia University.

To participate in our online Sunday Service, visit www.uufsma.org and click on the Zoom Service button on the home page. If requested, enter password: 294513. Sign-in from anywhere Sunday mornings between 10:15-10:25 am CST.

UUFSMA donates at least fifty percent of its income to support nonprofit organizations that provide health, educational, and environmental services for underserved communities in the San Miguel region. Please support this work by clicking on the website home page Donate button. Now more than ever, your support is essential.

UUFSMA has suspended in-person Sunday services. But beginning Sunday October 24, a few pre-registered members may attend in-person services at the Hotel Aldea. Contact Denise denise.uufsma@gmail.com for more info. The UU Fellowship welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Previous online services can be found at https://www.youtube.com/.  Enter UUFSMA in the search box.