N.S. father and daughter raise money to help India battle deadly COVID-19 surge

Yashita Ghore from Antigonish, N.S., is half a world away from her relatives in India, but that hasn't stopped the 11-year-old from helping the country fight a deadly outbreak of COVID-19.

Two of her uncles work as doctors in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, where they're spending very long days treating hundreds of patients.

More than 300,000 people have now died in India from the virus. While cases are easing in big cities, it's begun to spread in rural communities where there isn't the health infrastructure to cope with the crisis. 

"It's really bad over there because there's a lot of people so it's easier for the virus to spread," said Yashita Ghore.

Earlier this month, the Grade 6 student started an online fundraiser with some of her friends and in a little over a week, they raised $2,800 — $300 more than their goal. 

Yashita Ghore said the money will go toward buying oxygen, masks, food and other supplies for the hospitals where her uncles work.

"I think that's going to make a good difference because they're going to have more supplies and they're going to have maybe not a lot of less stress, but definitely less stress than they had before," she said. 

500K sent to women's group

Like his daughter, Yogesh Ghore has been doing his part from afar.

He moved to Nova Scotia from Bhopal, India, in 2009 and works at St. Francis Xavier University's Coady International Institute. He usually visits his home country every few months to work with community organizations there. 

"If the disease permitted us, we would be on the plane and would be there helping family, friends and our partners, but that is not possible," he told CBC Radio's Information Morning on Wednesday. 

He recently helped secure $500,000 from the Comart Foundation to send to one of Coady's partners, the Self-Employed Women's Association, which has been making and distributing millions of masks to villages during the second wave.

"A lot of the regular work of our partners around community development, community economic development, that had to be halted," Yogesh Ghore said. 

"Many of those organizations have to switch to providing most immediate relief support to the communities that they work with."

Family members getting sick

Yogesh Ghore said the pandemic has hit very close to home — his mother was diagnosed with COVID-19 during the first wave and recovered, and many of his friends and extended family have also gotten sick. 

Meanwhile, his brother and brother-in-law have put their regular practices on hold so they can help with the crisis, but their hospitals don't have enough supplies or beds to help the many people who are sick. 

"They are actually really burned out in many ways because they are the ones who have to actually do this, so they are somehow trying to muster all the strength," he said. 

... they were able to save the life of the child, and that brought so much joy to the entire hospital.- Yogesh Ghore, Coady International Institute

Not long ago his brother, who is a pediatrician, treated a three-month-old baby who had contracted the virus. 

"After three days of working on that three-month-old baby — and initially it didn't respond, but then started responding — they were able to save the life of the child, and that brought so much joy to the entire hospital," Yogesh Ghore said.

He said the latest COVID-19 "tsunami" got out of control in India very quickly, and is much more deadly than the first wave. 

While Yashita Ghore says living through a pandemic has taught her to be more patient, she's eagerly awaiting the chance to reunite with her cousins and other relatives in India soon.

She's proud of the fundraising she and her friends have been able to do from Nova Scotia.

"We should all be trying to do our best to help," she said.