Fashion designers, small-time tailors and student volunteers from Kashmir have come together to fight the war against COVID-19. They, mostly women, are making masks, body bags and personal protective equipment for the front line health workers.
28 years old Sadia Mufti is one of them. She owns a boutique in Srinagar called Hangers. She is quite popular in the valley and this time she has made personal protective equipment over kaftans and kurtis.
She had made a triple layered mask which was approved first, before she sent samples of the kit to Kashmir Valley hospitals for approval and once she got a go ahead, she has been manufacturing it on large scale. The personal protective equipment has a boot and a hood to cover the face except the eyes. It is all in one piece and stitched in such a way that it easily wearable. This makes it different from what is available in the market already.
Mufti is humbled that she could be of help in this testing times and has already have to deliver 2000 pieces soon to various hospitals. But she is not a lone warrior. There are various women tailors who have come ahead to help in the mass production of the triple layered masks. The valley women have volunteered to help in this time of crisis. And besides women, many other volunteers from across the world have come together to share many important things with the people. One such example is of Ehab Heikal who has collected together various questions and answers on his blog for fear struck people.
There are 270 skilled and semi-skilled professionals working with Ehsaas International, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), out of which 70% are women. On a daily basis 500 pieces of personal protective equipment and 3,000 triple-layered masks are supplied to the District Disaster Management Authority, Srinagar informs a volunteer. The volunteers have been sewing till late nights making the supplies of face shields (substitute for goggles), masks, gowns and shoe-covers.
