In a situation when family members, and relatives are not ready to touch the corpse of a Covid victim, Caritas Samaritans, the organisation’s volunteers are coming forward to perform the last rites of the deceased.

Caritas Volunteers in Kerala and Karnataka have exhibited tremendous courage and a sense of responsibility in times of distress and confusion. More than 7337 brave volunteers across the State have signed up for this noble cause and supporting the bereaved community.

“At first my family was unaware about my volunteer work but later when they came to know they were tensed and afraid,” shared Sebastian Palliparambil, a volunteer working as a business associate in Asianet at Trissur. “I convinced them by sharing the reality and all the safety precautions are taken before doing the volunteer work,” added Sebastian.

As of now, the Caritas Samaritans across the southern cluster have carried out 2,735 funeral services. It is not only a physical but emotional challenge for the volunteers, but they have to be mentally strong to carry out their duties.

56-year-old Sebastian recalls an instance when they were taking the dead body from the hospital for the funeral. The body was in the same bed with three other patients only a hand away distance.  The room was congested and some of them were afraid and were laying against the body with eyes covered with the bedsheet. We completed the packing of the body as per the guidelines and took it for the funeral. The situation was really horrific to see the dead and alive sharing the same room.

These volunteers are trained by the Doctors, Health Department officials under the guidance of the District Administration. The funerals irrespective of religion are undertaken by the local health departments usually in the presence of the Health Inspector. The process involves identifying the final resting place, bringing the body by ambulance from the hospital to the crematorium or graveyard, performing the final rites in the presence of the priest and then cremating or burying according to the protocol.

“There is a dearth of volunteers for disposing of bodies of Covid-19 victims in certain areas. The decision of all such groups to volunteer for the cause is a welcome move,” said PS Sreenivasan, district health officer, Ernakulam who is also the nodal officer for disposal of bodies of Covid-19 victims.

“By volunteering, I feel I am a social animal. I got my self-confidence and I am able to understand my responsibility well in society during this pandemic. My empathy worked on sympathy and I feel my life has a meaning.” says Sebastian. He believes that “There is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer so, start with where you are, use what you have, do what you can.”

Sharing about the future plans, Sebastian informed that he wants to make aware the youth about the situation and motivate them to be a volunteer or make them contribute in their own way. As he has a team, he wants to see every area have their team of covid warriors to support the cause.

Volunteerism is one of the strong strategic pillars of Caritas India and it has inspired many individuals to join as volunteers for a common cause and building a volunteer movement. This expression of service has enabled people and communities to play a more active role in development by volunteering and Caritas Samaritans are the offshoot of such initiative. These volunteers were engaged with Caritas India and partners from the very first wave of Covid-19 to create awareness and distribute relief materials.

“The service of Caritas Samaritan is truly the service of love of Jesus. Caritas India has taken this initiative to form Samaritan Task Force in 2018 during the Kerala flood and we have a huge Samaritan Task Force in Kerala,” shares Fr. Paul Moonjely, Executive Director of Caritas India.

Caritas India in the second wave of Covid Response is taking support of the volunteers to spread awareness on Covid appropriate behaviours through their Information Sharing Centres and Treatment Centres.