Braving the surge of the second Covid wave, Asian people are standing up, not only to help themselves but also their compatriots during this time of extreme distress.
Take for instance the case of Arrahman Surya Atmaja. One may spot him on the bicycle pedalling through the Semarang, a city of Indonesia, as he quickly makes a stopover at a chemist shop. He quickly picks up the medicines to hit the roads again. This time he heads to the home of a patient isolated at home due to the Coronavirus.
Atmaja is a 35-year-old, who is a part of a small group of volunteers who use the cycle and their cycling skills to help out those who are stuck at home by running important errands for them. Even though the city has a population of three million, and they can’t help everyone, but their effort is important and counts.
A report by Reuters carried in in.news.yahoo.com quotes Atmaja where he said: "I think about how difficult it would be to be in self-isolation or have COVID-19, so hopefully with this, we can help people who are.” He started this helpful service in the month of April.
When asked as to what was the most common product they carried to people, Atmaja replied that it was delivering medicine or vitamins. The requests for these packages, including medicines, come to him through Whatsapp or Instagram.
He went on to recall for the news agency as to how once he ended up without actually knowing, making a delivery to a hospital ICU ward. This is something he has been trying to avoid. "I got scared, but my feelings went away when I remembered I only want to help.”
The team of cyclists try hard to ensure that the deliveries they undertake are contactless, making it secure from a health point of view for themselves and others too.
The barricades put across the city don’t hamper their movement as Atmaja and the other volunteers do a smart act to negotiate with them. They simply lift their bikes over barricades which secure the zones and areas of high infection, also known as “red zones”.
Not overtly worried about their health, Atmaja quips:, "Maybe because we are helping the community, it will somehow boost our immunity, maybe it's like that.”
Indonesia has been struck with record infections and deaths due to the Covid this month.
