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Jorawar Singh Rathour is running a “mini-factory in [his] front room” as
groups across the UK ask for help from his initiative getting virus-beating
soap and tissues to rough sleepers.He launched a small outreach group, the London Homeless Welfare Team,
for what he expected to be a one-o�f giving away food in Finsbury Park, North
London on New Year’s Day.
But as the Covid-19 outbreak accelerated, he realised some of London’s
most vulnerable people could be last to receive the protection they need
from the virus.
Now the team of six volunteers is doing regular outreach work to get
health packs to rough sleepers containing soap, tissues, water bottles and
NHS-approved advice on hand-washing and coronavirus symptoms.
“A few weeks ago we started sourcing soap and tissues mostly from small
local shops,” Jorawar told The Big Issue. “We’re very careful about that – if a
shop has 20 soaps we’ll take fi ve at most from there so as not to deprive other
people. Whenever we’re out and about we get a couple of bits here and there.
It all adds up.”
The team set up a crowdfunder with the aim of raising £500 to support
the project – and have since received more than £5,000 in donations from the
public. One woman alone donated £700.
This has enabled them to start producing health packs to be posted to other
homeless welfare groups as far away as Warwickshire. Jorawar said the interest
is increasing as more and more organisations struggle to fi nd supplies of basic
hand wash.
“We’ve been quite saddened by how much our help was needed. You can’t
know the sheer scale of homelessness until you’re out on the streets,” Jorawar
said. “The rough sleepers we’ve spoken to have welcomed the packs and said no
one had bothered to speak to them about the crisis or give them information.
“As ever, their main concern is survival. A lot of them have underlying health
conditions so they’re vulnerable. And we don’t have answers for them when
they ask where they can self-isolate.”
Jorawar, who is self-employed in the building trade, has experienced
homelessness himself. He said he can empathise with the people they meet
on the streets. He has stopped working to coordinate the London Homeless
Welfare Team full time and has been inundated with emails from people
looking to volunteer or get the health packs for rough sleepers in their area.
“I’m working on this from when I get up at around 5am until 11pm,” he said.
“Our volunteers are in full-time work and some are recent graduates. We get
together in the evenings and weekends to go through what we need to do and
come up with a plan.”
Jorawar is ensuring his elderly parents with health conditions can stay home
and is taking careful measures to keep outreach work to only what’s necessary
in order to stop volunteers picking up or spreading the virus.
“Our priority is to get these packs out as soon as possible,” he said. “It could
be saving lives. This is not a time to be complacent. Action needs to be taken –
we need to be doing something, not talking about it.”Street fi ghter
Jorawar is providing
frontline support18 | BIGISSUE.COM 23-29 MARCH 2020