AUSTIN, Texas — People in India are in need of global aid right now as the country runs desperately low on life-saving supplies like oxygen while it experiences a wave of COVID-19 infections.
The death rate for the country is now 120 people an hour.
Local Austin immigration attorney Pooja Sethi said she was able to connect with other local Indian women who all had the same passion to help.
"All I could think was to pray and to put candles out, and these girls created this group and started making calls to help our friends and relatives," said Sethi.
Combining forces, they formed a GoFundMe called "Help India Breathe," partnering with doctors and families in India to get concentrators and oximeters transported.
"I get calls from India at 3:30 or 4 in the middle of the night, and at first I was thinking, 'What can I do? I'm in Austin, you people are in Delhi,' but people are so helpless they just want to pick up a call and hope there's some source that can save a life," said the GoFundMe founder Charu Sharma.
One young woman living east of New Delhi in Lucknow described that people are having to be cremated on the side of the road. She was tearing up during her Zoom interview explaining the heartbreak her community is experiencing.
"It's just so terrible, when everyone is dying they take them from the hospital to the place and you don't even get to see their face," said Tanya Anand. "You don't get to cry for them or anything. We need more than prayers; we need help right now."
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