N.S. father and daughter raise money to help India battle deadly COVID-19 surge

Yashita Ghorefrom Antigonish, N.S.,is half a world away from her relatives in India, but that hasn't stopped the 11-year-oldfrom helpingthe country fight a deadly outbreak of COVID-19.

Two of her uncles work asdoctors inthe centralstate of Madhya Pradesh, where they're spending very long days treating hundreds of patients.

More than 300,000 people have now died in India from the virus. While cases are easingin big cities, it'sbegun to spreadin rural communities where there isn't thehealth infrastructureto cope with the crisis.

"It's really bad over there because there's a lot of people so it's easier for the virus to spread," said Yashita Ghore.

Earlier this month, the Grade 6 student started an online fundraiser with some of her friends and in alittle over a week, they raised $2,800 $300 more than their goal.

Yashita Ghore said the money will go towardbuying oxygen, masks, food and other supplies forthehospitals where her uncles work.

"I think that's going to make a good difference because they're going to have more supplies and they're going to have maybe not a lot of less stress, but definitely less stress than they had before," she said.

500K sent to women's group

Like his daughter, Yogesh Ghorehas been doing his part from afar.

He moved to Nova Scotia from Bhopal, India, in 2009 andworks at St. Francis Xavier University's CoadyInternational Institute. He usually visits his home country every few months to work with communityorganizations there.

"If the disease permitted us, we would be on the plane and would be there helping family, friends and our partners, but that is not possible," he told CBC Radio's Information Morning on Wednesday.

He recently helpedsecure $500,000 from the Comart Foundation tosend to one of Coady's partners, theSelf-Employed Women's Association,which has beenmakingand distributingmillions ofmasks to villages during the second wave.

"A lot of the regular work of our partners around community development, community economic development, that had to be halted," Yogesh Ghoresaid.

"Many of those organizations have to switch to providing most immediate relief support to the communities that they work with."

Family members getting sick

Yogesh Ghore said the pandemic has hit very close to home his mother was diagnosed with COVID-19 during the first wave and recovered, and many of his friends and extended family have also gotten sick.

Meanwhile, his brother and brother-in-law have put their regular practices on hold so they can help with the crisis, but their hospitals don't have enough supplies or beds to help the many people who are sick.

"They are actually really burned out in many ways because they are the ones who have to actually do this, so they are somehow trying to muster all the strength," he said.

... they were able to save the life of the child, and that brought so much joy to the entire hospital.- Yogesh Ghore, Coady International Institute

Not longago his brother, who is a pediatrician, treated a three-month-old baby who had contracted the virus.

"After three days of working on that three-month-old baby and initially it didn't respond, but then started responding they were able to save the life of the child, and that brought so much joy to the entire hospital," Yogesh Ghoresaid.

He saidthe latest COVID-19 "tsunami" got out of control inIndia very quickly, and is much more deadly than the first wave.

While Yashita Ghoresays living through a pandemic has taught her to be more patient, she's eagerly awaiting the chance to reunite with her cousins and other relatives in India soon.

She'sproud of the fundraising sheand her friends have been able to dofrom Nova Scotia.

"We should all be trying to do our best to help," she said.