How RWAs are helping residents cheer up amidst Covid-19 outbreak

Being cooped up in a home can be tough although it is the safest bet to keep the coronavirus threat at bay as it spreads across the world. Several resident welfare associations (RWAs) across Gurugram, however, have tried to break the monotony.

In DLF phase 1, for example, the RWA is holding weekly webinars with residents on a block-to-block basis to help neighbours interact with each other, many of whom had shifted in recently but had not the an opportunity to socialise.

“A sizeable number of people live on rent in DLF Phase 1. Since February, there were many who had just moved into our township, but due to the coronavirus outbreak, did not have an opportunity to interact with others. We felt that residents in every block should interact on some online platform and get to know each other better, especially as a lot of them were feeling lonely and isolated,” said Dhruv Bansal, spokesperson of DLF Phase 1 RWA.

Bansal said that the webinars were a success as it not only had a high turnout, but also led to another idea.

“We are thinking of holding small get-togethers in the neighbourhood park for residents while ensuring social distancing measures are followed. We will be replicating the webinars in other blocks of the township as well,” said Bansal.

Last month, the RWA of Tulip Violet society held a contest on Facebook where residents were asked to submit entries on innovations for cleaning, recipes, painting and dancing.

“We were all huddled up in our homes and society, in general, to fight against coronavirus. All residents were finding new ways to engage our children, coming up with innovative ways of cleaning house quickly, trying different recipes, decoration ideas, paintings or drawing and hence we decided to collect these memories and upload them in our society’s group through pictures and videos. We decided to create a competition and gave the incentive of the top three posts getting rewarded. This way we were able to keep residents engaged for more than a month and had around 310 entries,” said Puneet Goyal, president of Tulip Violet RWA.

At The Retreat condominium in South City 1, a group of 12-15 residents got together and distributed baskets containing chocolates, plants, face masks and motivational messages among 300 families of the condominium.

“During these difficult times, a few of us got together and were discussing various measures that can be undertaken to elevate the mood of residents and staff. We decided to purchase plants and chocolates in bulk and made cloth face masks as well. Each basket included a motivational message telling residents that they can overcome these difficult times and look at the bright future ahead,” said Kirti Adhikari, a resident who led the initiative.

Adhikari further said that t-shirts bearing the name of “The Retreat” and sweets were also distributed amongst the condominium’s staff to keep them motivated.