Somehow it will not just go away by itself or small steps towards it

"While everyone is sitting at home and waiting for stabilization in the city, in the country, in the world, in order to break into their usual life later on, there are people whom quarantine has put in an extremely difficult position. We at Pi5 * for a long time have not passed by someone else's misfortune. They were not aside during the war against COVID-19. When you get a call from an elderly woman who was born in besieged Leningrad and she asks you to go to the store, because only 2 potatoes left at home, I want to howl from hopelessness ... It should not be, and it won’t be like that!"
Irina Maslova Leader of the sex worker rights movement “Silver Rose”, “Astarta” Foundation

Problem

The most important problems faced by people living with HIV, especially those who decided to make money in the regime of so-called ‘days off’ in Russia, were the threat of medication interruptions and lack of means of existence.

Solution

Thank God, many organizations in our country have been involved in such assistance. We have also joined and are still engaged in medication delivery for HIV-positive patients of the AIDS center. There are 3 people in our team:  a social worker, a volunteer driver and I. 

It so happened that the people we help are mostly the elderly. We started helping with medicines and products, but at a certain point we realized that they were among the most vulnerable to coronavirus. People over 65 are not allowed to leave the house. This is one of the quarantine rules. One of the restrictive measures. Our wonderful ‘grandparents’, 65 and 70 years old, 72, 85, and one is already 91 years old. They do not go out, they practically do not go out for almost two months! They do not use a computer. They have the simplest phones. And in addition to support with medicines and products, they just need communication, psychological support, which we also began to provide, subject to all preventive safety measures. I call each of them every week by myself, some of them even more often, to talk, to listen, to cheer up …

Result

In 1,5 months of the pandemic, we, with our small team, supported 49 people with food packages. And we will continue doing this.

We try as much as possible to include all older people in the social protection system … or we find different ways to provide this assistance with the help of our friends from various NGOs in the city. Together, coping with trouble is easier.

* “Pi-5” – Low-threshold site of prevention, assistance, support and adoption in St. Petersburg