They say you should be careful what you wish for. It happened to me this month. But it was probably also a case of supply meeting demand: a hungry demand for new ways of coping with COVID-19, and my April projects and ideas being supply.

Since creating Tools For COVID19 and a free offer to build websites on Sweet Jam Sites last month, I saw a daily hockey stick growth in the number of new connections made, DMs, PMs, emails sent to me asking for collaborations or features, and more work basically. All unpaid though, because altruism. Some new stuff I made so far:

? Dabao Dash - an offers and requests community board matching smalltime food hawkers with delivery riders. I really enjoyed making this one. It was jumping into an industry I knew nothing about, but just responding to emergent needs in a chaotic environment. 

?‍♂️ Majulah Belanja - because of Dabao Dash, someone linked me up with an NGO/volunteer group working really hard to help the migrant works who are now in lockdown too. I offered to build an offers/requests board for to help match donors with employers and dormitory operators of migrant workers.

? COVID Hiring - someone took me up on the offer I made on Sweet Jam Sites. He wanted to build a reverse job board for his community, where people who lose their jobs due to the pandemic can post their CV and advertise positions they want. 

? Market List - a work-in-progress, and the name speaks for itself. A listing of all the online supermarkets, grocery and daily essentials stores that does delivery. This is borne out of frustration. Getting delivery slots with the major supermarket apps are just impossible these days. They are trying to ramp up delivery but just cannot keep up with the demand. So rather than trying and trying for a slot, I thought maybe we should diversify our grocery sources! Perhaps there are other lesser known grocers who’s not overwhelmed.

That’s all for now, but even as I speak, more opportunities and connections are underway. I was bored when we started with lockdown, but now swamped. In a good way. Anything to distract myself from the low hum of staying home all day. And giving back when my community and country is thirsty for it, is actually pretty energising if you ask me. I’ll create my way out of the crisis yet…

Anything to feel more alive, during such times.