Having to stay at home can be particularly lonely and difficult for those who are living alone. During lock-downs and similar measures taken to slow down the spread of the novel coronavirus, some people who live alone worry that something might happen to them without anybody noticing.
A volunteer organisation in the German region Wedemark has initiated daily telephone chains for people living on their own. Each morning, volunteers call the first person of each chain, asking whether they are well or need help – and maybe for telling a joke. That person then calls the next person in the chain and so forth, making sure everyone is well and a little less lonely.
This practice was started by the Freiwilligenagentur Wedemark.