Sheffield student helps launch charity to overcome lockdown loneliness crisis

Aydin Hepsaydir, a computer science student at The University of Sheffield, and his friend James Augustin, a politics, philosophy, and economics student at The University of Manchester, launched the ‘Corona Unity’ platform while working to complete their studies to help foster a ‘sense of calm and normality amongst the surrounding uncertainty’.

It is a multi-faceted platform which has been designed to provide a range of services and support for people during and after the current Covid-19 pandemic as well as acting to consolidate vital information for those who need it.

Run solely by volunteers, Corona Unity has gained support from across the globe and has now partnered with people and businesses in places including America, India and Poland.

Co-founder James Augustin said: “Aydin and I have known each other for ages, we both went to the same school in a town called Marlow.

“I’ve always known that he can build websites so, as soon as the pandemic was really starting to take hold, I realised I wanted to do something to help people so I called him up and said ‘do you reckon we could build a website?’

“He said yes – originally we’d hoped to make it in a week but we realised it needed more than we thought. From there it’s just been moving from strength to strength, we’ve gone from having a team of just 10 students to almost 100 people across the globe.

“The reality and the severity of the pandemic were quite apparent to me early on because my mum has a lung condition so when people were being blasé, I was encouraging people to stay in.”

Corona Unity currently runs a ‘phone a friend’ service which aims to reduce isolation and loneliness by connecting volunteers with anyone across the UK who may need to hear a friendly voice

“It’s really sad and has been playing on my mind even more especially after reading last week that there was a grandfather who committed suicide because he had no one to chat to,” Mr Augustin added.

“This service is unique in the sense that it’s not a helpline rather, it allows people to have that human interaction that so many people across the UK just aren’t getting at the moment.

“One of our users, who uses the service every day, said it was just nice to not have to talk about his feelings – he could just talk to someone as he usually would during lockdown about anything and just have that human interaction which is really being lost.”

The platform also provides articles to keep people entertained at home or give them the opportunity to learn new skills while in isolation, and uses a network of charities and organisations to find those who may be in need.

To sign up as a volunteer for Corona Unity or to learn more about the services visit www.coronaunity.org

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