 Team Reports |
Hot Weather, Cold WeatherJoan Hryniw — Lakeside, ON I once read that during India’s hot season the British would flee to the hill stations seeking out cooler temperatures. During this year’s distributions for Sleeping Children Around the World [SCAW] we experienced this first hand. Our first two distributions were in the lowlands. Mornings would be around 20°C, but as the day progressed so did the temperatures. By noon, they would be in the high 30’s — one day they peaked at 42°C. Fortunately, breezes cooled our hot sweaty bodies just enough to let us keep on working. Imagine: this was the cool season.
We took a day train for the distribution in Vellore and then travelled by van to a few very small, almost isolated, villages in the remote Rishi Valley between a set of very, very old, worn-down, rock-strewn mountain ranges. Poverty was obvious here. They had experienced drought for the last seven years. Life was a fragile commodity. Temperatures were a pleasant and dry mid-20’s though they would reach the mid-30’s in the summer. Evenings were around 20 or slightly lower for us but in the cool season could get down to single-digit temperatures. The blanket in the bedkit was greatly appreciated. The children were brought to the 300-acre grounds of a self-contained private school from villages in the valley as far as 20 km away. The morning after the distribution we travelled to one of these villages. The air was cool and fresh. People were wrapped up in shawls and head warmers. We visited two homes to find out their opinions about the bedkits their children had received. Both families agreed that everything in the kit was of high quality and very useful, but three items were of particular value: the mattress, because the floor gets very cold; the two towels, because they could not afford them; and the pail, because they now had a clean container for water storage, washing, and carrying. Items we would take for granted such as tea towels or bath towels are considered a “luxury.” A good night’s sleep regardless of the weather: on hot nights, uninterrupted sleep on a new mattress under a mosquito net; on cool nights, a blanket to keep warm. What more could we wish for each of the 5,000 sweethearts who received a bedkit? |
For our third distribution we took a seven-hour night-train journey in a rocking and rolling sleeping car to arrive in Salem Junction at 5 am with temperatures around 18°C. From here the steep road to the hill station of Yercaud continuously switched back and forth. The moon, out in its fullness, lit our way as we climbed upwards for an hour. The climb for the British would have been arduous — we were fortunate to have a van. The temperatures were, indeed, cool, clean, and pleasant during our stay. Two days later we returned in mid-afternoon. The temperatures climbed as we descended into the valley. The suffocating heat, the fumes of the vehicles, and the noise of a bustling city rose up to meet us and enveloped us once again.