 Team Reports |
Beyond the BedkitIrene Harrison — Milton, ON Murray Dryden believed every child deserved a place to sleep. His dream continues, but his bedkit has evolved over the years. A bedkit suggests sleeping comfort for a child. However, its contents reach far beyond just giving a child a good night’s rest. It makes a profound difference in the life of a child, impacting his/her education, health, and the village economy.
A simple, large, plastic pail has an importance for a poor, rural village family that reveals the depth of poverty that plagues so many children in this vast land. In the course of the day, a bucket might be a bathing basin or a container for carrying and storing drinking water. Some might use it as a toilet. Imagine! The same pail used in so many different ways throughout the day. A good night’s sleep, explained one mother, ensures my child will be better prepared for school and contributes to his success. Since all children who receive a bedkit must attend school, the bedkit also serves as significant motivation for school attendance. In Yercaud, one of our distribution sites, the local school experienced a 15% increase in enrollment this year primarily because of the parents’ anticipation of a bedkit. They had seen what some children had received the previous year in that town’s first distribution. In the poorer rural regions where children are sometimes discouraged by a long trek to the nearest school or are exploited to work to supplement the family income, the bedkit has been instrumental in improving school attendance and, consequently, improving literacy.
Malnutrition is the most serious medical problem facing poor children in India. When a child receives clothes, school supplies and bedding, a family has more money to spend on food. The impact of a donated bedkit has far more reaching significance than one might imagine. SCAW’s distributions have encouraged local industry. Small cottage industries are used whenever possible, providing stimulus for local employment, thus generating more financial assistance to the local populace. “Impossibility makes it possible,” is an Indian saying I read in a book of thoughts and meditations that was given to me on this trip. It challenged me to consider its meaning, particularly in the context of our mission here. At times, when faced with the realities of the poverty, misery, and lack of opportunity among the children around the world, we might be tempted to resign ourselves to reluctant acceptance, paralyzed by what seems to be an insurmountable challenge. However, the commitment to effect change, though seemingly small in the form of a bedkit, does indeed impact the life of a child. It is possible to make a difference. We have witnessed it. |
The opportunity to speak with parents both at distribution sites and in their homes was a revealing highlight and an emotional experience for us. Their gratitude was overwhelming; their disbelief in getting so much rather sobering.
Many bedkit items serve to protect the child: a sweater, a thick blanket, or ear warmers ward off the chills of cold temperatures; an umbrella protects in the rainy season. But the mosquito net is a treasured item, for it is a luxury few families can afford. Not only malaria, but also other mosquito-borne diseases pose a threat. Chickungunya, a severely disabling disease from Africa that affects the joints and can linger for several weeks, has caused considerable alarm though it is not fatal.