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Revision of: Thu, December 6, 2007 |
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Thank You, SCAW My third overseas trip has reinforced my appreciation of the dedicated organization that is Sleeping Children Around the World [Sleeping Children]. Sleeping Children delivers two rewarding humanitarian services: 1) fulfilling an immeasurable need to the children; and 2) offering an unparalleled cultural experience to its volunteers.
Sleeping Children has developed a process for melding like-minded people together on a volunteer mission, a delivery system to fill a need, and a 'thank you' system to return to the donors a visual image confirming gratitude for their gift. Over 50,000 times a year, Sleeping Children coordinates the transformation of funding from donors into bedkits filled with needed treasures, and delivers them all over the world.
The planning for the travel safety of the volunteers is faultless. It is so unbelievable that Sleeping Children has managed to accomplish this and keep the overhead costs so minimal that they are paid by an investment account set up by Murray Dryden. This means that every penny of your $30 donation for the children goes to the children. As a volunteer, I will remember for a lifetime the rich cultural experience. The chaos of the rules of the road with horns blasting, animals, people, and vehicles intertwined, are unforgettable. Some accommodations absent of amenities such as hot water and comfortable beds were most likely far better than those of the children we were here for. I can only imagine the conditions experienced by Murray Dryden in the 70s and 80s as he began this great humanitarian idea. But most of all, I will remember the children. Thank you for your bedkit donation. I have seen the children, their need, their thrill, and their parents' gratitude. As a volunteer, I thank you for providing the funding to satisfy so many with a good night's sleep. 
The Kolkata Bedkit One of the duties of Sleeping Children travelling volunteers is to assess the bedkits assembled by our overseas partners. You can see the items that Loreen lists in this photo album. We were very pleased with the contents of the bedkits in Kolkata. The quality appeared to be good. We spot-checked the contents of the large plastic bags (63"x36") which held the bedkits and were satisfied that all sets contained the stated items. We were impressed that a $30 donation could provide this array of items:
In summary: Think again about how meaningful our donation of $30 is to these children of families in India where the family income is less than 2000 Rupees ($60CDN) per month. When we saw the big smiles and heard the grateful "Thank you" from the children, we knew that the small part that we were doing was worthwhile.
A Bedkit Recipient Imagine being a 6-year-old living in a tribal village where your Dad might make $30 CDN a month. Your Mom, Dad, sister, brother, and you live in a house that is 40 square feet in size and your meal for the day might be rice, berries, seeds, and bark. You attend the village school with 30 to 40 classmates and one day your teacher tells the class that each will receive a bedkit from special people from Canada.
You have never been away from your village but on this special day you, your classmates, your teacher, and your Mom or Dad are trucked 3 to 4 hours in a big 5-ton truck to a large fenced-in area where you are separated from your parent and taken to a big building where you are given a school bag containing a shirt, a pair of shorts, and a pair of flip-flop shoes. You have always been barefoot but ladies tell you to change into your new clothes, put on the shoes, and put the school bag on your back. You are so excited because you have just received your very first gifts and one of the gifts is a pair of shoes. It will take a while to learn how to walk with your feet in shoes. You do not realize there will be more gifts for you after your picture is snapped. The ladies then tell you to go outside, get in line and have your picture taken. You have no idea what this means but you and your classmates follow instructions.
Outside in the hot sun you and 29 classmates line up and a woman comes along to do the high five with you and try to get you to hasho (smile). She takes your tiny hand and touches it to her big white hand. You quickly pull your hand away and look at it. You and another boy and girl are motioned over to three little stools. You are each placed on one and told to hasho, hasho to the man with the camera. You are then given a white label to take over and hand to another lady. You run with your other two classmates toward the a lady with a lot of bags but as you get closer the tears spill from your big brown eyes and roll down cheeks. When asked by the lady’s Rotarian helper why you are crying you sob out that you are too little to carry the big bag. The bedkit weighs 12 kg. and you don’t even weigh that much. The lady smiles and reassures you that one of the Rotarians will help carry your bedkit to the truck — you will get it. Suddenly there is a big hasho on your face — you have more gifts.
Teamwork: Incredible Incredible India! Incredible Kolkata! Incredible Experience! Our team was five in number and there were five different positions to fill at each distribution site: Digital Dude, Liner Upper, Sitter Downer, Bean Counter, and Bag Person. Digital Dude: Tom, our team leader, was appointed our official photographer and his foto finger grew stronger as the distributions continued. The rest of the team was responsible for a different position each day.
Liner Upper: This position entailed getting the children in groups of 30, then groups of 3 — 2 boys and 1 girl or 2 girls and 1 boy — talking to them, teaching them to high five, smiling with them, and trying to get them to relax to be ready to have their picture taken. Sitter Downer: This person sat the 3 children on little stools behind the bedkits and label holders to have their picture snapped then removed the label from the holder, handed the label to the child and pointed them to the next position, Bean Counter who took the label from the child and notified Digital Dude when a group of 30 children had been completed. Bag Person was responsible for handing the bedkit to each child and saying something like “Sweet dreams from your friends in Canada.”
A memorable day for me was one of my turns as the Bag Lady. Thank you, donors, for giving me an opportunity to have this incredible experience. One day, when we were tidying up our distribution site, a beautiful young lady about 18 years of age came running over to Carol and me and asked if she could hug and kiss us. Not knowing why, we said, “Sure.” As she kissed and hugged us she said, “You do not know how much you have done for the children and their families in my village. I just want to thank you so much.” Through our tears we told her the bedkits were from special people in Canada — you, the donors — and we would pass her thanks on to you.
This was just one of many incredible experiences I was able to have because of you, the donors; the fantastic organization by the Rotary Club of Dum Dum, and the Rotary Clubs at all the different distribution sites; the Rotary members and their helpers for their assistance at the sites and the Rotary wives for helping the children change into their new outfits.
Because of your generosity, 6,000 children in the Kolkata area are having a good night’s sleep and a better day at school. Shukhriya dhanyavaad. (Thank you.) A Home Visit As a first time member of a Sleeping Children distribution team, I was very impressed by the experience. Our team had a rather hectic schedule of delivery over ten days with one day of rest in the middle. On our final day, during which we delivered 876 bedkits, our trip back to Kolkata City Centre included a detour that took us to the home of a family whose primary child had received a Sleeping Children bedkit last year.
Our arrival at the end of a narrow circuitous route into a humble housing division — complete with all five members of our team and a local Rotarian from the Dum Dum Club — engendered great interest in the neighbourhood. The family had not been advised of our coming, a fact that added authenticity to the visit. But we were warmly received into the family's small frame home where we saw many of the items from the bedkit completely intact. In fact, there was a younger sibling sleeping on the mattress under the bedkit blanket and mosquito net at the time of our visit. The mother expressed sincere gratitude to us for the gift to her child and told us through our interpreter that her child had improved academically since receiving this gift.
Tapan, our Rotarian guide for this visit, explained to a group of interested neighbours and passersby the scope of the Sleeping Children project and who we were, which resulted in admiring looks of thanks. Many people followed us down the street back to our waiting van, and some outgoing older teens/young adults practiced their English with me. Near our van was a car colourfully decorated with flowers and streamers in preparation for a pending wedding in the community. As we departed, all the smiling faces and waving hands reinforced for me the value of the worthwhile project we had just completed.
Our Overseas Hosts Sleeping Children is able to keep administrative costs down thanks in large part to the cooperation of overseas volunteers. We are grateful for their participation in our mutual endeavour to ensure a good night’s sleep for so many children. They look after buying the items and assembling the bedkits. They look after choosing the children who will receive the bedkits. They look after our travelling volunteers during the distribution and sometimes after, as Carol describes: Upon completion of the Kolkata distribution, the Rotary Club of Dum Dum proposed a trip to Gangtok, Sikkim for the team. Although quite tired from our intensive distribution days, we were all looking forward to a few days of sightseeing and relaxation. Garg, a Rotary member extraordinaire, accompanied us. Our adventure started at the train station in Kolkata. Rotarians, Gautam and Arun met us there for a special send-off and thoughtfully provided each one with a boxed lunch. Since we were travelling at night, Garg had arranged for us to have berths. Some of us had never slept on a train before. The train left the station at 10:00 p.m. and by 11:10 we were all ready for bed. Surprisingly, we slept well. We awoke around 7:00 am but it felt so cozy, we lay in bed for an extra hour. The train arrived in Siliguri at 10:15. A car and driver met us at the station and took us to the Cinderella Hotel for lunch. One of the great things about Incredible India is the food! Our favourites are uttapam (Indian pizza) and dosa — oh yes, the beer is not bad either. After lunch, we proceeded to Gangtok in the Himalayas. The road was narrow, tortuous, full of potholes and void of guardrails — in other words, scary. However, the scenery was spectacular, the sun bright, and the air clean.
The next day, we visited the Rumtek and Lingto Monasteries. We were all intrigued by the Good Luck Canisters. (Pictured left) The canisters are round about the size of a three litre pail of ice cream. They are made of copper and are suspended on a spindle. Each one contains a roll of papers on which are written mantras or prayers. For good luck you have to turn each canister with your right hand. There were 235 of them. The team turned the canisters each one thinking how we were already so lucky — to be in such a beautiful place where we could see Mount Everest from our hotel window. Upon our return to the hotel, Garg told us a friend of his had invited us to his home for a drink. We took a taxi to his home which was on a hill. It is very embarrassing to confess that the taxi could not make the hill with us in it so we all had to bail out and walk. Our host was most gracious. He offered us a local beverage called Chang. Millet is fermented in a wooden tumbler and hot water is poured over it. The longer you let it steep, the stronger the kick. It is not supposed to give a hangover but some might disagree. We learned that our host was the former Ambassador to Mongolia and that his mother was the niece of the last King of Sikkim. The following day, we visited the Enchy Monastery, the Tibetology Institute and a photography show. Shopping was also on the agenda. Our time in Gangtok was very special to all of us. We had worked hard. We had worked well. We had had time to appreciate each other, our Rotary host and Incredible India. Thank you Garg!
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