 Team Reports |
Mindful Moments: SCAW RocksLynette Jenkins — West Hill, ON
Jon Kabat-Zinn defines “Mindfulness” as “Paying attention to what is happening, moment by moment, without judgement.” Here are some of my “Mindful Moments” of the 2009 SCAW distribution in Mumbai. The Sounds of India: The cawing of the crows, the barking dogs and the imams (Islamic holy men) calling the faithful to prayer while we were at our hotel. The incessant and enthusiastic honking of car and truck horns as we travelled from place to place. The silence of the children at a couple of distributions as they were unable to hear or speak — but could they giggle! The giggles of the children just before they erupted into shrieks of laughter as Wally II, my monkey puppet, went into action as the “warm-up act” before the photos were taken at the distribution. The Smells of India: The aromatic scents of incense as we were greeted as honoured guests at the start of some of the distributions, the arti swagat. The jasmine and marigold flowers that some of the children and adults wore in their hair — you would get a waft of their perfume as they passed by you. The unmistakable odour of open toilets.
The Sights of India: The children dressed in new SCAW outfits for their photographs. Polo-type shirts and shorts for the boys and polka-dot and flowered dresses for the girls. The girls often had braided hair decorated with barettes and school-colour ribbons, and wore borrowed jewelry, as they were determined to look their best for this most important day. The sparkle in their eyes when they realized that the bedkit in front of them for the photograph was actually going to be theirs when they went home. The Taste of India: The food and fruits that we were offered were a sensory delight. New flavours and hot spices had some of us coughing, spluttering, and almost gasping for relief, but: mmmmmmmmmm. The gallons of bottled water we needed to drink to keep ourselves hydrated. The days were dry and hot — some days up to 35° C — and all of us were working hard in the bright sunlight. The freshness of clear air when we went into the country after the pollution of the city. The Touch of India: When the children had been photographed, we drew a “smiley” on their thumb. This kept us on track that this child had had the photograph taken. Holding small, grubby, gentle hands in mine made me feel very privileged to be doing this kind of work. As the children said “Namaste” to us and held their hands together in a prayer-like manner, I held their hands too. Some of the children gave us very confident handshakes and their “Thank you” — though some got confused and said “You're welcome” — rang strong and clear. When our eyes met there was such a connection between us that language was not needed.
I’d like to finish with a quote from Mr. Patel at one of the distributions: “SCAW passes rocks, not ice cubes!” He explained his quote. With some charities you start with a block of ice and by the time it is passed around and arrives where it is supposed to go, all you have left is a small ice cube. But SCAW starts with a rock — $35 from our fantastic donors — and by the time it has passed through our office, to the Rotarians in Mumbai, the SCAW team, the photographic developers, the ladies in the office and then back to the donor, you still have the same size rock: $35 worth of bedkit. So, SCAW rocks. |
