Team Reports
• Lynette Jenkins
• Ted Swanston
• Laura Wey
• Lois Wey
• Chris Pratt
• Genille Gimbel

You can also download a PDF version of this report from our Distributions page.

Working together

Lynette Jenkins — Scarborough, ON

I was born in Sri Lanka when it was called Ceylon. Going there as part of this year’s Sleeping Children Around the World [SCAW] travelling team was a very emotional experience for me. My parents lived in Colombo for three years and fell in love with the country and the people. On this trip I experienced and understood for myself just why this was so.

Our team of six volunteers handed out 4,000 bedkits at seven distributions in remote villages on the mid-western side of Sri Lanka.

At each site, team members had six different tasks:

• First, someone would organize the children and arrange them by size for their photo — though this was sometimes a bit of a challenge.
• I was the photographer and made the children feel at ease so they would smile for the camera — ably assisted by my monkey-puppet, Wally.
• The next person led the children to a student volunteer who would take them to receive their bedkits. This person also collected the labels and passed them on to the counter.
• The counter acted as a check to make sure the numbers of children and bedkits matched.
• Our floater was our trouble-shooter. This person helped out where needed and took behind-the-scenes photos. They also interviewed some of the parents regarding the quality of the bedkits. This allowed us the privilege of getting to meet the children and parents on a more informal level.
• Our final person handed the bedkit to the child — the direct link between the donor and the recipient. To see such happy children with beaming smiles was the icing on the cake for us.

Lynette and Wally and friends in Sri Lanka

Team members rotated through the different jobs. The variety was welcome but it also meant that, should someone become ill — though fortunately that did not happen on this trip — there would always be someone to fill in at a moment’s notice.

Confucius said, “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” In hearing, seeing, and doing this distribution, our team has ensured that our donors have achieved their objective: helping where it is so needed.

It is said that “It is amazing what you can achieve when you do not mind who takes the credit.” Such cooperation between our donors, our team, the Rotarians, the army, parents, principals, teachers, and students certainly attests to this. Many people could take the credit, but the end result is that 4,000 children are sleeping so much better tonight, because everyone was working toward a common goal.

On behalf of the Canadian Sleeping Children team, Stuti (Singhalese), or Nandri (Tamil), thank you so much.