Team Reports
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The children and the teamGenille Gimbel — Ottawa, ON
Travelling with an organization dedicated to helping thousands of underprivileged children has been a humbling, awe-inspiring experience. Two things stand out: the children and the team. The emotions of seeing and being with the children is something that can only be truly appreciated by seeing and being with the children. Each morning when we would arrive at a distribution site we were greeted by hundreds of smiling faces. Bands, dancing, flowers, speeches, and customary gifts welcomed us. The children, the parents, the school teachers and principals expressed the highest level of gratitude and thankfulness during every minute we were there. It was very apparent that the children selected to receive bedkits were the most needy, regardless of race, religion, or health. We served both Singhalese and Tamil children, even though this created challenges in conversing with the different groups. We served children with visual impairments, as well as those with physical and mental disabilities. All the children were dressed to look their best, which often involved borrowing neighbour's belongings.
Many children had scabies, a highly contagious infection caused by mites, which burrow under the outer layer of skin and lay eggs. Proper diagnosis and immediate treatment can help eliminate this infection; however, the children were too poor to take such action. Other children had head lice, which forced us to restrain from patting them on the head. Regardless, all the children were beautiful. It was a true honour to be with them during such an important day. Secondly, the teamwork was remarkable. Each member of the team had unique strengths and characteristics which created an effective, smooth, and highly enjoyable trip. One volunteer shared computer skills for the operation of the laptop computer. Another called on her summer camp skills to entertain the children during a minor delay. Others had previous experience which helped create an efficient distribution and a safe environment. As well, our team-leader was fantastic at keeping the team organized and making the children feel comfortable. All worked together to accomplish the shared goal of helping the children — a truly remarkable experience. |
