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Seven hundred bedkits a dayWarren Wagstaff — North Vancouver, BC There are two teams of volunteers in Tanzania: the Sleeping Children Around the World [SCAW] travelling team of five, and more than a dozen from our Overseas Volunteer Organization [OVO], the Upendo AIDS Centre, headed by Mama Wandoa Mwambu. Each day's tasks may differ, but we do them with one common goal: at the end of the day seven hundred needy children in Tanzania will have bedkits. At 4 am, after sleeping in Mama's home which is jam-packed with bedkits for the SCAW distribution and items for her work with those affected by HIV/AIDS, our OVO team rises for a serving of black tea. They spend an hour and a half loading the lorries full to the brim with mattresses and bedkits for that day's distribution which may be as close as 50 km — about an hour away — or as far as 160 km — up to three hours away. There they unload them and stand guard till the SCAW team arrives. The SCAW team rises between 4 am and 5:45 am, depending on the day's travel requirements. After a quick breakfast of toast, coffee, and yogurt they load the day's necessary tools into the van: cameras, tripod, buckets for the children to sit on, a sample bedkit for display, labels identifying our donors, water, our own cameras, and food bars for a quick snack during the day. At the distribution site, we identify the best place for the photos and set up for the day. This can take up to an hour because schools are in session and we wish to disrupt the students' day as little as possible. We select a site that provides the best possible flow for the children to change into their new t-shirt and kanga, line up, sit for the photo, and receive their bedkit. Sometimes we sit in the morning sun helping the OVO team stuff blankets into bedkit bags and tie the mattresses with twine.
There are many different tasks so we rotate these duties daily. Each station has its own unique benefit and opportunity to interact personally with the children. We exchange a few words, get a smile or a handshake, and get to look them in the eye. While the SCAW team is working out the logistics of the site, our OVO team has gone off for breakfast of a pancake, bun, or chipati served by locals who have set up a cookfire on the edge of the school grounds. Around 9 am we assemble both teams and start the distribution. When the children's names are called they line up chatting excitedly to each other and eager for what lies ahead. The children go to the dressing area and change into the t-shirt and kanga they will wear for their photo. We direct the children, in Swahili, where to sit or to stand throughout the day. Since our Swahili is bad at best, they sometimes look at us in bewilderment or they giggle at our mispronunciation of their language.
After 350 children have had their photos taken we usually take a 15-minute to half-hour break to have a food bar and some water. We drink up to 3 litres of water a day since we are usually in the sun for more than seven hours daily. When our distribution comes to an end around 3 or 4 pm, we load up our van and start back to the hotel where we quickly shower, make dinner, and get organized for the next day. We send off the day's blog post, upload the photos, reply to emails, sort labels, and tend to go to sleep around 10 or 11 pm. Our OVO team grabs a quick meal of stiff porridge or rice and a cup of tea and then heads to the factory to pick up tomorrow's mattresses. They arrive at Mama's home around 9 pm and take turns sleeping and guarding the mattress truck. Each night, members of both teams sleep well knowing that seven hundred more children are sleeping comfortably in their new beds. We can't wait for tomorrow to begin so we can do it all over again. |
