A Bedkit at HomeSarah Compeau — Loretto, ON
On one of our seven days of distribution, our team had the opportunity to visit the home of a child who had just received a bedkit. It was a pleasure to see the joy and excitement of the little girl, but also a shock to witness her family’s most basic living conditions. Their small village, Tchekpo, consisted of small huts and shacks, many of which were deteriorating. The narrow pathways between dwellings offered little privacy between neighbours. The particular house we visited was not really a house from a North American point of view. Rather, it was two detached huts, each only about eight feet by eight feet. Seeing the outdoor kitchen, comprised only of an open fire pit, pot, and small table, was almost unbelievable. The girl’s room was shared by four others and did not previously have any type of mattress in it. Bare concrete covered the floor and only simple water containers and a few clothes were in the room. 
You can imagine how appreciative the little girl was for her bedkit. She could not stop smiling the whole visit and was so excited to have her picture taken in her beautiful new clothes. It was wonderful to see how happy she was with her gift. A sharp contrast was found between the harshness of the girl’s environment and the radiance in her face. In the capital city of Lome, children also lived in very simple conditions. We visited homes of children who had received bedkits last year and again, I was shocked to see how basic the conditions were. Many people in each family live in a small room. These rooms had only a small shelf for some clothes and containers and shared a common courtyard where children happily played and ran about. The team was very happy to see the colourful mattress, school supplies, bedding, and mosquito net all in use.
The bedkits certainly made a difference in these remote villages and developing cities and were well received by the children. With the family owning so little, it is a special event for a child to receive such a wonderful gift with so many items. Even without seeing all the homes, I could tell by the children’s smiles that the bedkit meant the world to them. The parents were also very grateful for their child to have a sound and healthy sleep. In fact, on the day we left, a man walking on the side of the street approached me. He introduced himself as the father of a child who had received a bedkit. This man remarked on how helpful the bedkit was to the family and how the items were too expensive for him to afford. He thanked the Sleeping Children team and all of the donors for providing such a great gift. All of these experiences confirmed the need for SCAW to return to this beautiful country. This year, 3,000 children will sleep safely and comfortably; a great step in improving the lives of children in Togo. |
