Red Day in MayJean-Pierre Hamelin -- Midland, ON
"… and bring an older pair of running shoes, because if it rains the red mud will make a real mess of your shoes." This piece of advice from our SCAW team leaders, would prove to have great meaning for me and my SCAW teammates. The day began as usual as we were on our way to our second distribution in Wakiso district. The 30 km journey was to take about two hours over mainly good roads. The sky was cloudy and looked as if it might rain. For about the last 10 km we branched off to a secondary road. The weather had turned to a steady rain by now and the road had many potholes and small washouts. We met up with two trucks looking for the distribution site. They had become lost and were transporting children who were to be receiving bedkits. The children were huddled underneath tarpaulins to protect themselves from the rain. We then continued our journey with the two trucks now following us. We began a steady climb up a hill until it became impossible for the bus to continue. As a consequence, the two trucks also came to a standstill. The driver tried a few more times to conquer the hill, but to no avail. The decision was finally made to walk the remaining part of our journey. All we would need was tucked under our raingear and we all proceeded to walk. At first, we were trying to be careful where we walked, but it became apparent that it really didn't matter. It was very slippery and the mud accumulated very quickly on every part of our shoes and clothes. The children who had been released from their tarpaulin shelters found this quite an adventure. The Inner Wheel ladies accompanying us, couldn't believe what was happening. Along the way we met local people who would come out to see what the commotion was all about. After about two long kilometres, we spotted the distribution venue on a nearby hilltop. When we arrived we saw the children cloistered in an unfinished three room school. The children occupied two rooms and the bedkits were in one room. The parents had also made it here and were gathered nearby. By this time the rain had almost stopped and we were able to proceed to deliver the 500 bedkits from you the donors. Everyone left happy despite the inconvenience of the weather. For us SCAW volunteers, our job had been accomplished, but we now faced the task of retracing our steps back to our bus and hope that it had managed to get turned around.
Again we took to the gooey, slippery road and slip-slid back. Some helped children carry their bedkits, others used props such as sticks to stabilize themselves, and some unfortunately fell and got totally covered in mud. When we got to where our bus had been stuck, it was not there. We continued our walk for another ten minutes, when we finally spotted our bus and the two trucks waiting for us. Slowly everybody made it back to the vehicles and we were able to proceed back home. The bus driver told us that they had worked all afternoon getting the bus and trucks turned around. Even though the day was physically challenging, everybody made the best of it. There was more laughter and banter than complaining. So, for you the donors who may wonder if your gift of a bedkit will reach its intended destination, I, as well as every member of the SCAW team made sure that your gift was received in Bowati district. We had a memorable experience and ladies of Inner Wheel stated that in all the ten years that they had been distributing SCAW bedkits, they had never had such a memorable experience. |
