SCAW Blog: Uganda, 2025: May 10

A Blog for Mother’s Day

Ugandan mothers are the loudest cheerleaders at our distribution sites. They clap and cheer with great joy when their child picks up their bedkit. 

These mothers have walked many miles to get to the site, some with babies on their backs, some carrying a disabled child in their arms. 

After a busy morning of distributions the team made an appropriate day-before-mother’s- day stop. We visited a local hospital complete with a Maternity and Labour room. 

While we were there a young mother with 2 sons delivered a baby girl. 

Perhaps one day she will be the recipient of a SCAW bedkit or better yet, she will be the woman who eliminates the need for them.

Team Uganda, 2025

Uganda 🇺🇬 +SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Uganda, 2025: May 9 and 10

May 9. WE DID IT . . . 1000 BEDKITS TODAY!

Today we completed distributions in two different sites so our day started very early at 7:00. Children and parents were waiting for us and we loved the welcome with songs and dances.

The locations were perfect because the site managers travel the night before to make sure that everything is ready. As soon as the bus opens the doors we do a presentation for both the parents and the children explaining how our bedkits will help them get a healthy, good night’s sleep. This is followed by huge applause and cheers when we show all the items in the bedkit.

But the best is at the end when we watch very happy children head home with their gift of sleep.
Teamwork sure made this day a huge success. 1000 BEDKITS.❤️

Team Uganda, 2025
Uganda 🇺🇬+SCAW 🇨🇦

May 10 Warm-Up

Team SCAW (members from Canada and Uganda) drive together to each distribution site. The ladies of the Inner Wheel serenade us with inspirational songs along the way.

When we arrive at our location, as we leave our bus, we are greeted with music, chanting and wonderful dancing. School girls in costume perform an energetic cultural dance accompanied by community members playing drums and other instruments. Parents, volunteers and other guests cheer them on and join in the fun.

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We were told that this particular dance is called Kiganda in the Masaka region of Buganda. The children learn and practice this dancing as an extra-curricular activity after school. They then entertain at events such as ours and also compete against other schools in the area. It is so lively and upbeat, a perfect warm-up to our bedkit distribution!

Team Uganda, 2025

Uganda 🇺🇬 +SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Uganda, 2025: May 7 and 8

May 7

TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK

The Inner Wheel and the Sleeping Children team are working together well and the results are that 500 children are going home with smiles on their faces.

Community members, faith leaders and helpers are also pitching in to make the distribution a success.
We could not help taking a celebratory photo at the end of a wonderful day.

Team Uganda, 2025
Uganda 🇺🇬+SCAW 🇨🇦

May 8

SMOOTH SAILING

Our motto with the Inner Wheel ladies continues to be: teamwork makes the dream work and the distribution this morning was smooth sailing with 500 very happy children.

We had a little free time this afternoon to walk downtown to experience Main Street.

Team Uganda, 2025

Uganda 🇺🇬 +SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Uganda, 2025: May 5

Location is one of the more important elements in completing a successful distribution.  Some locations are much more difficult than others to find, especially in the eastern part of the country during the rainy season.  
But one of our distributions in Mbale with the Inner  Wheel of Kampala Central was in the community of Ceele and this location had all the important elements we were looking for.

The first thing it had was shade and lots of it.  Sometimes the kids travel a long way to receive their bedkits and a place for them to sit and wait in the shade is crucial. 

Flat ground at a site is great, especially when looking for a place for camera set-up. There are pictures taken of groups of kids so flat ground for chairs or stools is necessary for not only a good shot but for their safety.

Ideally schools are great location choices as there are classrooms with privacy for the kids to change into their uniforms.  But they also provide a familiar space for a very unfamiliar day. Security definitely is key and vital for everyone involved.  Volunteers that are easily identified and all those involved in the distribution are the only ones in the secure area. So a roped off area with a visible exit is the best. 

And all these things were exactly what we had in Ceele.

Great job Inner Wheel of Kampala Central.

Team Uganda, 2025

Uganda 🇺🇬 +SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Uganda, 2025: May 6

Upon our arrival at the distribution sites, we are greeted by two large groups of loud and excited people, approximately 500 children who have changed into their new, colourful outfits, and their parents who wait on the perimeter of the site watching and celebrating the days' events.

We hear loud cheers, singing and clapping from both. Often there is music playing and people dancing and squealing. It is quite exhilarating!

Each day, prior to starting the distribution of bedkits, our team, with the help of an interpreter, explains to both groups about Sleeping Children Around the World, our donors in Canada, our local partners, the Inner Wheel, and our wish for the children to have a good night's sleep.

We have fun showing everyone the bedkit contents so they understand what is included in the gift for their children. Inevitably, this enhances the excitement even more. Then we are all anxious to get started!

Team Uganda, 2025

Uganda 🇺🇬 +SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Uganda, 2025: May 4

IT IS ALL ABOUT THE CHILDREN

Today we said goodbye to the team from Kampala Central, who did a wonderful job this week, and said hello to Kampala Original.

At our distribution we were greeted with fanfare, enthusiasm and music with many excited parents and children. We had another successful start to this next phase of our distributions.

Here are some photos we cherish:

Team Uganda, 2025

Uganda 🇺🇬 +SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Uganda, 2025: May 3

THE PEARL OF AFRICA

We did our distribution today near the Kenyan border with Mount Egan looming in the background.

When a team member was here 15 years ago she was surprised to see how green and lush everything was; it remains the same today. The Kampala Central team of the Inner Wheel took us to a beautiful waterfall on the side of the mountain, where we saw many things growing in the fields at the base of Mount Egan.

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It was nice to see the area after our distribution was completed. It was nice to know that 500 more kids are having a better sleep tonight in the remote villages.

Team Uganda, 2025

Uganda 🇺🇬 +SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Uganda, 2025: May 3

SO MANY HELPING HANDS

In addition to our SCAW team and our wonderful Inner Wheel team, there are so many community people that are needed to make a successful distribution. Today we had many many helping hands including a wonderful school head-master to make everything run smoothly.

Team Uganda, 2025

Team Uganda 🇺🇬 +SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Uganda, 2025: May 1

A DAY OF FIRSTS

Today was not only the first day of our distribution but it was also the first ever distribution for the team from Kampala Central. All of them are new members and they did not know how our distributions work. Their planning was meticulous, the execution was perfect and it was obvious that they had been well coached by Gladys.

The entire day went off without a hitch and the SCAW team was thrilled that everything went so well.

Congratulations Kampala Central!

Team Uganda, 2025

Team Uganda 🇺🇬 + SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Uganda, 2025: April 30

WE LEARNED SO MUCH TODAY.

Our team got to visit 5 factories and we also completed our pre-distribution meeting with both Kampala Original and Kampala Central teams. It was all informative and useful; we appreciated being driven around by some of the Inner Wheel ladies to all of these sites. Their hospitality and organization is superb.

A highlight was Winifred’s Dress Design company. Winifred gave us the history of her small company as she makes some of the clothing for our children. As a widow, she likes to employ other single women and allows them to bring their babies to work if needed. We applaud not only the quality of the clothing but also her warm, generous and loving heart.

Tomorrow we drive three hours to start our Day One distribution.

Team Uganda, 2025

Team Uganda 🇺🇬 + SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Uganda, 2025: April 29

LOTS ACCOMPLISHED TODAY!

Our team was ready to go after a good night’s sleep so we met to continue our planning.

The Inner Wheel brought us a bedkit so we could do the assessment and see which items the 8500 children will be receiving.

Our excitement is building and tomorrow we do two factory visits along with our pre-distribution meeting.

We had a special moment this afternoon when we showed the bedkit to two of the people at our accommodation and explained how we are supporting the Ugandan children. They both got teary.

Our team is very happy to be here.

Team Uganda, 2025
Team Uganda 🇺🇬+Team SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Uganda, 2025: April 28

We’ve arrived safely! The Inner Wheel welcomed us at the airport and all is well.
We had our first meeting and lots was covered. We are working through various plans.

This is short as we are off to bed now since all of us are a wee bit tired.

Team Uganda, 2025

Team Uganda 🇺🇬 and Team SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Philippines, 2025: April 6

It feels like we just arrived and now it is time to go!

Today we had our two final distributions.  At both we arrived at a school full of children already dressed in their new pjs and a multitude of volunteers to help with the distribution.  A lovely young girl said the opening prayer and we sang both national anthems. 

The distributions went extremely fast due to the help of volunteers including the Coast Guard, the Fire Brigade and several Kiwanis clubs.  After all was said and done, there was the requisite paparazzi.  

During our short time here, we have learned that Filipinos love to eat.  Today alone we had chicken, pasta (2 types),  pizza (2 types), garlic bread, and more types of noodles than we can count. And that was just lunch! 

We are so touched by the hospitality, generosity, and enthusiasm of our OVPs, and by the excitement of everyone involved in making this such a success.

Team Philippines, 2025

World of Sweet Dreams 🇵🇭 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Philippines, 2025: April 5

SCAW donations deliver immediately at the household-level.

To me, one of the most fascinating parts of the always fascinating SCAW distributions is having the chance to talk with parents who usually wait by the dozens at our distribution sites. These conversations can give us a real understanding of the immediate impact that the arrival of donated bedkits can have in the homes of the recipients.

This conversation starts initially with unpacking a bedkit in front of groups of parents so they can see what’s inside - item by item. The level of cheering after seeing each item shows how useful each will be in their family settings. This is then followed up by one-on-one interviews with parents with the support of our overseas volunteer partners who help encourage parents to participate and who can also serve as translators.

Today, in the course of our second day of distributions in the Philippines, I interviewed 4 parents. We started with developing an understanding of their household situations - number of adults and children in the home and current sleeping arrangements. This was followed by their assessments of which items in the bedkit would be the most useful (today blankets topped the list) and which would be less so - a difficult question to answer because they were all so grateful for everything that has been included. But the most interesting questions to me are those that uncover just how much the household will change for the better, immediately upon the arrival of the bedkit. A young girl who has spent her life sleeping on a broken couch now has her own bed. A young boy who has always shared his mattress with two growing siblings will sleep alone tonight on his new mattress while his siblings find their own shared bed less crowded by one.

Eventually, over the course of a 10 minute interview more comfort builds in the dialogue. Soon you don’t need any more interview questions to feel the smiles of gratitude and see the tears in the eyes that let you know that we are making real, immediate impacts not just with the individual child to whom we present the bedkit but more broadly across their entire home and family.

Team Philippines, 2025

World of Sweet Dreams 🇵🇭 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Philippines, 2025; April 4 - Photos

These photos should have accompanied the blog that was posted yesterday.

Team Philippines, 2025

World of Sweet Dreams 🇵🇭 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Philippines, 2025: April, 4

Our day began by meeting some friendly faces, and some familiar ones too. These were Kiwanis Club representatives - some having spent decades supporting SCAW's work - who kicked the day off with a brand of joyfulness that so perfectly reflected the warmth of the Filipino spirit that we had only started to uncover.

Then came the factory tour where we met cousins Marvin and Fred, stewards of a 40-year-old family business that has evolved from producing rice sacks to manufacturing apparel for some of the Philippines' largest distributors. While impressive in itself, it was their business plan that left me feeling like our overseas partners had secured a terrific supplier. The cousins explained how they were growing a collaborative network of cottage industries across Luzon - already employing over 100 people - outlining their business model that provisioned equipment and training to rural Filipinos with an aim of stemming the tide of labour migrants forced to leave their families and their villages for the grinding metropolis of Manila.

The afternoon brought our first distribution. We delivered 300 bedkits to 300 smiling faces whose patience seemed improbable in the 33 degree heat. We talked to many of these children and their curiosity was truly contagious and their ability to play rock paper scissors impressive.

It's been one day since we landed, and we're one distribution in. I've been struck by the kindness of the Filipino people, but I'm truly in awe of their resiliency. It's going to be a great distribution, and we're in the right place.

Team Philippines, 2025

World of Sweet Dreams 🇵🇭 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Philippines, 2025: April 3

After a very long travel day, the team arrived in Manila extremely tired and excited to begin.  We were graciously met and warmly welcomed by our OVP.  It was far too early in the morning for our hotel rooms to be ready so we spent time visiting the warehouse where the bedkits are put together.  The kits look amazing so the children will be very excited! The warehouse was buzzing with activity, there being only one day until the distributions begin.

From left to right: Cindy H., Ian C., Stuart C., Diane B.

Team  Philippines, 2025

World of Sweet Dreams 🇵🇭 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Chennai, 2025: February 26

Last evening was a felicitous evening, a celebration for the successful completion of the delivery of 5000 bedkits. It was heart-warming to be present at a ceremony thanking everyone in the room for their volunteer participation. The project leader, who had just completed his 39th distribution, spoke graciously, fully naming each participant and asking them to rise and be recognized for their contribution. In turn, the District Governor was very appreciative of the project leader’s selfless determination to make this distribution happen.

This distribution was precedent setting as it was the first in the community since the beginning of Covid. There were so many hurdles to overcome to get permission for our distribution. Many volunteer hours were needed to make it happen. They volunteered because they believe SCAW’s tenet that every child deserves hope and a good night’s sleep. It was wonderful to be part of such a group and to celebrate with them.

Team Chennai, 2025

Rotary Club of Ambattur 🇮🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Chennai, 2025: February 24

Today was our last big distribution.  We started out at 8 o’clock and made it to the site in approximately an hour. It is interesting to notice the difference in the morning traffic compared to the traffic later in the day. In the morning our van is surrounded by motorcycles going in both directions. Later in the day cars and Tuk-Tuks fill the streets and help make the traffic incredibly slow.

Before we started giving out the bedkits we were served a lovely local breakfast, hosted by the owner of the school as well as the principal. The principal told us joyfully that she has a 2 week-old grandson in Medicine Hat.

Today the heat was bothersome for all of us. For the first time we distributed the bedkits in a location that was not completely in shade. The lack of shade and the humidity made us drink gallons of water.

However, we managed just fine and are ready to hand out the last of the 5000 bedkits tomorrow.

Team Chennai, 2025

Rotary Club of Ambattur 🇮🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Belgaum, 2025: February 26

Our distribution of 5,000 bedkits is done. It seemed like a whirlwind, starting our first day of distributions such a short while ago and now it’s complete. Our team gelled as we went along and now it will soon be time to go our separate ways with many great memories from our time together and wonderful memories of the joy of giving to the children.

We leave Belgaum for a short stay in Goa before heading home. The drive to Goa through mountains and a nature reserve was amazing. The beaches of Goa are lovely and a favourite of British citizens. So glad we took the time to visit this lovely area after our distribution.

Team Belgaum, 2025

Rotary Club of Belgaum 🇮🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦