Mumbai: Dahanu Distribution
Four distribution days, seven sites, 1650 bedkits, many kilometers over some iffy roads, traffic the same as previously reported – and all is well.Email access is thin, our signs have not shown up but otherwise everything else is reasonably on track.
The kids are fabulous. Have you seen happier kids than those in this picture?
We have left Mumbia and are several hours north in Dahanu. This area is an agricultural area with rice, mangoes, vegetables, hay, water, buffalo, chickens, and of course lots of villages and people.
It seems everything in this region is done by hand: thrashing grain, stacking hay, hauling produce and water, butchering chickens, and washing clothes.
Little kids get to wash the dishes.
We are theorizing that India will leap from an agrarian to a high tech country in one leap.
Doug MacDougald,
for the SCAW 2007 Mumbai Travelling Team
Mumbai: Mumbai Morning
Mumbai in the pre-dawn is quieter, especially down by the water near the Gateway to India. Nice area.Barefooted women with big straw brooms are sweeping the streets. The one-legged guy with a makeshift wheelchair is washing himself in the gutter and hoping to make a few rupees shining shoes today.
Around the corner you almost step on a couple of women covered in a dirty blanket, sleeping on the pavement using the curb as a pillow. A baby cries — a small young baby. She lays naked, out from the cover of the blankets, cold in the early morning dampness. The mother sleeps.
The sliver of sun slices through the mist and smog over the Arabian Sea, slowly bringing life to this city and as it does, miles and miles of grey, black slums are illuminated.
As we drive through the city toward our distribution these slums are juxtaposed beside nice residences. At a stop sign a pretty young girl, maybe ten years old, leads an older blind man, presumably her dad, into the waiting traffic pleading with her eyes for money. A young man carries another very thin frail dying man on his back asking for the same.
One foot in front of the other must be the only way to survive another day. Didn’t give the pretty young girl or young man any money. Wish we did.
We shed some tears and get about helping one child at a time.
Doug MacDougald,
for the SCAW 2007 Mumbai Travelling Team
Mumbai: Traffic in Mumbai
Traffic in India is unlike anything in my experience, with cars, unique transport trucks, auto-rickshaws, motorbikes, bicycles, cattle, dogs, water buffalo, oxen drawn carts, goats, and people all sharing the same space. Oh, did I mention constant horn blowing?There is no discernable structure or rules but rather a free-flowing, cacophonic, kaleidoscope of motion.
The horn is consistently used as a warning that the vehicle is passing another vehicle and transport trucks actually have on the back “Horn, OK. Please.”
It has been common on a four-lane divided highway for vehicles to drive the wrong way – in the passing lane – at speed! Just get out of the way – and people and animals do it without apparently thinking anything of it.
In a survey done this week of the 16 million residents of Mumbai the number one issue for all income brackets were better roads. They are bad – except for some new highways just completed and built by the private sector. These will be maintained by the contractor for anywhere from ten to twenty years and collect tolls for that period of time before it is turned back to the public sector. These roads have more frequently been built on time and on budget, which was not happening with government run projects.
Even though there is little evidence of rules of the road it seems to work OK. I suspect this is an appropriate metaphor for business and life in this very crowded region – free flowing and maneuvering around obstacles — with these roads moving a nation that is a nation on the move.
Doug MacDougald,
for the SCAW 2007 Mumbai Travelling Team
Mumbai: Dombivli Distribution
Today was spent at Dombivli a city of 1.5 million with many manufacturing plants that were apparent as we drove to the distribution site.As usual several schools were represented including a girl orphanage and a school for mentally challenged children. Parents — if alive — primarily worked in manufacturing jobs, drove auto-rickshaws, or were domestics.
Kids and parents can show several types of emotions at these events and pictures show it best — and celebrate the buoyancy of the human spirit.
Doug MacDougald,
for the SCAW 2007 Mumbai Travelling Team
Mumbai: Distributions 6 & 7
Distribution days six and seven have been completed at three sites: Panvel, Navi Mumbai, and Thane — all within a two-hour drive of where we are staying in Mumbai.
The drive every morning and late afternoon is through Mumbai. With sixteen million people in this sprawling maze of mankind we have no idea where Mumbai stops and we enter a new town or city.
Construction, bamboo scaffolding, dust, debris, more debris — all driving the changing picture of India as it increases services and goods supplied to the world — and much of the construction is done by hand and by the parents of the children we are seeing at our distributions. They live near the construction in cobbled-together, makeshift, anything-that-can-be-found shelters.
"Anything-that-can-be-found" may include our site distribution signs that are in the picture at left with Judy Snobelen at Thane with one of her donations to her — at the time — unborn grandson. "Baby Snobelen" Carter was born a couple of weeks before we left for India and everyone is doing fine including his grandmother.
Carter AKA "Baby Snobelen" is good news — but our missing signs are not. We suspect the box of signs was carried by one of the volunteers helping us out. It went from the van into one of the distributions unbeknownst to us.
Team leader Douglas Cunningham — we are calling him Douglas to differentiate the two Dougs on the team — in the photo at left may look a little frustrated.
Hey! Improvisation, flexibility, problem solving, patience, understanding of a different culture, different language, different needs, are required as a travelling volunteer.
Trust me: the kids don't care if there is a commercially made sign or a handmade one. What their needs are puts many things in our life into perspective.
Doug MacDougald,
for the SCAW 2007 Mumbai Travelling Team
The drive every morning and late afternoon is through Mumbai. With sixteen million people in this sprawling maze of mankind we have no idea where Mumbai stops and we enter a new town or city.
Construction, bamboo scaffolding, dust, debris, more debris — all driving the changing picture of India as it increases services and goods supplied to the world — and much of the construction is done by hand and by the parents of the children we are seeing at our distributions. They live near the construction in cobbled-together, makeshift, anything-that-can-be-found shelters.
"Anything-that-can-be-found" may include our site distribution signs that are in the picture at left with Judy Snobelen at Thane with one of her donations to her — at the time — unborn grandson. "Baby Snobelen" Carter was born a couple of weeks before we left for India and everyone is doing fine including his grandmother.
Carter AKA "Baby Snobelen" is good news — but our missing signs are not. We suspect the box of signs was carried by one of the volunteers helping us out. It went from the van into one of the distributions unbeknownst to us.
Team leader Douglas Cunningham — we are calling him Douglas to differentiate the two Dougs on the team — in the photo at left may look a little frustrated.
Hey! Improvisation, flexibility, problem solving, patience, understanding of a different culture, different language, different needs, are required as a travelling volunteer.
Trust me: the kids don't care if there is a commercially made sign or a handmade one. What their needs are puts many things in our life into perspective.
Doug MacDougald,
for the SCAW 2007 Mumbai Travelling Team
Mumbai: The Southern Distributions
We finished the southern swing of distributions at Kundgol, Ranebennur, and Hubli by yesterday and flew back to Mumbai today. Five sites and 2,800 bedkits have been distributed — 17 and 4,700 respectively to go.
What can we say? This is producing conflicting emotions and thoughts.
Exhilarating exhaustion is an apt description with most of us if we get five or six hours sleep not able to get back to sleep as the previous day's experiences tumble around.
We are hopeful of the caring and compassion that we are finding but pessimistic of the cycle and culture of poverty that is pervasive.
We download our pictures every evening often as we unwind with dinner. Last night all the waiters were looking over our shoulder at the pictures, asking questions about Sleeping Children and at one point one young man stated "I want to work and help you when you are here in India." People care!
A $30 bedkit is a very big deal to these kids and their family.
At Ranebennur’s 600 distribution we were down to the last few children and one little boy had lost his “ticket” received that morning at registration that ensures the right child receives the bedkit. As he was waiting off to the side waiting for his ID to be checked (he didn’t understand the process) he was crying inconsolably — obviously thinking that he was not to receive his bedkit. After some assurance, hugs and tying his shoes (these kids have never had shoes) we put him in the next group for his photo and he was one happy little guy – with his shoes off. Hey, it takes a while to break new shoes in — especially if you have never worn any before.
There was not a bedkit for the 600th kid due to an inventory mistake. He had his new clothes, backpack, and school supplies but not bedding, mat etc. and forlornly sat there with his grandmother (his parents were dead) waiting. The solution
(Good decision Douglas C.) was for the Rotary organizer to go purchase the rest of the kit as we waited with the child and his grandmother. The relief and gratitude was tangible as they received the bedding.
Kundgol was on the third day of a three-day village festival when we were there for a 250 distribution. When we were driving in we saw some body-painted people and kids. Little did we know the custom during this festival is the painted individuals cannot put any additional clothes on for the duration of the festival. We had two kids in the 250 and after special parental permission they put on their new clothes, had a picture taken and received a bedkit. Some donor is going to receive quite a picture of a painted boy.
Many of these children have never been out of their village. Can you guess what is going through their minds with so many new events in one day?
Doug MacDougald,
for the SCAW 2007 Mumbai Travelling Team
What can we say? This is producing conflicting emotions and thoughts.
Exhilarating exhaustion is an apt description with most of us if we get five or six hours sleep not able to get back to sleep as the previous day's experiences tumble around.
We are hopeful of the caring and compassion that we are finding but pessimistic of the cycle and culture of poverty that is pervasive.
We download our pictures every evening often as we unwind with dinner. Last night all the waiters were looking over our shoulder at the pictures, asking questions about Sleeping Children and at one point one young man stated "I want to work and help you when you are here in India." People care!
A $30 bedkit is a very big deal to these kids and their family.
At Ranebennur’s 600 distribution we were down to the last few children and one little boy had lost his “ticket” received that morning at registration that ensures the right child receives the bedkit. As he was waiting off to the side waiting for his ID to be checked (he didn’t understand the process) he was crying inconsolably — obviously thinking that he was not to receive his bedkit. After some assurance, hugs and tying his shoes (these kids have never had shoes) we put him in the next group for his photo and he was one happy little guy – with his shoes off. Hey, it takes a while to break new shoes in — especially if you have never worn any before.
There was not a bedkit for the 600th kid due to an inventory mistake. He had his new clothes, backpack, and school supplies but not bedding, mat etc. and forlornly sat there with his grandmother (his parents were dead) waiting. The solution
(Good decision Douglas C.) was for the Rotary organizer to go purchase the rest of the kit as we waited with the child and his grandmother. The relief and gratitude was tangible as they received the bedding.
Kundgol was on the third day of a three-day village festival when we were there for a 250 distribution. When we were driving in we saw some body-painted people and kids. Little did we know the custom during this festival is the painted individuals cannot put any additional clothes on for the duration of the festival. We had two kids in the 250 and after special parental permission they put on their new clothes, had a picture taken and received a bedkit. Some donor is going to receive quite a picture of a painted boy.
Many of these children have never been out of their village. Can you guess what is going through their minds with so many new events in one day?
Doug MacDougald,
for the SCAW 2007 Mumbai Travelling Team
Chennai: The team has arrived
The team has finally safely arrived. In spite of a planned British Airways Cabin Crews' strike (Industrial Action) and winter weather causing planes to ice up, we finally departed. There were many moments when we wondered if and when we would arrive in Chennai. Due to the impending strikes we had to depart a day earlier than planned and our team who had originally planned to travel together found themselves on four different routes. Our Rotarian hosts were phenomenal in managing to pick us up at four different times and in finding us homes to stay in as all the hotels were filled. This is the wedding season in Chennai, so there was "no room at the inn". Some stayed one night, others for two nights in homes that Rotarians graciously opened up to us after our seveteen and a half hour flights. We were so fortunate to have that extra day to rest. Tomorrow, our meeting with the Rotarians begins the distribution process as we finalize plans for the reason we have come - 5000 children and their bedkits.
Namaste from Chennai
Richard Hryniw,
for the SCAW Chennai Travelling Team
Namaste from Chennai
Richard Hryniw,
for the SCAW Chennai Travelling Team
Mumbai: Belgaum Distribution, January 30
At right is the SCAW Mumbai 2007 travelling team with bedkit recipients. Team Members: Left to Right Kay Easun, Douglas Cunningham (Team Leader) Doug MacDougald, Judy Snobelen, George Foster. The 650 bedkit distribution in Belgaum, a city of 700,000, was primarily to children of farm labourers. The surrounding area is reasonably good farmland growing sugar cane and rice with goat and sheep herds interspersed.
All the kids were assembled when we arrived and were they ever excited as waves, cheers and excitement greeted us. Parents were gathered outside the grounds on the street and as we greeted them and shook hands. Their thanks for your bedkit donation was overwhelming.
The girls were very pretty in their colourful dresses and the boys "cool" in shorts and shirts. These children are just regular kids with typical boy and girl schoolyard interaction. As I was yakking to some of the boys and taking pictures of the girls with all their dress colours showing brilliant in the sunlight, the guys were good naturedly razzing me for taking too many pictures of the girls and not of them.
I just can’t believe how much a $30 donation means to these kids and their parents. It is heartwarming at the same time well heartbreaking.
Doug MacDougald,
for the SCAW 2007 Mumbai Travelling Team
Mumbai: Distribution is Underway
The Mumbai 2007 team of Douglas Cunningham, Kay Easun, George Foster, Judy Snobelen, and Doug MacDougald is well started on the distribution of 7,500 bedkits in west central India. We spent the first day — after arriving at our hotel at 3 AM from Toronto — checking the sample bedkit and final organizing of the individual and group labels for each of the 22 sites.We then saw some of Mumbai with a train ride through where some of the 16 million inhabitants live and ending up in the downtown area. The view from the first, second, and women-only train cars showed colour, culture, and a range of poverty that immediately spoke to why Sleeping Children Around the World is here.
Mumbai is big, crowded, and chaotic and we got lost coming back from the train station to our hotel (Doug MacD. thought it was the “other” way). Auto-rickshaws are everywhere and two of them careened through the streets of Mumbai getting us safely back to our hotel.
The first distribution was 650 bedkits in Pune at two sites. It went quite well thanks to the well experienced Pune Rotary Club and Nitin Shah.
First observations are: People working at low skill manual job make less than $1.00 per day and live in poverty that is dirty, dusty, hot and crowded.
The 650 children aged 6 to 12 prior to receiving their bedkit were subdued, cautious, and apprehensive but anticipating this unusual day in their lives. The 650 kids after receiving their bedkit were just “kids” – excited, playing, and quite comfortable with hugs, high and low fives, and smiles. The 650 children left with a little more comfort and hope than yesterday.
Doug MacDougald,
for the SCAW 2007 Mumbai Travelling Team
Kolkata: A Bedkit at Home
India is a diverse country: more than one billion people, fifteen official languages and countless others in 28 states and seven territories. The Kolkata bedkits are distributed in eleven distinct centres.As each bedkit is distributed, it is common to wish to see the bedkit items in use. Following today's distibution we had the chance.
The distribution took place in Jhargam, a three-hour drive, 150 km from Kolkata. Following the distribution we were invited to visit Chandipur, a tribal village a half-hour away. This village of 130 people has no electricity, no school, and one water pump, which is in great demand during the nine months of the dry season. Despite the lack of facilities, the people took obvious pride in their community as each of their mud huts was spotless and the outside area appeared to be raked regularly with a hand straw broom.
The major problem faced by the community is so basic — no food. The elephant is their enemy. Due to the deforestation of the area, the elephant also searches for food and in doing so destroys any crops the villagers have tried to grow, as well as physically destroying some of their mud huts.
Our local partner, the Rotary Club of Dum Dum, has made an eighteen-month commitment to the village to:
provide twice monthly deliveries of rice which is the basic diet,
supervise the building of a large water hole which will collect water during the rainy season for use throughout the year (The water hole is being dug by hand!), and
assist in providing seeds for crops that the elephants do not eat.
The goal is not to make this village forever in the need of receipt of handouts but to make them self-sufficient within the eighteen-month period.
When we arrived in the community we were delighted to see bedkits: twelve of which had been distributed that morning. The bedkit delivery was obviously an event of great excitement, not only for the children who received the bedkits, but for the whole community. All members gathered to review the bedkit items, not being able to choose one item over another and feeling that each item was needed and would be used.
These villagers were welcoming to each member of our team and shared many laughs as we introduced them to a skipping rope and blowing soap bubbles. No doubt the items in the bedkit will be used by more than one person as this appeared to be a true communal village. As we left we could not help but think that each person in the community could use a bedkit. There is no doubt that more of their children will be on the SCAW distibution list for next year.
Alan Ingram
2007 SCAW Kolkata Team
Kolkata: News from Kolkata
We are in the midst of a distribution 6,500 bedkits in Kolkata, (formerly Calcutta), the capital of the state of West Bengal in the northwest corner of India bordering Kolkata. There is obvious need in each of the eleven communities, within a three-hour radius of Kolkata, in which children will receive a bedkit. Upon arrival we must pass through a solid mass of welcoming people to get into the distribution site, giving further proof of the importance of our mission. Both children and parents share the great excitement in the anticipation in being presented with their own bedkit.Each child has an individual story but common threads tie each together. Through an interpreter, I talked with one mother and her child, Mohammed Molla, age 7. Mohammed was given a SCAW identity card by the school teacher and has walked 6 kilometres with his mother, the child in bare feet, to the site. They will have the luxury of the city bus to carry the bedkit home. I took his picture with a digital camera, the first time he had seen his own image other than in a mirror.
Mohammed’s father works as a rickshaw driver earning 50 rupees ($1.25 Cdn) each day. Fortunately he has only one wife and one child as this meager wage must support father, mother, and child but it is not enough to rent housing. As such, like thousands of others, they have taken over a piece of the sidewalk and attached a 10’ x 12’ shelter -- supported by two bamboo sticks at the front -- to the wall in the back. They have lived on the same piece of sidewalk for seven years. This is the only home that Mohammed has ever known.The family lives on a staple diet of rice at each meal. A few times during the week the rice may be supplemented with a few vegetables. Fruit is a rare treat and fish or meat unknown. Medical and dental care are unavailable to this child.
While waiting for his SCAW picture to be taken in his new clothes and footwear I watched Mohammed take a quick peek in his new school bag to find a few of the included items. As his eyes lit up with disbelief when he saw his new gifts, I turned back to see his mother’s eyes well up with tears of joy. While his future is uncertain, his parents hope that he will be able to find a salaried job and not live in a street shack.
Others are not so fortunate as Mohammed. For every recipient there are thousands of other deserving children. We must start somewhere. The need of the children is overwhelming, your donation well appreciated.
Alan Ingram
2007 SCAW Kolkata Team
Bangladesh: We kept our promise
Sometimes, even with our best efforts, a commitment can't be fulfilled. That is what happened with our Bangladesh Team 2006 during its November distribution of 8,000 bedkits to the children of Bangladesh.Due to erupting political turmoil that occurred after 5,499 bedkits had been distributed, the team was forced to stay in their residence. After a few days with the conditions remaining unsafe the Board of Directors decided to bring the team home.
What about the 2,501 children who had been promised bedkits? It wasn't fair that they should be disappointed. What about the bedkits in storage? Would they be safe during these unsettled times?
The Dhaka Lions Club, who had spent so much time and energy working as our overseas partners on this distribution were quite concerned. If we could not return in short order, there would be costs to them for storage, security guards, and possible repackaging to protect the bedkits from the elements. And what about the children who had been promised a bedkit?
It was decided that we would return to Bangladesh the moment that the blockades were removed and peace and order restored. We decided to send one SCAW volunteer to supervise this distribution with monumental assistance from the Dhaka Lions Club members. I was the lucky volunteer and I was thrilled.
We kept a close watch on the political situation, avidly read every travel advisory, and stayed in touch with our overseas partners in Bangladesh.
Everything seemed to converge in a positive way on Friday, December 1: my visa arrived and the political parties agreed to a truce. My flights were booked and I left on Tuesday December 5th.
The Lions Club planned to distribute 1,300 bedkits on the 8th, 1,201 on the 9th, leave one day to deal with any unforseen circumstances, hold an evaluation meeting on the 10th, and I would fly back home early on the morning of the 11th.
And that was what happened.
Everything worked out so well. The children were so excited with their bedkits!
The distribution sites were all about a two-and-a-half hour drive from the city of Dhaka. Each day we went to two different sites.
When I arrived at the site everything was in order. The children were getting changed into their new clothes. I set to work confirming that the bedkits were in order as well as setting up to take the photographs.
In order to be able to verify the whole distribution procedure I set up the photographing area in a central position enabling me to see all aspects of the distribution. The excellent volunteers provided by the Lions manned the positions usually covered by the SCAW travelling volunteers.
I missed the fact that I could not personally interact with the children as much as I would have liked but this was the trade-off.
I had previously always wondered why we had a sweater in the bedkit. World weather reports were always commenting on the heat of Bangladesh. Now I understood. It was quite chilly in the mornings. Everyone was wearing jackets, some wearing scarves and gloves. As confirmed by my questioning of the children, the sweater in the bedkit is a very important item.
Children bring out the best in us! We are very lucky!
My report back to you donors, is that the promises that we have made to you have been honoured. The children did receive your precious bedkits!
ON BEHALF OF THE CHILDREN, MANY THANKS!!
Dave Dryden
SCAW Travelling Volunteer
Bangladesh: Khoda haphes. Abar dakha hobe.
As we pressed on hour by hour over the Atlantic on October 29th, visions of delicious curries, balmy temperatures, renewing friendships, and the smiles of 8,000 children, danced in our heads. Little did we know that a political storm was brewing in Bangladesh.We arrived to the misgivings of the Rotary Club. There was discussion of postponing the Bangladesh distribution to February, 2007, following the country’s elections. Fortunately, since the political parties had agreed to a period of peace, we were able to distribute to the 4,000 children selected by Rotary, and started enthusiastically into the distribution of the 4,000 bedkits to be supervised by the Lions Club of Dhaka, Supreme View.
Along with the Rotary Club of Dhaka (See Report 6 – Our Rotary OVO), the Lions Club of Dhaka has been our volunteer service club for many years. The chair of the Club, Mr. Hadi, and his wife, Marzan, have fond memories of visiting Murray Dryden in Toronto. Mr. Hadi emotionally recalls Murray laying his hands on his head and blessing him. The Lions are involved in a number of social service activities. They are devoted to the SCAW program and to the children of Bangladesh.
The Hadis, along with their sons, Rahman and Nahian, and extended family members, have faithfully participated in the distributions over the past several years. As the SCAW team watched the unveiling of the sample bedkit, Marzan’s talent for design and colour was immediately apparent in the beautiful outfits for the girls. Rahman and Nahian have grown into conscientious young men who willingly supervise the dressing of the boys and ready them for the photographs. They enthusiastically assume any job that facilitates the smooth running of the distribution. Nahian was invaluable as interpreter during the parent surveys. He also displayed some talent as a cricketer.
Even as Professor Muhammad Yunus, Bangladeshi economist and microfinance pioneer, was being feted for winning the Nobel Peace Prize, political tempers flared and the opposition 14-Party Alliance laid siege to Dhaka City, blocking roads and bridges. Two days into the Lions' distribution, the SCAW Team was virtually grounded.
We waited patiently, but, as the situation demonstrated the potential to escalate, and our hearts heavy with the disappointment of not reaching the last 2,500 children, we returned to the peace and safety of Canada.
We pray that the kind and courageous people of Bangladesh will find peace and prosperity. Abar dakha hobe.
Linda Webb
SCAW Travelling Volunteer
Bangladesh: Bangladesh on the Map
Sunday, Nov.12, 2006
On our Bangladesh map there is an inset entitled "Bangladesh in the World." The tiny red dot appears insignificant in the grand scheme of things but we now know that this dot represents millions of warm, hospitable people, most of whom are struggling to eke out an existence. Often in countries such as this, where corruption in business and politics is the norm, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, frustrations give way to political unrest. Such is the case in Bangladesh at the moment.
Normal life and business activities have come to a standstill as an indefinite blockade programme, enforced by a fourteen-party alliance, started Sunday across the country. This initiative has brought Dhaka, and the SCAW team, to a standstill. Although it is easy to understand what motivated the opposition to strike, it is difficult to see what will be gained from it.
The hiatus has given us time to reflect on where we have been, what we have done, and on the many fascinating people we have met along the way. We have already written about our volunteer partners and their efforts to help their people but working in Bangladesh are many more folks who have a heart for humanitarian efforts here.
One such person is an obstetrician/gynecologist from New York whom we met on the plane from London. She came to Dhaka to study the work of BRAC, which is the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee. BRAC is recognized as one of the foremost national initiatives for providing aid to rural areas in the world. Small villages have centres where women are taught to use the skills handed down to them to create crafts such as needlework, weaving, pottery, and beadwork.
Outlets for sale of the goods provide income to purchase more materials and support for the women and their families. BRAC also has local schools which enable students to attend at times more convenient to their work obligations while extra help gives the struggling student a chance to succeed. BRAC University takes these young people one step further as they gain education they need to get ahead. Women’s’ health issues are of some concern to BRAC and because of our friend’s expertise she was able to initiate a programme to give local midwives ongoing training which would enable them to provide safer deliveries and to recognize the need to transfer the woman to hospital if the situation warranted it.
Visiting slums and rural homes, hospitals and clinics, she was able to share her knowledge to improve conditions here. Having retired from active practice, she is now planning on using her gifts, along with what she gained from her time with BRAC, to start a similar programme in Colombia. It was a privilege to spend time with this woman.
It has often been said that it is a small world and this has never been more true than during our time in Dhaka. A volunteer in the SCAW office in Toronto has a sister whose husband is affiliated with the British Embassy here. Over the past two weeks she has been most helpful, providing travel advisories and updates and last evening, inviting us to dinner with her family.
A teacher by profession, she told us about a volunteer project which assists girls here in the city. Thirty of these girls are orphans who are learning to sew, with a view to eventually being able to work independently or in the garment industry to earn a living. The materials — including the sewing machines — were purchased by our friend to get the programme started. Successes are celebrated by all involved.
A somewhat more ambitious project involves former sex trade workers, some very young, to enable them to get off of the street. Bringing with them a myriad of emotional problems, these young women enjoy fewer gains, but nonetheless the programme continues to give them a chance to get their lives on the right track. All this just for the joy of helping someone, makes this woman a very special woman and a real joy to know.
Murray Dryden was fond of telling the Starfish Story: A young boy was walking along a beach strewn with starfish washed up on shore. As he walked, the boy picked up a starfish and threw it back into the water, repeating this often as he went. Watching him, a somewhat cynical man asked, “What good do you think that will do? There are thousands of them.” The young man bent down, picked up a starfish, and threw it back. “It will make a difference to that one!”
Surely this is what SCAW and our new friends are doing. Unable to undertake a project to change a nation, people are being helped one at a time — and lives are being changed.
Ron and Mary Ann King
SCAW Travelling Volunteers
On our Bangladesh map there is an inset entitled "Bangladesh in the World." The tiny red dot appears insignificant in the grand scheme of things but we now know that this dot represents millions of warm, hospitable people, most of whom are struggling to eke out an existence. Often in countries such as this, where corruption in business and politics is the norm, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, frustrations give way to political unrest. Such is the case in Bangladesh at the moment.
Normal life and business activities have come to a standstill as an indefinite blockade programme, enforced by a fourteen-party alliance, started Sunday across the country. This initiative has brought Dhaka, and the SCAW team, to a standstill. Although it is easy to understand what motivated the opposition to strike, it is difficult to see what will be gained from it.
The hiatus has given us time to reflect on where we have been, what we have done, and on the many fascinating people we have met along the way. We have already written about our volunteer partners and their efforts to help their people but working in Bangladesh are many more folks who have a heart for humanitarian efforts here.
One such person is an obstetrician/gynecologist from New York whom we met on the plane from London. She came to Dhaka to study the work of BRAC, which is the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee. BRAC is recognized as one of the foremost national initiatives for providing aid to rural areas in the world. Small villages have centres where women are taught to use the skills handed down to them to create crafts such as needlework, weaving, pottery, and beadwork.
Outlets for sale of the goods provide income to purchase more materials and support for the women and their families. BRAC also has local schools which enable students to attend at times more convenient to their work obligations while extra help gives the struggling student a chance to succeed. BRAC University takes these young people one step further as they gain education they need to get ahead. Women’s’ health issues are of some concern to BRAC and because of our friend’s expertise she was able to initiate a programme to give local midwives ongoing training which would enable them to provide safer deliveries and to recognize the need to transfer the woman to hospital if the situation warranted it.
Visiting slums and rural homes, hospitals and clinics, she was able to share her knowledge to improve conditions here. Having retired from active practice, she is now planning on using her gifts, along with what she gained from her time with BRAC, to start a similar programme in Colombia. It was a privilege to spend time with this woman.
It has often been said that it is a small world and this has never been more true than during our time in Dhaka. A volunteer in the SCAW office in Toronto has a sister whose husband is affiliated with the British Embassy here. Over the past two weeks she has been most helpful, providing travel advisories and updates and last evening, inviting us to dinner with her family.
A teacher by profession, she told us about a volunteer project which assists girls here in the city. Thirty of these girls are orphans who are learning to sew, with a view to eventually being able to work independently or in the garment industry to earn a living. The materials — including the sewing machines — were purchased by our friend to get the programme started. Successes are celebrated by all involved.
A somewhat more ambitious project involves former sex trade workers, some very young, to enable them to get off of the street. Bringing with them a myriad of emotional problems, these young women enjoy fewer gains, but nonetheless the programme continues to give them a chance to get their lives on the right track. All this just for the joy of helping someone, makes this woman a very special woman and a real joy to know.
Murray Dryden was fond of telling the Starfish Story: A young boy was walking along a beach strewn with starfish washed up on shore. As he walked, the boy picked up a starfish and threw it back into the water, repeating this often as he went. Watching him, a somewhat cynical man asked, “What good do you think that will do? There are thousands of them.” The young man bent down, picked up a starfish, and threw it back. “It will make a difference to that one!”
Surely this is what SCAW and our new friends are doing. Unable to undertake a project to change a nation, people are being helped one at a time — and lives are being changed.
Ron and Mary Ann King
SCAW Travelling Volunteers