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Belgaum: Mission Accomplished

From Belgaum 2009 Photo Album
4,000 Bedkits distributed in Belgaum

On Sunday, February 22nd, 850 bedkits were delivered in Hubli marking the end of our quest to deliver 4,000 bedkits to needy children in the Belgaum area. The Rotary Club of Hubli, who have been distributing bedkits in their area for over 25 years, had the distribution well organized in a Rotary-sponsored school for over 2,000 children. The bedlit recipients came from towns and villages in and around Hubli.

There was great joy when each child accepted his/her bedkit and reconnected with their parents, grandparents, or guardians. In this distribution, there were a good number of hearing-impaired children who had enhancers and hedphones to help them hear.

The Rotary Club of Belgaum were responsible for the entire 4,000 bedkit distribution and they made it easy for the SCAW team to deliver bedkits on behalf of our donors. Our team wishes to thank our many donors and The Rotary Clubs of Belgaum, Chikodi, Athani, Bailongal, Ranebrennur, Kundgol, and Hubli for their valuable contributions to making this distribution such a success.

4,000 very needy children in the Belgaum area will be sleeping more soundly to-night!

The Belgaum Team

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Pune: Another fine day

From Pune 2009 Photo Album
Today’s distribution of 568 bedkits took place in the village of Javelbalshwar, tucked away at the base of an impressive mountain range. It appeared that the whole village of 2,000 people turned out to warmly welcome us and remain as curious onlookers. The small courtyard flow worked well with an impressive arrangement for shoe fitting as the children walked up a ramp to receive their bedkits. Plenty of enthusiastic shouts of “OK” were heard well outside the distribution walls, as Dave clicked away followed by lots of unsolicited “Namaste” from the children after having their photo taken.

We’d like to mention two additional volunteers to our Pune team. Steve Buist, a reporter from the Hamilton Spectator, and Greg Dryden who will be joining the distribution.

Post distribution we had a chance to meet the school principal and express our thanks to him and his team for selecting the children. Prior to our departure we visited a mountain top Hindu temple where 100,000 people are estimated to celebrate a local festival tomorrow.

For more photos, check out the Pune 2009 Photo Album.

The Pune team

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Pune: First distribution complete

From Pune 2009 Photo Album
Today was the first of five distributions for Pune 2009. The village, Sarole Pathar, was a three-hour drive outside the city limits.

Immediately upon the team's arrival, the children danced us along a road to the school with a musical procession. After introductory speeches by the Rotarians and Dave, we were impressed to hear a well-versed and memorized thank you speech delivered by a local six-year-old schoolboy in English.

627 bedkits were distributed at Z. P. Primary School with thanks to the Rotarians, who worked hard to ensure a smooth transition. A good amount of shelter was set up to keep the children in the shade while they awaited their photo and progressed to their backpack and bedkit collection areas.

Three sets of parents were interviewed with feedback noting that the shoes, one size up, plus pencils and notebooks were the most important items in the bedkit.

Anaka, Theo, Jeff and Chris did the Drydens proud stewarding the children from the photo site to the distribution area where they handed out backpacks, bedkits, hats, and stamped hands with a great sense of helpfulness.

Post distribution we were treated to a Maharastra dance depicting a wedding ceremony by the schoolchildren in full costume. Thumbs up to Judy for learning three new native phrases in her “hands up” rendition, Dave for scoring big smiles and minimal thumbs up with smiling outbursts of “OK,” and Wes for scouting out a set of six clay bricks (Murray would approve) to elevate the label holders.

The Pune team

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Belgaum: 300 bedkits in Kundgal

From Belgaum 2009 Photo Album
Day 6: 3,150 bedkits to date.

Today we distributed 300 bedkits in Kundgal, a rural area about an hour outside Hubli. The site was a school and the children were incredibly welcoming. They couldn't wait to shake our hands and try out their few English words on us. The Rotarians from Kundgal were also welcoming and did an excellent job organizing the day.

Gary Comerford has joined the team for three distributions and today was acknowledged by his fellow Rotarians because he contributed 700 SCAW bedkits to India. He did this by raising money, running a marathon.This is a project of Gary's and he has been running marathons and raising money for for the past seven years, with 100% of the money going to SCAW. This is his way of trying to help eradicate the poverty in India.

Gary has been a great asset to SCAW financially and also as a participant with us for three days on the Belgaum team. In this distribution in Kundgol, we had the opportunity of seeing the SCAW circle completed: Donor (Gary), Volunteers (in office and those who travel), Overseas Volunteer Organization (Rotary), and 300 beautiful Children.

We wish every donor could see the joy of the children and parents that Gary has experienced.

The Belgaum Team

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Belgaum: 700 children in Ranebennur

From Belgaum 2009 Photo Album
Day 5

On day five we departed from Hubli, a large industrial city, 100 kms from Belgaum. It was an interesting drive through the "Holland Marsh" of Karnataka: cotton, sunflowers, grapes, and grains.

The setting chosen for the distribution in Ranebennur was at a Rotarian funded school for over 1000 students.
Under a colourful canopy, 700 children waited patiently for a bedkit, sometimes for as long as five hours. Can you imagine Canadian children sitting still for that long?

Many of the parents saw their children enter through the front gate and had to wait at a different door those same five hours.
Some were mothers but one was clearly the age of a great-grandparent. He was very anxious and only relaxed when escorted into the distribution site and was able to see his child still waiting.

The Rotarians of Ranebennur and the teachers made our day run smoothly.

Smiles all around.

The Belgaum Team

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Pune: The team is in India

From Pune 2009 Photo Album
Part of our team left Toronto overnight to Heathrow. After a daytime sleep in a nice hotel we met Wes and Rosemary and went on another overnight flight to Mumbai. After a few hours there a very tired group arrived in Pune. The Rotarians met us at the airport and took us to the YMCA. After settling in and having a lovely dinner we went to SLEEP!!!

From Pune 2009 Photo Album
This morning after our intrepid leader, Dave, locked himself and Jeff out of their room, we are doing errands and relaxing this morning before a meeting with the Rotarians this afternoon.

Tomorrow we start our distributions!

The Pune team
In top photo from left to right:
Dave Dryden, Christopher Dryden, Rosemary Burton, Jeff Dryden, Tyler Burton, Anaka Will-Dryden, Wes Burton, Sandra Dryden, Sieg Will, Theo Dryden, Debbie Will-Dryden, Judy Dryden

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Belgaum: 401 bedkits in Bailhongal

From Belgaum 2009 Photo Album
Day 4: Now totalling: 2,150

Up again early, with the call to prayer , the barking dogs, and dawn. Had a delightful two-hour drive into rural India and a small community (by Indian standards) called Bailhongal. On the way we were much impressed by streams of children and women carrying water or heading for a water pump. It is a humbling reminder of how much we North Americans take ample clean water for granted.

On our arrival the Rotarians were quick to feed us breakfast and we were delighted to see how equally quick they were to feed the children. This group of children were delightful: full of smiles and eager to shake our hands.

We had lots of help, with more than 70 youth volunteers. As always we left with warm memories of friendly Rotarians and happy appreciative children.

After the distribution we drove for a couple of hours through more interesting country scenes to Hubli, where we are now centered for the next three days.

The Belgaum Team

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Chennai: A worthy job

From Chennai Photo Album 2009
The final Distribution of the 2009 Chennai Trip occurred in a small school on the outskirts of Port Blair, Andaman Islands, India, on February 17th. The school was located in a particularly poor area with an almost impassable road leading to it.

The children here had missed our initial Port Blair Distribution because of a mix up in schedules and bus availability. They were a particularly joyous groups, full of broad smiles and bodies full of energy. It was a fitting end to a most memorable experience for all of us.

Although exhausted from the many adventures we had experienced, it was time for reflect upon some of the most poignant memories during our trip:
  • The single mother, whose husband had died of cancer, leaving her with three children to bring up ... while working at the most menial of jobs ... in a stone quarry. Oh what courage and determination.
  • The young boy whose both feet were turned in (club feet). That didn’t stop him from keeping up with his peers as he hobbled along in sandals ... just one of the gang.
  • The gaiety and effusive joy of the girls at a Girls School in Nellore who prepared for our arrival one month in advance, showing off with pride their crafts, herbal gardening, school study projects, different religions reflected in the School, their knowledge, baking and cooking, etc.
  • The smallness in many of the children who vastly under portrayed their ages due to malnutrition.
  • Listening to our hosts on the Andaman’s describe their memories of the 2004 Earthquake and following Tsunami ... especially the disastrously heavy tolls taken in their neighbouring sister Islands in the Nicobars, located south of them.
  • The skills and hard work by the many India Volunteers we met everywhere during our trip ... trying to better the lot of those in need through education and life skills.
  • And the unswerving friendship and dedication of the members of the Rotary Club and Ambattur whose support made the success of this trip possible.
There were many memories for each of us to weave together into what forms the mosaic of this trip. 6,000 BedKits were distributed to the neediest. It was our privilege to represent all our donor’s during this trip as well as having all of you who did follow our blogs, join us on our journey.

Our Team thanks you for your support and prayers.

Respectfully submitted
Tom Belton, Team Leader

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Belgaum: 399 bedkits at Athani

From Belgaum 2009 Photo Album
1,749 bedkits delivered to-date.

We arrived in Athani, day three of our distribution, to be greeted by a wonderful welcoming ceremony, the first of several surprises to greet us. First, the Rotarian wives put kunkum, a red powder, on our foreheads and then we were presented with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. As we walked to our site, all the children who had been waiting for over an hour for us started clapping. It was a most gracious welcome.

Our next surprise happened with our very first group, who were physically and mentally disabled ... some severely. As Duncan was getting ready to take their photographs, one of the little boys jumped up and reached for the ball which was part of the display ... a perfect example of the excitement the children were feeling.

As usually happens on a distribution, there were a couple of quiet times when numbers were being counted. At these times, we spent time with the children, doing magic tricks and singing songs. Twice today we sang with them clapping hands and stamping feet and, to our amazement, twice they sang back to us, in their own language, with their beautiful voices, which were sure better than ours.

Finally, our last surprise occurred as Duncan was all set to take a picture of three children. All was ready when a mother pig and her pigglet walked in front of the display, causing great screams of laughter by everyone. A wonderful diversion.

And, yes, the distribution went well, but at the end of the day, it was these unexpected treasured memories that will stay with us for a long time.

The Belgaum Team

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Belgaum: 350 bedkits in Chickodi

From Belgaum 2009 Photo Album
Today we headed to the new distribution site in the rural village of Chickodi.

The Belgaum Rotarians guided the Chickodi Rotarians from the time they were chosen as a site until the end of a very successful distribution. It would not have flowed so well without the help of the female students from the Commerce College and Phys Ed College and the male Rotaractors.

Again the games, songs, and magic tricks from us did not fail to amuse these special children who need our help so badly. They were so happy in their fresh, new clothes and anticipated with excitment having their pictures taken.

As new volunteers, Carol and Doris truly understood why we were here.

"Hasa" means smile and smile they did, all 350 of them!

The Belgaum Team

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Belgaum: One thousand bedkits in one day

From Belgaum 2009 Photo Album
Today was incredible! We literally handed out over a ton of bedkits, and shook over a thousand tiny hands. there was an endless stream of slightly apprehensive but smiling children, who responded enthusiastically to singing and magic tricks.

With the Rotarians' excellent organization and the help of a terrific group of army cadets our initial distribution of one thousand bedkits went very smoothly.

The children waited patiently in the hot sun but were very pleased with and looked very smart in their new clothes.
there were many touching moments with lovely groups of truly charming children. It was certainly a very rewarding and satisfying day for everyone.

We look forward to an early start and another great day tomorrow.

We are sending the photo of Brian after handing out the bedkit to this young man. Who is happier, Brian or the young fella?

The Belgaum Team

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Chennai: 200 bedkits in Havelock

From Chennai Photo Album 2009
We have just returned from what all tourist books call "the most beautiful beach in the world," where we swam, body surfed, and breathed in the sunshine (with breeze); and we are presently waiting to gather for dinner.

We had a short distribution this morning of 200 bedkits in this island called "Havelock" in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. Six local schools took part in this very first distribution on these beautiful islands that suffered greatly at the time of the tsunami. The distribution went well and 200 children went home very happily.

We hope they had a swim in the clear azure waters of the Bay of Bengal.

Kristein Johnson
for Team Chennai 2009

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Chennai: 508 bedkits in the Andaman Islands

From Chennai Photo Album 2009
I am writing these notes on the ferry we are taking to Havelock Island on the Andaman Islands. As typical, the weather is beautifully sunny in the 30 degree range. Two days ago, we flew from Chennai to Port Blair on the Andaman Islands. After landing, we visited Ross Island, which was a picturesque land preserve for the British, before the Japanese destroyed it during WWII, but subsequently restored to its former grandeur as a historical park.

Yesterday, we did a "slumber kit" distribution of 508 kits. At the opening ceremony, the Administrator of the Andamans, who reports directly to the federal government in Delhi, spoke, and was accompanied by his education minister. Both the Ambattur and local Rotary Club representative spoke as well; the latter did the organization of the distribution in Port Blair. Tamil, Telugu and English were spoken, and of course, Hindi is the official language. Then Tom made a brief presentation of SCAW, and introduced our team, we all sat on the podium with the parents, children, and teachers in the audience. The distribution went very smoothly with assistance from high school students and some university students. The university boys were keen on peppering us with questions about Canada.

Local Rotary members, took a keen interest in the bedkit, when we laid it out for the photo sessions – this was the first time that they participated in the SCAW program. One member offered that we should have a water bottle in the kit, apparently, the government is trying to educate people on the significance of use of clean water for drinking and he thought that a water jug would be a good beginning for the children.

Later in the day, we visited the Cellular Jail, used by the British colonials to fetter the Indian freedom fighters, a dark age for the Andamans – the Island became a penal colony in the late 1800's and evolved into a national historic site in 1966. We came back the same night to see a light and sound show at the prison and learned more about the history of the Island and British rule. Later that night we had a joint meeting with the local Rotary Club, who seem to be very interested in continuing the relationship with SCAW.

As always, the real satisfaction was from the distribution and the anticipation in the kids' eyes receiving the "slumber kits".

Andy Greiner
for Team Chennai 2009

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Mumbai: Number 22, the final distribution

From Mumbai 2009 Photo Album
Once again today, we set out for a long drive (two hours) to reach the children of Karjat.  The school was set in an amazing setting at the foothills of the mountains, which provided a beautiful backdrop.  We delivered a total of 314 bedkits to the needy children of the area — a real feat as the heat and lack of air circulation made for a very sweaty day!

At the end of this, our final distribution, we were treated to a lunch at the country home of one of the Rotarians. We relaxed in the shade and enjoyed cold drinks.
 
The past two evenings, much to our delight, we had the pleasure of meeting up with Duncan McGregor and his team, en route to their distribution in India. It was great to have two separate teams (twelve SCAW members) dining together overseas! (See photo in the Belgaum report below.)
 
We are now wrapping up all of our loose ends and looking forward to the journey home!

Happy Valentine's Day and looking forward to seeing you all soon!
 
The Mumbai 2009 Team

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Belgaum: The team is in India


The last two days have been a wonderful start to our distribution in Belgaum.

After arriving in Mumbai safely in the early hours of the morning on February 13th (we left Toronto at 6:30 p.m. on the 11th), we made a trip into the centre of Mumbai and saw the Gateway of India and the famous Taj Mahal Palace and Tower complex. But the most interesting thing that happened on the 13th was our meeting up with the SCAW Mumbai Team which happened to be staying in the same location as the Belgaum Team and which also had a "day off" from their distribution in Mumbai.

SCAW travelling volunteers are: (Left to right) Back row: Doug Cunningham, Carol Poirier, Vic Wilbee, Doris Alexander, Brian Tuddenham, Pat Tuddenham, Duncan Macgregor, Grace Wood. Front row: JoAnn Moysey, Lisa Remillard, Lynette Jenkins, Sarah Axelson. (Click on photo to see a larger version.)

We are not sure if history was made when the two SCAW teams met and had dinner together. It was a grrrreat event and a memory that will be treasured. Valentine's Day was spent making a tour of Mumbai - another truly memorable experience!

To-morrow, the Belgaum Team heads to the airport for our trip to the Belgaum area where we will meet up with our Partners from The Rotary Club of Belgaum. Our next report will tell you about our "baptism by fire" - 1,000 bedkits to be distributed in Belgaum on our first day of the 4,000 bedkit distribution!

"Happy Valentine's" to all our friends and families.

The Belgaum Team

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