Uganda: Upcountry in Mityana

From Uganda 2009 Photo Album

We left our Kampala accommodations at 7:30 in the morning knowing that it was going to be seven nights on the bumpy roads of rural Uganda.

Our first stop was Mityana, a rural area in the hills west of Uganda. We arrived to five hundred children lined up outside their government-sponsored school.

We explained to the children the gift that they were about to receive from their donor. The cheers of the children as we showed them the bedkits items was truly heart-warming.

Then our team got into action, ensuring that we kept our promise to the donors of the bedkits.

The photos show our team with the children - Ruth and Annette handing out the bedkits, Shirley ensuring with Sieg that our accounts and labels were correct, and Greg greeting the children and getting them ready for the photos.

To see all the photos, go to the Uganda 2009 Photo Album.

Debbie Will-Dryden for the Uganda team

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Uganda: Going Upcountry

From Uganda 2009 Photo Album

Short message from the 2009 Uganda team:

Today we leave to go upcountry for seven nights. Hopefully we will have access to the computer. Keep your fingers crossed!

... we also received more photos from yesterday's distribution, including the tire rim school bell pictured at right. To see them all go to the Uganda 2009 Photo Album.

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Uganda: Second distribution

Click photos to see larger versions. From Uganda 2009 Photo Album

Today we went outside of Kampala to distribute 500 bedkits.

We started the day with overcast weather, then it got hot, then windy, then rainy, and finally we ended a wonderful distribution with sunshine.

After the distribution, we ate lunch at the site. Today's site was a government-sponsored school, with children from form one to form seven. The classrooms were bare of educational materials with the exception of a few student exercise and writing books.

We saw the children playing outside, skipping and playing soccer, just like our students do at home. The only difference is that these children were skipping with pieces of twine knotted together and their soccer ball was an empty plastic water bottle.

We could see from the signs posted around the school that the education of these children is all-encompassing.

Today's photos show some of our bedkit recipients with the school signs in the background.

A tire rim is rung like a bell at the end of class.

Debbie Will-Dryden for the Uganda team

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Uganda: First distribution

From Uganda 2009 Photo Album

Today our team of six Sleeping Children Canadians and twelve Inner Wheel of Kampala members traveled to Wakiso district, just over an hour outside of the city limits.

We saw many beautiful sights along the way. We saw bouncing billy goats, markets filled with painstakingly arranged pyramids of tomatoes and mangoes, traffic jams and bikes, and bumpy red clay roads.

But the best sight of the day was the five hundred children waving celebratory flags, greeting us as we arrived at the distribution site. This is what we've chosen to send as today's pictures: the smiling faces of the children who received your bedkits!

Debbie Will-Dryden for the Uganda team

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Togo: The distribution is complete

From Togo Photo Album 2009

Mida akpé na SCAW bé amédodowo bena wova na kado dévi 4,000 lé Togo.

Mawu na yra mi katan.

Akpé na Mawu béna dévi 4,000 ho nunana siawo.

Mi kpa eye Muwu na yra mi.

From Dosseh and SCAW Team Togo

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Uganda: Preparing for a distribution

From Uganda 2009 Photo Album

Monday we went to see where the bedkits items were made and the bedkits stored.

We had our pre-distribution meeting tonight here at our guest house with the Inner Wheel of Kampala and our team of SCAW volunteers.

Our first distribution starts tomorrow. We all helped load the bedkits on the truck for the trip to the distribution site on Tuesday.

Debbie Will-Dryden for the Uganda team

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Togo: Nos volontaires Togolaise

Notre équipe SCAW bénéficie des talents exceptionnels de nos volontaires Togolais. Une vingtaine de personnes fortes nous aide avec des tâches variées ce qui fait possible nos distributions.

Les volontaires arrivent sur le site de distribution à cinq heures du matin. Ils accueillent les enfants qui arrivent à cinq heure et demie. Ils habillent les enfants dans leurs nouveaux ensembles. Imaginez-vous la joie et le bruit de ces six cents élèves!

Les volontaires doivent aussi sécuriser le site. Nous voyons souvent que les volontaires ont déménagé des pupitres doubles pour faire une barrière pour séparer les parents des activités de distribution.

Les volontaires supervisent les enfants pendant toutes les étapes d’une distribution jusqu'à ce que chaque enfant soit livré à son parent.

Quel niveau exceptionnel de service donnent ces volontaires aux enfants du Togo!

Leslie Banner et l’équipe de Togo

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Our SCAW team benefits from the exceptional talents of our Togolese
volunteers. A group of twenty dependable people help us with the
various tasks necessary for a distribution.

They arrive at the distribution site at five in the morning. They
organize the children who arrive at five thirty. They help the
children get dressed up in their new outfits. Imagine the joy and the
noise of six hundred children.

They also look after securing the site. Often they'll move desks to
provide a barrier between our distribution activities and the waiting
parents.

They supervise the children during every stage of a distribution, from
the time they arrive till they are back with their parents.

An exceptional level of service is given by these volunteers to the
children of Togo!

Uganda: The team has arrived.

From Uganda 2009 Photo Album

The team left Toronto airport Friday evening and arrived in Uganda today.

Top picture shows the Uganda 2009 SCAW team in Toronto: (Left to Right) Greg O’Neill, Ruth Sealy, Debbie Will-Dryden & Sieg Will (Team Leaders), Shirley Aerts, Annette Arnold.

Bottom photo shows them being greeted at the airport in Entebbe.

Debbie attached a note:

"We are at our guest house getting settled. Tomorrow we are checking out the manufacturing facilities and helping to load the trucks with the bedkits."

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Togo: Two more distributions completed

From Togo Photo Album 2009

At the end of each of the last two distributions, the SCAW Team visited the home of the one of the recipients.

It was made very obvious to us why SCAW has brought us to Togo. We saw homes that were single-room, mud-walled houses. These houses were stifling hot and dark. There was a simple entrance door and no windows for ventilation. The six Canadians found it difficult to believe that a family of as many as eight individuals could live in conditions such as these.

We were greeted by the parents and the children with smiles of gratitude and thanks. The mattress that is part of the bedkit will provide the children in these homes with the opportunity to sleep in a proper bed for the first time in their lives.

We were struck by the fact that these homes did not have safe drinking water. A large cistern collects rainwater which quickly becomes rancid.

It reminded us of our good fortune to live in Canada.

Kathy et l'équipe Togo

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Uganda: Leave your comments here

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Togo: Garnice's Dream

The Ware Sisters From Togo Photo Album 2009

It had always been Garnice Ware's dream to participate in a SCAW distribution. We, Judy, Kathy and Linda (In the photo at right) have the privilege to be in Togo with SCAW today.

The welcome from the beautiful children, their families, teachers, and community leaders has been overwhelming.

The opporunity to share a day in their community has given us an invaluable insight into their life. However poor to our western eyes, they celebrate life with song and dance.

Our mother knew this unique travel experience would be both memorable and benefical.

Linda and the Togo Team

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Togo: Day 3

From Togo Photo Album 2009

Today we distributed at a beautiful rural school setting north of Lome. We met a community of gentle caregivers who welcomed us to their local school. It was an exceptional day.

It was our privilege to interview two student recipients, two mothers, one teacher, and one father. Kathy Ware expertly led the conversation with these people that gave us a better insight into those things in the bedkit that were valued most. We also gained a precious insight into those bedkit items that may even have greater meaning for them in the future.

This process was facilitated by Segnon, a young Togolese volunteer who made it possible for us to understand the interests of our recipients. This is a process that excites our team as we watch the empowerment of our recipients.

Our donors should share in this feeling of success in the knowledge that each one of their dollars is being spent in the most effective manner.

Cynthia Harris and the Togo Team

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Togo: Distribution at Akodessewa

From Togo Photo Album 2009

Today we distributed 602 bedkits at an inner city school.

Despite the heat, it was a very successful and satisfying experience for us and the many volunteers without whom we could never have got the job done.

We met Frank Gafan who is a native Togolese who works with the National YMCA of Togo. He runs a program for young offenders in detention, which has a major focus on the development of these teens and young adults.

He became a full participant in today’s distribution. He emphasized to us the tremendous importance of our work.

He reminded us that this is only possible by your on-going generosity.

Grant, Leslie and the Togo Team

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Togo: First distribution complete

Hi Everybody,

We had a great day in Assome, just 45 minutes away from Lomé. Our drive through the city into the country side was entertaining. The last section tilted our van percariously at times. The real entertainment began as we arrived with volunteers, parents, teachers, and children to welcome us all. We were treated to native songs and dance performed by children dressed in native costume.

We left the site knowing that 420 children will sleep better and benefit from the safety of a mosquito net. The children looked beautiful in their new brightly coloured clothes.

Judy and the Togo team

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Togo: The team has arrived

From Togo Photo Album 2009

The Togo team met at the beginning of May to prepare for their trip to deliver 4,000 bedkits this month.

Pictured (Left to Right) Cynthia Harris, Kathy Ware, Grant Clark & Leslie Banner (Team Leaders), Linda Ware, Judith Ware-Weil.

Cynthia and Judy emailed word on Sunday, the 17^th that they had all arrived safely and were preparing for their first distribution on Victoria Day Monday.

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Togo: Post your comments here

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Philippines: Mission Accomplished

The Philippines 2009 travelling team has returned to Canada after delivering bedkits to 6,000 children in the Philippines -- 6,000 children who will now sleep more soundly thanks to our donors.


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Philippines: When it Rains ...

From Philippines 2009 Photo Album

When it rains it pours.

All of our distributions have taken place under tin-roofed open aired auditoriums or school assembly areas. At first the air was thick and sticky as we distributed the bedkits to the children. We wondered if a cool breeze would ever come our way. Well, our wish came true. In a downpour the likes of which we have never seen. The noise of the rain hitting the roof made it impossible to hear and rather than have the children leave the distribution in the rain and risk getting their bedkit wet, we waited almost an hour for the rain to subside.

We all laughed later at the noise and size of the raindrops (We are sure they were as big as we have ever seen.) but it didn't dampen the excitement of the kids as they waited happily -- if it was raining or if the sun was shining -- but, boy, when it rains here, it sure does pour.

Team Philippines 2009

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Philippines: A day in the life ...

From Philippines 2009 Photo Album

A day in the life of a mother of six in a shanty town in the Philippines

A mother of six was interviewed by one of the Sleeping Children team and it was very informative. She was asked what a typical day for her would be like.

She said that she wakes up early and feeds her children and then in the summer works with her husband all day in the rice fields. She says that they make about two dollars a day and sometimes less if they can't sell their produce. After working all day she returns to her one-room home where she cooks supper over a wood fire for her family. They sleep altogether on a mud floor and because of the danger of malaria and dengue fever she must wrap her family in blankets to keep away the mosquitoes.

She was so thankful that a malaria net was included in the kit because now they all can sleep under the net and the blankets will not be necessary. She said that the heat is unbearable sometimes in their tiny home. She was so thankful that her daughter was receiving a bedkit and because she said she wanted to teach her daughter how to care for the bedkit so she could give it to her daughter!

She told us that her dream for her daughter had come true!

Nancy Loveless
for the Philippines 2009 SCAW Travelling Team

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Philippines: Treated like a rock star

From Philippines 2009 Photo Album

Wow. What a day!

Due to Manilla traffic,  we had a police motorcycle escort to our distribution site. We were treated like royalty or a rock star!   We certainly felt very special. We felt like  'kids in the car.' ... excited ... chatty ... wondering what's next. Or like the kids felt when we arrived at the distribution.

We arrived to cheering, clapping children. We wove our way through them shaking hands, getting "high fives," connecting, before we set up.

As we saw their large, brown, dancing eyes, and the  excitement  of the day to come, and what was next, we realized that we are all kids at heart.

And as you know ... we were as excited as they were!

Today's picture shows our bedkit recipients of yesterday's blog with Dr. Ito Torres who has been the Kiwanis organizer in the Philippines for the past 25 years. He was a very close friend of Murray Dryden and told us many heartwarming stories about our SCAW founder.

From the Philippines 2009 SCAW Travelling Team

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