Philippines: The team has arrived
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| From Philippines 2010 |
- Tomorrow is day one of our distribution.
- Ready to go on Friday with our first 700 bedkits.
- 6,000 bedkits fill an entire three-bedroom house.
- Assembly plant is under a leanto in the back yard.
- What a wonderful friend we have in Dr Ito and his family.
- More later.
In the photo are the Philippines travelling team with Dr. Ito, our OVO leader and some of the 6,000 stored bedkits. (Left to right) Dr. Ito, Tom Chudleigh (Team Leader), Joyce Foster, Frank Best, Margaret Garrett, Marsha Hardy, Sally Jo Martin.
Margaret Garrett & Tom Chudleigh
for SCAW 2010 Philippines Team
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Philippines: Post your comments here
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Uganda: Sheka
“A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.”
Today was our third day of distributions, and we wanted to share our smile words:
SCAW Team Uganda 2010
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Today was our third day of distributions, and we wanted to share our smile words:
- Sheka (pronounced Shake-ah) means to laugh and smile (singular)
- Musheke (pronounced Moo-shake-ee) means to laugh and smile (pural)
SCAW Team Uganda 2010
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Uganda: Stark Contrasts
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| From Uganda Photos 2010 |
Sir Franicis Bacon said: “In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present."
We encounter the very same each and every day.
We see so many children in need, yet there is a light and joy of life not often experienced in the western world. The peoples here hold each and every healthy day here so dear and it is in each day’s contrast that the beauty of Uganda is so clearly seen:
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| From Uganda Photos 2010 |
- The vibrant red dirt, the whitest of white shirt.
- Unimaginable heat, beautiful deep green vegetation.
- Difficult infrastructure, while supporting a sea of movement (people walking, riding, driving).
- A pair of mismatched shoes …
for SCAW Team Uganda 2010
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Uganda: The Inner Wheel of Kampala
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| From Uganda Photos 2010 |
For each distribution, the SCAW team is paired up with an Overseas Volunteer Organization. Team Uganda has been paired with the Inner Wheel of Kampala for seventeen years. The Inner Wheel is made up of service-minded women who donate money and raise awareness about important issues in their community.
Each year, this team of women has taken SCAW under their wing and been an important force in making sure each distribution happens. One main job that the Inner Wheel has is determining which children receive bedkits and what items make up the bedkit.
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| From Uganda Photos 2010 |
Some of the things that they have done include paying school fees for children, building a protected well, donating money to hospitals and schools, giving out wheelchairs, and informing other people on HIV/AIDS. We are incredibly lucky to be partnered with this wonderful group of women.
Laurie Guay
for SCAW Team Uganda 2010
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Uganda: The whole team is here
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| From Uganda Photos 2010 |
Pictured (Left to Right) is the SCAW Uganda 2010 Travelling Team: (Back Row) Nancy Holt, Sieg Will & Debbie Will-Dryden (Team Leaders). (Front Row) Jenny Simpson, Diane Warkentin, Laurie Guay.
Nancy arrived this afternoon and we all attended our predistribution meeting at a beautiful estate in the hills of Uganda.
We are looking forward to meeting 500 Ugandan children tomorrow morning!
Debbie Will-Dryden
for SCAW Team Uganda 2010
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Uganda: Getting ready in Kampala
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| From Uganda Photos 2010 |
We also visited the homes of three former bedkit recipients. It was very emotional for us all.
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| From Uganda Photos 2010 |
Another recipient now lives with her grandmother and twenty-four other grandchildren as the parents have all died of AIDS. Another lives with her grandmother and struggles with being a parapalegic in Uganda society.
It was a day that made us all eager to get to the work of distributing the bedkits!
Debbie Will-Dryden
for SCAW Team Uganda 2010
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Uganda: The team is assembling
A brief email arrived this afternoon
Debbie Will-Dryden
for SCAW Team Uganda 2010
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Just wanted to let you know that 5 of the 6 team members have safely arrived in Uganda. Jenny, Laurie, Di, Sieg, and I left on Wednesday and Nancy arrives on Sunday. Will update with photos once we begin our work tomorrow.
Debbie Will-Dryden
for SCAW Team Uganda 2010
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Uganda: Post your comments here
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Togo: 4,000 Bedkits -- Mission Accomplished
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| From Togo 2010 Photos |
"It is the right of every child to have a peaceful night's sleep."
- Murray Dryden, circa 1970
Au revoir Togo.
Team Togo 2010
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Togo: 4,000 Bedkits
Children in Canada think that 4000 bedkits are a lot. For children in Togo it is merely a beginning.Many are waiting!
Team Togo 2010
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Togo: Our OVO
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| From Togo 2010 Photos |
"How did SCAW transport the bedkits to Africa?"
"We didn't. The Overseas Volunteer Organization, (Action Enfance et Développement - Togo) sourced all items in their country."
"How did SCAW deliver the kits to the remote villages?"
"We didn't. The Overseas Volunteer Organization [OVO] arranged for lorries to deliver them."
"How did SCAW get bedkit items at the best quality and price?"
"We didn't. The OVO received competitive quotes."
"How did SCAW select the children?"
"We didn't. The OVO identified children from a strict selection criteria."
"How did SCAW arrange for your security in Africa?"
"We didn't. The OVO was with us at all times during our stay."
"We didn't. The Overseas Volunteer Organization, (Action Enfance et Développement - Togo) sourced all items in their country."
"How did SCAW deliver the kits to the remote villages?"
"We didn't. The Overseas Volunteer Organization [OVO] arranged for lorries to deliver them."
"How did SCAW get bedkit items at the best quality and price?"
"We didn't. The OVO received competitive quotes."
"How did SCAW select the children?"
"We didn't. The OVO identified children from a strict selection criteria."
"How did SCAW arrange for your security in Africa?"
"We didn't. The OVO was with us at all times during our stay."
Our partnership with our OVO is "the magic" that makes the distribution process possible on behalf of the children and our donors.
Bravo OVO!
Team Togo
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Togo: Personal touch
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| From Togo 2010 Photos |
They identify each of our donors. They also verify that $35 has been received for each bedkit. A label appears in each photograph together with the child and the bedkit items. The label is the connection between the donor and the recipient.
Labels tell many stories. They remind us of special occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries. They describe school fundraisers, church bazaars, and service club projects. They also recall moments of unspeakable personal grief. Our team saw Alina's label on day number three. We also felt a mother's pain. Alina was the daughter of one of our SCAW team members. Her daughter's life had tragically ended at the age of twenty-three.
Our team is inspired by Carolyn Carere's courage. Two children in Togo received bedkits in Alina's memory. Carolyn met privately with these families to add a personal donation. She discovered unexpected similarities that amazed her. Each child was one of four children in their family -- as was Alina.
When Carolyn rejoined our team we were strengthened by her beaming smile. The "excellent personal touch" of our charity has taken on profound new meaning for each of us.
Team Togo
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Togo: Dormez bien
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| From Togo 2010 Photos |
On behalf of our donors, we are overjoyed to receive the excited smiles of these needy children as we say to them "C'est un cadeau du Canada; dormez bien," and watch them start the long journey home carrying their precious gifts.
Janice Gillespie
and the Togo team 2010
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Togo: Tears
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| From Togo 2010 Photos |
Our van bumps along roads that minutes later will become mini-rivers from the sudden torrents of rain. It seems that we are far away from children and schools. Then suddenly we come upon the site. Children rush to our van, they reach out to touch hands that we have involuntarily thrust through the open windows. The caregivers break into song and dance. The scene is one of explosive joy.
Our tears are natural.
Also Bob's family and our distribution team can relax. His deodorant has arrived!
Team Togo 2010
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Togo: Hope
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| From Togo 2010 Photos |
Hope for a school age child in Togo is the frenzied excitement of knowing that for the very first time he or she will sleep on a real mattress, experience the safety of a mosquito net, and know that the khaki material will make a cherished school uniform.
Hope for a mother in Togo is the happiness of knowing that the bedkit is an answer to her prayers.
Our donors give more than a bedkit. They engender hope in the hearts of people in the remotest corners of Africa.
Grant Clark
for SCAW Team Togo 2010
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Togo: The team has arrived
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| From Togo 2010 Photos |
All except one piece of luggage has arrived safely after sixteen hours of flying. Fortunately the missing luggage does not contain items essential to our distribution and we are all hopeful that Bob Barclay has his missing deodorant very soon as we are already coping with 90°F.
We had a joyous reunion with our Togo Overseas Volunteer Team, and can hardly wait to see the first 400 children tomorrow.
Theresa Carravetta
for SCAW Team Togo 2010
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Togo: Delayed start
The Togo Team has been delayed for one week due to the volcanic ash and we have been waiting anxiously for the international flights to resume. We are now scheduled to depart from Toronto on Friday, April 23rd on our way to Lome, Togo, West Africa. Our team will arrive on Saturday evening and meet the Overseas Team who will be working in close partnership with us until our departure on May 6th. Our first distribution is on Monday April 26th.
Our Canadian Team is honoured to have the privilege of representing our many donors. We will touch the hands and hearts of 4,000 of the world’s most beautiful but impoverished children.
We are eager to get started!!
The Togo Team
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Our Canadian Team is honoured to have the privilege of representing our many donors. We will touch the hands and hearts of 4,000 of the world’s most beautiful but impoverished children.
We are eager to get started!!
The Togo Team
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Togo: The team prepares
Pictured left to right: Leslie Banner (Team Leader), Carolyn Carere, Grant Clark (Team Leader), Janice Gillespie, Bob Barclay, Theresa Carravetta.
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