Mumbai 2014: A Welcoming Atmosphere in Mumbai/Bombay

The SCAW team has arrived safely in Mumbai. Anne MacDonald and Sandy Riches arrived a little early; they had the opportunity to explore the area for 3 days.

We were most appreciative that Neelesh Suchak, our Rotarian partner, called to check on our accommodations and comfort.  He came the next day with his wife Juhi for tea and to make certain we had all we needed. On Wednesday evening Neelesh sent a car to take us to the meeting of his group of Rotarians. In Bombay alone there are 133 Rotary Clubs. As the district governor was attending the meeting we were greeted by Rotarians in formal dress.  In this club 40% of the members are female. They greeted us wearing the most beautiful saris. Everyone was most welcoming and we enjoyed the company, conversation and fine food.  

This morning, the team gathered for a pre-distribution meeting with the Mumbai Rotarian organizers.  It was our first opportunity to see the bedkit contents and see the pride of the Rotarians who have been working over the last few months to finalize this. Later we enjoyed a lovely lunch together. We are excited to set off from Mumbai early tomorrow to begin our first distribution.

Sandy Riches for Team Mumbai 2014

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Chennai 2014: Touring

We started our day with a team meeting and discussed our roles for our first distribution tomorrow.

In the afternoon we spent a few hours touring Chennai with our enthusiastic Rotarian friend as the guide. Highlights of the tour included a visit to the tomb of St Thomas, the museum adjoining and the impressive basilica. Visiting the grounds of a Hindu temple was another point of interest.

We marvelled at the skill of our driver as he negotiated around auto rickshaws, cars, busses, motorized bikes, trucks and pedestrians.

A visit to the beach, one of the widest any of us had ever seen was a welcome change from the chaos of the busy streets.

So now it's off to bed to rest up for the excitement of tomorrow and the first group of bedkit recipients.

Team Chennai

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Kolkata: Mograhat

Another special day which reflects the SCAW team’s commitment to the kids of India.

We started off a bit on the wrong foot with an underestimation of the travel time and lots of traffic going south.  So what’s new for Kolkata!  Lots of traffic, humanity everywhere, sights to think about in terms of kids in India.

A warm welcome in Mograhat at the country place of the Cedar Point Rotary Club’s president.  Well laid out for a distribution with Rotarians and their spouses from the local club and Dum Dum ready to go.

What stood out to the team was our commitment to the kids.  First, part way through the distribution, there was a delay due to the provided lunches needing to be restocked.  Sidebar – it’s not every distribution where the OVP commits to providing a meal for each bedkit recipient and a parent/guardian.  Kolkata does, which means that over all distributions, 13,000 meals are provided – commitment to kids.  The break was filled by a delightful meal for us provided by the Rotarians and a bit of entertainment by us singing Oh Canada, playing with the children, and getting to know one another.

Second, we were informed mid-afternoon that 60 children were delayed and would we mind waiting for over an hour to deliver bedkits to these kids.  The response from the team was a resounding “yes” within about 2 seconds – commitment to kids.

Last, 20 of the bedkit recipients were from an orphanage, and we were invited to come to the orphanage after our long day of delivering 500 bedkits.  Again, we all said “yes” under the impression the orphanage was on the way back to Kolkata – commitment to kids.  It turned out that the best laid plans did not work out, but none the less – commitment to kids.

Signing off for now, Team Kolkata …

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Chennai 2014: First Day

Arrived at the hotel very early in the morning and after a few hours sleep we inspected a typical bedkit that we will be distributing in the coming days.  The items in the bedkits are specifically chosen for each individual country or area of distribution.  SCAW volunteers and our  friends from the Rotary Club of Ambattur check the suppliers and the items in the kits to ensure that your donations are well spent.  We also check with the parents of various children receiving the bedkits to make sure that the items will all be put to good use.
Keep in touch to learn what we accomplish in our distributions to 6,000 children.

Team Chennai 2014
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Kolkata: Asanol

We had a lengthy 300km drive to our next distribution.

Getting to know the flow of traffic, rules and the hierarchy of the roads

It is wedding and anniversary season now, shared a few celebrations . Boro didi (Deb) had the pleasure of being a stand in wife with one of the fellow Rotarians

We experienced a Moon light adventure locating our hotel. Thank goodness for cell phones.

Our Overseas Volunteer Organization's partnered with a neighboring rotary club to have a distribution in their community of Asanol.

We had the opportunity to entertain the children before staring the distribution  hoola hooping, bubble blowing , tossing balloons around and learning how to use the poi balls.

Watching the realization of when the children understands that this gift of a bed kit and all it holds is for them, was heart warming.

At days end we are on the road again back to Kolkata.
 

Team Kolkata 2014
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Kolkata: Newbies

First day impressions by the first timers:

We have 4 new SCAW volunteers on our team; here is a quick over view of the first day through our eyes

Excitement: We are so very excited to be involved with an organization like SCAW and finally put our paper explanations into action.

Anxious: Not knowing what to expect. Wanting to be a good team member. And make the day run as smooth as possible.

Teamwork: As the day moved onwards we started to function as a team and things fell into place

Having 2 newbies giving out the first 50 and the other 2 finishing off the distribution seeing the expression on the child's face was priceless.

 Not only seeing the the children's faces but the parents face impacted us as  well. Their appreciation of the gift we are giving their child, was evident  as was the love they have for their children. Many thanks was giving to all.

Sharing all these new experiences with everyone that made this day possible out SCAW team, our Rotary partners, our bus driver, the parents and most importantly the children will be a memory we will keep close to our hearts for years to come.

Team Kolkata 2014
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Kolkata 2014: Welcome welcome welcome - namaskar

Welcome welcome welcome - namaskar

Arriving in Kolkata we have experienced nothing but warm welcomes from our rotarian partners. Presented with traditional greetings of colourful flowers we were trilled, anointed with oil, and met at the airport with a welcome which exceeded any expectations we might have had.

Arriving at our accommodation, another warm welcome .. Everyone is happy to have us arrive in Kolkata ...

Another welcome at our pre distribution meeting .. Our overseas partners are proud of their 16 th year of SCAW distributions ..their dedication to SCAW continues to grow tremendously year after year.

We have been welcomed like old friends although four members are newbies .. Their embrace was loving and caring .. It is evident that we are all here for the children.
We await in anticipation for our first distribution of 100 bed kits tomorrow. We feel most fortunate to distribute bedkits in this Kolkata.

Kym Sywak .

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Kolkata 2014: The Team Has Arrived!!

Six of seven Kolkata scaw members have now arrived, distribution start tomorrow. Looking forward to delivering bed kits to the wonderful children of India.

Linda for Team Kolkata 2014
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Nicaragua: Adios!!

4,000 bedkits are now successfully delivered in Nicaragua and the SCAW Team had our Post-Distribtion meeting with our Rotary Partners this morning to review the activities of the past 13 days.  Our distribution would not be successful without the hard work of hundreds of volunteers behind the scenes. In this last blog for Nicaragua, we pay tribute to two groups of people who have worked with us since the SCAW Team arrived in Nicaragua on November 18th.

The first group of people are the members of The Rotary Club of Managua.  Our Rotarian Partners looked after the purchasing and warehousing of the bedkit items.  They ensured that sites were selected and volunteers were in place to help at distributions.  They coordinated the selection of the children and were extremely hospitable to members of our team.  We say a HUGE THANKS to this wonderful group of Rotarians (pictured L to R are: Rodrigo Salomon, Violeta Barreto, Francisco Ortega, and Abelardo Sanchez). In simple terms, they made it happen!

The second group of four quickly became members of our distribution team.  Three were interpreters (Marcos, Dorling, & Mario - paid for by Rotary) who travelled with us to each site and communicated when we often had difficulties with Spanish.  The fourth was our driver (Hector) who ensured we arrived safely wherever we went, day and night.  All four ended up working shoulder to shoulder with us as we delivered the bedkits and we sure appreciated having them with us.

As we prepare to leave Nicaragua tomorrow, we say MUCHO GRACIAS to our partners (and now our friends) in Nicaragua. With their great help and support, the SCAW Team kept Murray's Dream alive in Nicaragua.

Adios!

Team Nicaragua.
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Nicaragua: Muchas Gracias

Today another 400 bed kits were distributed to children in the Riguero area of Managua.  That brings our final total to 4,000 bed kits and a completed distribution.

The puppets and bubbles were out today, and the first little girl I saw in line for her bedkit gave me a big hug, and chattered to me in quick Spanish.  I couldn't understand her, but could tell from the expression on her face she was excited.

It's been a busy two weeks, but our team is having a hard time believing it's all done.  4,000 children are sleeping better tonight because of our donors, our Overseas Volunteer Partners, and local volunteers.

Muchas gracias

 
Team Nicaragua 2013
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Nicaragua: Boaco

This morning (very early this morning in fact) found our merry team on the road again to the hill town of Boaco, about 80km NE of our home base Managua. Boaco (population 49,000) is predominantly an agricultural town with coffee and dairy being the prime products. Our host site for the distribution was the Agricultural Co-operative Tierra Nueva - set in a lush grove of organic coffee plants, banana tress and pepper bushes. This well laid out facility coupled with the enthusiastic support of a strong volunteer youth team from the Catholic University of Nicaragua made this the most efficient distribution to date.  However, as energetic as we all seemed to be inside the distribution facilty, the same could not be said for the hundreds of children receiving the bed kits. Many had travelled many miles from surrounding villages to the site. We met one woman who had walked for over two hours on climbing roads with a 6 year old and a toddler to get to Boaco. And on top of all of this, our distribution was on a Saturday meaning that the children had to get up extra early on a day off whereas distributions scheduled during the week have often meant free time off school.

So our team, always wanting perky faces for our donor's photographs, found it particularly challenging to muster smiles over yawns. As a result, we had to bring out our full arsenal of smile-enducing weaponry. Nothing like a good old Canadian dollar store for a plentiful supply of balloons, bubbles and kazoos. Our two hand puppets - Ottavio the Otter and Tortuga the Turtle worked double-overtime. Silly glasses, hairbands replete with springing bunnies and Santas were also called into action (By the way, for all you Leaf fans out there, Santa in Nicaragua dresses in blue and white!). Duncan performed an admirable slate of sleight of hand magic tricks to try and enduce the children from their slumber. As a result, I feel that the general, endearing impression many of these children must have of Canadians is that while they are very generous as donors,  some of them are just, plain weird.

Nevertheless, all in a good cause, we soldiered on and at the end of the day 411 bed kits were happily loaded into buses, trucks, donkey carts and bicycles and sent off to their new homes in Boaco and surrounding villages. Tomorrow is our last distribution - here in Managua. It is hard to believe we are almost finished our work here. I believe we will all truly miss that magic, daily connection that we get when we look into the eyes of a child as they receive their bedkits and backpacks. I believe I speak for all of our team in expressing our gratitude to SCAW and its wonderful donors for giving us this opportunity to be of service.

Stuart Culbertson for Team Nicaragua
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Nicaragua: Ice Cream Team

Just when I thought I had aced all the tricks of volunteering at a SCAW distribution, I learned something new today: bedkits and volunteers do not always show up at the same time. 

Each distribution requires a meticulously finessed arrangement of mattresses, pillows, backpacks and supplies to be at a site at the same time as the volunteer team. That did not happen today at Xalteva, our distribution site in Granada. We were there, but some of the bedkits were not. However, with some fine orchestration on the part of our calm and careful leader, Judy Dryden, the remaining kits were rounded up and, after a two-hour delay, we were in business. 

The children, as usual, were beautiful, sweet and thrilled to receive their bedkits. They seemed particularly poor, if their shabby clothing and bare feet were any indication. One little boy rushed up to me, threw his arms around me and said, "I love you." What can you say to that?

I met two young gals from Minnesota, Liz Nichole and Jaime Belden, who are living in Granada and working in an extremely poor area called El Pantanal. They teach elementary school and useful skills such as how to grow a vegetable garden in an old wooden pallet. 

At the end of our hot and sticky day the six of us went for our daily helado, or ice cream. No wonder we call ourselves the "Ice Cream Team."

Team Nicaragua
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Nicaragua: Creating Jobs!!

Today we visited the companies who supply the items for the bedkits.  It was very interesting to tour the factory where the foam filled pillows are made.  It was a family owned company that also makes mattresses.  We saw the process from foam being made through to sewing the covers.  

Our next stop was a small building where the backpacks were made.  This business was started and run by two young entrepreneurial cousins who were very eager to show us around.  It was really interesting to know that such a small space can produce 4000 backpacks.  They proudly told us the backpack contract offered their staff a month of overtime hours. 

Our last stop was a family owned business which was run from their home.  This small business sewed  the covers for all the foam mattresses in the SCAW bedkit. Today they were making rag filled mattresses.  The young employees demonstrated how one of these beds are made.  The shell was sewn then filled with rags.  Once the end was closed the two young men quickly worked with a long needle and thread to tack the rags in place within the mattress.

It’s so great to have the opportunity to see this part of the SCAW process to really know the ripple effect of sponsoring one bedkit.  Jobs are created, small businesses have an opportunity to thrive and children smile!

Team Nicaragua 2013

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Nicaragua: Strong Leadership

It takes strong leadership to pull 6 people together into a cohesive team in a very short period of time. 

I certainly feel Judy has accomplished that on this trip.

There is a feeling in the team that we're breaking records - 387 children receiving bedkits but only requiring 13 photographs!

Yesterday we gave out 400 bedkits before noon and we were told that "we are a well-oiled team"!

Judy quietly works away in the background to smooth the way for our successes always accentuating the positives.

Each of us on the team strives to do our best to help fulfill SCAW's mandate.

We had an early start to our 7th distribution in Santa Barbara stopping on the way to see a dam.  We had only taken a few group photographs when it started to rain.

Mysteriously a tarp appeared, was strung up, and we were back in business.  I thought that I had seen all facets of Judy's leadership skills, but was surprised when, at the end of the day, she stomped on a scorpion so we could continue packing up equipment.

Pam Horricks for Team Nicaragua
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Nicaragua: "Sonria!"

Distribution #6 today was in the delightfully named town of Tipitapa. Once again, our friends from the Nicaraguan metalworks company Indensica provided great volunteer support for our efforts making the distribution of 400 bedkits the smoothest to date.

"Sonria" is Spanish for "smile" - and there were many, many of them today. Sometimes, we need to break the ice (a distinctly Canadian term) with balloons or our hard-working hand puppets Octavio the Otter and Tortuga the Turtle. Other times, sonrias are brought on by Duncan's magic tricks or by Duncan and Stuart's kazoo band. And today there were many smiles as our disc jockey pounded out Latino Christmas songs - certainly more dance-worthy than our sombre Canadian selections.  (Feliz Navidad anyone?) But no smiles are bigger than those that we see peeling across the children's faces when they receive their backpacks and bedkits. These are smiles of joy, gratitude and, in some cases, disbelief that such good fortune has landed on them.

One of the more interesting things we try to do at each distribution is to interview parents of children receiving the bedkits to see what is most useful and what they might like to see in future distributions, as well as what the bedkits mean to them and their families. One mother told us today that not only would her daughter have the best sleep of her life tonight but that she herself would sleep better too - now only having to share her bed with one child instead of two. This is something we can all really appreciate, having had the opportunity to be welcomed into several homes of bedkit recipients over the past few days. An early Feliz Navidad to 2,4000 Nicaraguan children from SCAW's generous bedkit donors.

Team Nicaragua
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Nicaragua: 100 Children

Today the six of us ran Distribution Number 5 like a well-oiled machine. We were thrilled when we pulled up to Vision Ahora Church in Managua to see that the Rotary Club of Managua had arranged for us to use the entire church site for the day. It was ideal for our purposes: a huge, enclosed space with a roof over it so that none of the children was in the sun, a secure corner in which to stack the bedkits and, best of all, a stage. This was the site we have been waiting for!

Thanks to the Matching Funds Program at Macgregor Meat & Seafood Ltd. of Toronto, we have four photographs of one hundred children to take during this trip. So far none of our locations had been able to hold that many kids at one time. But here we had a stage with banks of steps in front of it so that we could line up the children in tiers and get all one hundred into each shot. As only 387 children arrived to the site to receive their bedkits, we were unable to get all four photos, but three out of four isn't bad.

Team Nicaragua
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Nicaragua: Day Off!

Today the SCAW team had a break from distributions.  It was a sunny and hot (as usual) day, and we were able to see more of this beautiful country.  With two of our translators, Darlene and Marcos, our first stop was the Masaya Volcano.  This is an active volcano and is surrounded by a lava field.  While we could drive right up to the edge of the volcano we had limited vision into the crater itself today due to the gases.  However, it was still a spectacular sight.  We were joined there by Francisco (Paco) Ortega, one of our Rotary Overseas Volunteer Partners, and his family.

After Masaya we made a quick stop in Granada to see the old colonial town, then took a boat tour through the 300+ small islands in Lake Nicaragua.  There was even a small island populated by monkeys.

After a late lunch in Granada we finished the afternoon with ice cream cones to try to help beat the heat.

Tomorrow we're off to our fifth distribution, and 400 more happy and excited children.

Judy for Team Nicaragua 2013
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