Uganda: Our Last Distribution!
After a 3.5 hr drive at 8am after a good nights rest we entered the distribution area to a reception of dancing & singing.Once again it was a great welcome from the parents. The children were dressed in advance as we arrived around noon & also gave us a warm welcome of singing with the Inner Wheel ladies leading.
Beth & Jan chose a good area to set up whilst the remainder of the team had other chores & we began with no delay after a short talk to both parents & kids.
Many volunteers assisted & we proceeded to distribute to happy smiling faces.
Upon completion we took a photo of all our team with the last child & packed up to head to a beautiful location for a beautiful lunch.
The home was a residence of one of the Inner Wheel ladies & the view from the porch was mind boggling, with palm trees & hills in the background. Lunch as usual was delicious with the addition of spaghetti and cheese sauce.In the distance we could see the children who had walked for 2 to 3 hours on their way to their home.
We left around 5-30 heading back towards Kampala driving in the dark barely seeing the bicyclists on the road.
Fred our driver once again got us back to the hotel safely where we wait for our snack of vegetable Somosa.
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Uganda: In the Mountains!
Team Uganda is now high in the mountains enjoying the incredible scenery. Yesterday we travelled 4 hours on roads that resembled a Roller Coaster until we reached a small village. Our site was the local public school with a population of 900 children. Of these, 210 are orphans and live with other relatives. The needs here were obvious when we met the children and their ecstatic smiles upon receiving the bed kit are testimony to the difference that SCAW is making. We later visited the home of a bed kit recipient. The 6 children and 2 grandparents who live in the humble but very clean shack far up a steep and windy path allowed us to tour the 2 bedrooms and kitchen that makeup the home. These children, as most others in the area eat only 2 simple meals a day. Life is hard in the hills and there is little money for school supplies that are so important. We then began the 4 hour drive back down the mountain and arrived back for dinner and bed.
It is now 7am and we are on the road again into the mountains to another distribution.
Ps - pictures to follow when Internet access improves
Team Uganda 2014
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It is now 7am and we are on the road again into the mountains to another distribution.
Ps - pictures to follow when Internet access improves
Team Uganda 2014
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Uganda: Distribution Days
Distribution days are long ones with very
early mornings and late nights. We spend many hours on the bus but the huge
welcome that we receive at each site energize us. So much of the real work has
gone on behind the scenes in the six months leading up to the distribution with
the Ladies of the Inner Wheel working hard to prepare for the SCAW arrival. So when the distributions finally begin there
is festive air when both groups enjoy much singing, dancing and laughter as
they work and play together. We have come together in a common cause, new
friendships are developed and much fun is had. It is all “FOR THE CHILDREN” and
it is so worth it!
Uganda: Our Welcome on Day 4!!
We woke up this morning to the most beautiful sunrise we have ever seen. We were on the road around 7 to our distribution site, three hours from our hotel. Upon arrival at the site we received a phenomenal welcome by the entire village outside a lovely church. Upon entering the Church the welcome from the children waiting inside was even more moving. Our distribution flowed smoothly and we were treated to many special smiles. We were particularly moved by a significant number of children with disabilities including several who were deaf. These children were accompanied by a very caring and special teacher.
Our only small glitch to the day was a blown tire on our bus which was competently dealt with by our bus driver Fred and two members of the SCAW team, Ken and Albert.
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Uganda: Update
SCAW Team Uganda 2014 is unable to send a blog due to internet problems caused by the rains. They have taken several videos and hope to send them in the next day or so. Today was a day of rest so they visited some local sights as well as a small fishing village where the needs are great. They had time to chat with the locals and to leave a soccer ball behind for the youths who were ecstatic with their gift. We heard stories about the perils of fishing in crocodile infested waters. Tomorrow we are off into the mountains. Stay tuned for more interesting news when we have internet access again.
Uganda: Our First Distribution!!
We started our day with a 3 hour drive to the first distribution site in Lyantonde where we were greeted with many shy smiles and parents eager to shake our hands and say thank you. The impending rain held off until we were finished and we were then off for the 7 hour drive through the mountains and forests to our sleeping spot for the night. We finally reached our destination at 10:00pm in time for dinner and bed. Tomorrow we are distributing just down the road so we do not have as early of a start to our day. We will be on the road at 8:00am.
Team Uganda 2014
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Uganda: Visiting Factories
Today the SCAW Team were fortunate to be able to tour some of the factories and suppliers of the bed-kits and their contents. We began with a tour of the mattress factory and even got to help load the truck with the mattresses that we will distribute during the next 12 days. Then we were off to see the production of the bed-kits and later the uniform factory. We chatted with several of the workers in these plants and were thrilled to observe that they seem to really enjoy their jobs.
Team Uganda 2014
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Uganda: The Team Has Arrived!!
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| Photo 1: l- r Jan Gayman, Albert Gardiner,
Ken Cober, Fran Wilson, Beth Poad ( team Leader),
Lois Wey
|
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Photo 2- A happy welcome from the Inner Wheel of Kampala
at Entebbe Airport
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Team Uganda 2014
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Uganda 2014: Post your comments here:
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Togo: Day 14
Under the Shade of the Mango Tree
Bonjour mes amis.
Today is the Togo’s Independence Day and a fitting way to end our 5,000 bedkit distribution.
Under the shade of a fabulous mango tree we did our last setup for the photo shoot and ended with a group photo of the entire AED and SCAW team.
Togo: Day 13
Bonjour mes amis!
Today was the hottest and most humid so far. After 2 long detours because of preparations for the Togo Independence Day celebrations on Sunday, April 27, we arrived in Djamakondji for our 8th delivery.
We were swarmed by extremely enthusiastic throngs of children. Hijabs were prevalent indicating that we were in a predominantly Muslim area. While we were busy, so was a team of construction workers building 4 new classrooms.
We are very grateful for the members of Team Togo, who have worked consistently to have the kids organized. Energetic volunteer, Affi, always leads the rousing songs and chants. Koffi showed the bedkits items and 500 young people cheered spontaneously, especially when the mosquito net was held up.
We recorded video of different aspects of the distribution, but regrettably have been unable to post them because of internet challenges.
Stay tuned…
Bon soir de Team Togo.
Today was the hottest and most humid so far. After 2 long detours because of preparations for the Togo Independence Day celebrations on Sunday, April 27, we arrived in Djamakondji for our 8th delivery.
We are very grateful for the members of Team Togo, who have worked consistently to have the kids organized. Energetic volunteer, Affi, always leads the rousing songs and chants. Koffi showed the bedkits items and 500 young people cheered spontaneously, especially when the mosquito net was held up.
Stay tuned…
Bon soir de Team Togo.
Togo: Day 12
Bonjour mes amis:
“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times” in Adjakpa.
If we had thought it was hot yesterday, it was hotter today. Torrential rains yesterday upped the humidity level without reducing the temperature and we all felt it. But it was great for the children as we were able to distribute another 500 bedkits in this village in the western region of Togo. There was major highway construction (which added to the dust/mud on the road). The Chinese have won the contract for doing this work and it has offered increased employment for the Togolese.
As part of the fun we had with the children, Doug did his famous “bubble-blowing act.” You have to see the picture of one of the most spectacular ”catches” of the day!
Our team of eleven was on the way home and had just passed the toll booth when our van was side-swiped by a car. A spectacular “BANG” had us all with our hearts in our mouths! Fortunately, we were not hurt at all and when Team Togo checked the van, the damage was not as bad as we had thought. The other driver did not stop, so OUR drive, Mensah, turned the van around and chased after the other car. We caught up with him at the toll booth and the local gendarmes were called over to investigate. The next two hours were spent with the team visiting the local Gendarmerie and giving our report. We departed with the local chief of police wearing a Canadian pin saluting us on our way!
Sadly, tomorrow is our final distribution, and we head home to Canada at 11 o’clock tomorrow night.
Bon soir, Team Togo
“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times” in Adjakpa.
As part of the fun we had with the children, Doug did his famous “bubble-blowing act.” You have to see the picture of one of the most spectacular ”catches” of the day!
Bon soir, Team Togo
Togo: Day 11
Bonjour mes amis!
Team Togo will go to any extreme for the perfect picture for the distribution photo. Last night, Wayne spent hours planning and drafting the blueprints for our large group photos. For the first time, we have the Canadian flag and the Togolese flag represented by the children wearing colourful T-shirts. In order to get these panoramic shots, Doug, the photographer, had to perch precariously on a bamboo ladder. Wayne made sure that the operation was done with military precision and efficiency.
To start off the distribution, both teams sang O Canada en francais because French is the national language. This was challenging for the Anglophones so we rehearsed in the van en route to the distribution. (Tomorrow we will be singing the Togolese national anthem).
Creativity was also evident today when Peggy and Dosseh noticed a group of children preparing to leave the site. They were in awe that 25 kids and three adults were packed into a small Toyota.
We visited a cottage industry with 8 seamstresses who made the 5,000 skirts and shorts that were included in the bedkit. Murray Dryden would have been delighted as he really believed in local job creation.
All in all, today was a wonderful day for creating memories.
Bon soir, Team Togo.
Post your comments here:Togo: Day 9
On The Road Again
Bonjour mes amis:
After spending many hours traveling the roads of Togo, hereare some of our sights, sounds, smells and pictures: the succulent aroma of fresh pineapple, bags of charcoal by the side of the road, overloaded conveyances of every type including a bicycle laden with a coffin, palm wine for sale, horse tail whisks (for keeping flies off everything…including the butcher’s best cuts!), little kids at every market and village excited to have their picture taken, pungent smells of spices, red soil everywhere, yam and corn plots, termite hills, a fuss ball table, trees - banana, cassava, mango, avocado, kapok, baobob and palm, Castel beer signs and trucks, the cacophony of busy markets, women carrying “everything” on their heat potholes and last but not least the smell of 'HOT'!
Bon soir de Team Togo
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Bonjour mes amis:
After spending many hours traveling the roads of Togo, hereare some of our sights, sounds, smells and pictures: the succulent aroma of fresh pineapple, bags of charcoal by the side of the road, overloaded conveyances of every type including a bicycle laden with a coffin, palm wine for sale, horse tail whisks (for keeping flies off everything…including the butcher’s best cuts!), little kids at every market and village excited to have their picture taken, pungent smells of spices, red soil everywhere, yam and corn plots, termite hills, a fuss ball table, trees - banana, cassava, mango, avocado, kapok, baobob and palm, Castel beer signs and trucks, the cacophony of busy markets, women carrying “everything” on their heat potholes and last but not least the smell of 'HOT'!
Bon soir de Team Togo
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Togo: Day 8!
Bonjour mes amis!
The Teams travel to the distribution sites
in an air-conditioned van with our driver, Mensah, over the fissured roads,
receiving a free “African massage” all the way.
However, most of the families receiving bedkit, arrive by foot, often
barefoot, or pseudo-moto (motorcycle taxi) from the remote villages.
Once again, at this jungle distribution
site, some of the children had walked at least 4 hours to get to us and then
had a 4 hour return walk home, carrying their bedkit on their shoulder and
their mattress on their head. This is
clearly not a hardship as we passed children on our way out with large waves
and dazzling smiles.
As promised, the men from both Teams,
danced to the music provided by the Village band and the ladies collected their
bet. We all loved the one-legged “shiver”
move. When we tried it we wondered if
they were they laughing at us or with us?
Togo: Day 7 - Easter Celebrations!!
Bonjour mes amis!
Yesterday, as it was Easter Sunday, the team was invited to attend, not only an Easter service, but a baptismal service for three children. The church was large to accommodate a choirs of 80, a brass band and and djembe drums of 30 and about 700 people in the congregation. We were so warmly welcomed and the fact that the service was held in Ewe (pronounced, Evey - the local African dialect) was an added bonus. BUT - the music was what made it SO spectacular. The African rhythms for the hymns, choir solos and the procession that led to the giving of the collection, had everyone, including us, "dancing in the aisles". So wonderful to be accepted as a part of the Togolese culture...
Afterwards we went down to the Atlantic Ocean; Ghana to the west, us in Togo in the middle and Benin to the east. We had thunderous breakers on the beach and shrieks of laughter as we got soaked with the incoming waves. We then went back up to the main road and saw a bicycle race sponsored by the local beer company, Castel. 10 ks. per lap and 10 laps for the course. It was hot ( "It's always hot in Africa!") and to see these young men working so hard was exhausting!
National Independence Day is coming and all of downtown Lome is preparing for this very important day. The republic of Togo was formed in 1960 when they gained independence from France. A special treat for us was to be invited into the House of Parliament and were able to see the history of Togo through displays of photos, artifacts, costumes and jewelry. We finished up by actually sitting where President Faure Gnassingbe will be sitting at the celebrations!
Bon Soirée, Team Togo
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Yesterday, as it was Easter Sunday, the team was invited to attend, not only an Easter service, but a baptismal service for three children. The church was large to accommodate a choirs of 80, a brass band and and djembe drums of 30 and about 700 people in the congregation. We were so warmly welcomed and the fact that the service was held in Ewe (pronounced, Evey - the local African dialect) was an added bonus. BUT - the music was what made it SO spectacular. The African rhythms for the hymns, choir solos and the procession that led to the giving of the collection, had everyone, including us, "dancing in the aisles". So wonderful to be accepted as a part of the Togolese culture...
Afterwards we went down to the Atlantic Ocean; Ghana to the west, us in Togo in the middle and Benin to the east. We had thunderous breakers on the beach and shrieks of laughter as we got soaked with the incoming waves. We then went back up to the main road and saw a bicycle race sponsored by the local beer company, Castel. 10 ks. per lap and 10 laps for the course. It was hot ( "It's always hot in Africa!") and to see these young men working so hard was exhausting!
National Independence Day is coming and all of downtown Lome is preparing for this very important day. The republic of Togo was formed in 1960 when they gained independence from France. A special treat for us was to be invited into the House of Parliament and were able to see the history of Togo through displays of photos, artifacts, costumes and jewelry. We finished up by actually sitting where President Faure Gnassingbe will be sitting at the celebrations!
Bon Soirée, Team Togo
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