They are an impressive group who oversee three major projects:
- Their hospital,
- Their school for under-privileged children, and
- Sleeping Children Around the World distributions
The hospital property was purchased and is run by a board of directors comprised of the Rotarians. A group of Rotarians are also onsite to volunteer their time to oversee it. The hospital offers service to the people of India for a small fee for services such as: eye care, rehabilitation, general medical issues, injuries, dentistry, etc. It is a fantastic hospital offering health care to the people of India.
The school for under=privileged children is where our last distribution occurred. It is 2500 sq feet and has about 530 students, both boys and girls. They have equipped classrooms including a video lab, computer lab, and library. The students must pay a fee of 250 rupees at the beginning of the school year to attend. If they cannot afford it the Rotarians find a sponsor to support their education. The students also have a chance to achieve a Murray Dryden Scholarship for academic achievement. This school is also overseen by a group of volunteers from the Rotary Club of Ambattur.
The third important project that this group is involved with is the Sleeping Children program. The Rotary Club of Ambattur does a fantastic job of making this project a success. They accomplish incredible background preparation work over the year.
They start by making presentations to various Rotary Clubs in the area to bring them on board for this project. If this partnership can be formed, the Rotary Club then invites them to see a distribution in progress. Areas are selected for distributions, then a whole process of selecting children and venues in these villages occur. A massive tracking system takes place. Items for the bedkits are ordered from the various manufacturers and, a month prior to the distribution, these items are packaged by the various volunteers and hired employees so that the bedkits are ready when the SCAW team arrives. A lot of work goes into the preparation and the Rotary Club of Ambattur does a fantastic job to make sure it is a smooth clean process.
The Canadian SCAW team of 2008 want to say thanks for a job well done to the Rotary Club of Ambattur, the many volunteers involved both in Canada and India, and the donors and sponsors who make this project happen.
Julie Coad
for the SCAW 2008 Chennai Team
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