Bangladesh: Chittagong Distribution

From Bangladesh 2010

Day 9

Wow, it’s hard to believe that at 5:30 am we were on the bus again on our way to our second last site. Chittagong is another new site for a SCAW distribution and today we handed out bedkits to 319 children. This site is the home village of one of the Rotaractors that has been travelling with us since our arrival. Not only is it Didar’s hometown, this is his first sponsorship – and as a result twenty children got bedkits in today’s distribution.

We have seen almost 6,000 children over the past 10 days – but today’s kids were more special than those we have seen so far. Today we had blind children, deaf children, and mentally challenged children.

One little fellow came in a ‘wheelchair’... not like the wheelchairs that we westerners are used to seeing. This was literally a leather chair with little two-inch wheels under the four corners, handles for pushing, and a makeshift table top. As I watched his dad maneuver the wheelchair I couldn’t help but think about how difficult it must be to push it all over the uneven, unpaved roads and walkways. Unlike western wheelchairs with the big wheels that the passenger can use to move themself, this type of chair will prevent this little guy from ever doing that. We introduced him to “quacker,” our duck hand puppet, and once he got over his nervousness about exactly what it was he kept closing the beak to make it ‘quack.’ If you could have seen the grin on his face.

From Bangladesh 2010

Then there was the little guy who had such severe muscle atrophy that he couldn’t sit or bend ... he could only lay down. Creative minds had to come up with a plan ... and that they did. I was given the wonderful privilege of holding this handsome guy during his photo.

While the teachers, parents, and caregivers kept thanking us for coming to Bangladesh and running the SCAW program, their efforts to bring those beautiful children from far away villages for us to meet them today makes us all realize - they are the real heroes.

After such a humbling day we called it a wrap and settled back into the bus. Reflecting upon the day – and our blessings. We watched the sun set over a beautiful and green hillside on our way to our last location for this trip ... Cox’s Bazar.

Danielle Lalonde
for Bangladesh Team 2010

Leave your comments here.