Tanzania: The Journey Ends

The journey ends!

7,000 Tanzanian children are sleeping comfortable and safe. It's bittersweet as our bodies are tired but our hearts are fullfilled knowing that we have reached another plateau in Murray Dryden's dream to provide a safe and comfortable environment for the children.

We completed the post distribution meeting with Mama Wandoa and her daughter Joyce, to review all aspects of the distribution and feel satsified that all the needs were met. We congratulate them and their team for their incredible efforts in the interest of the children.

Including the 7,000 bedkits delivered
in Tanzania this year, our total is
now 1,169,130 bedkits since
Sleeping Children began in 1970.

Thank you to everyone who followed our blogs for providing us with encouragement and support and we look forward to seeing everyone soon.

Team Tanzania 2011

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Tanzania: One day left

One day left. Yahooooooo!

From Tanzania 2011

Helping to dress the children in their new t-shirts and "khangas," their joy and excitement was so obvious that we had to chuckle when one little boy came skipping to the line. And to complete his enthusiastic venture he skipped all the way out with his new bedkit.

At the site today we helped to dress 700 children from 5 different schools. Mama's volunteers maintained an orderly process as they first called out the names of the recipients, then led them to the dressing area and finally to the line to get their pictures taken.

This khanga became a dress. From Tanzania 2011

Unfortunately, because some of the children had to walk from a distance, they missed the calling of their names. But, as they do so well, Mama Wandoa and her team made sure every child was taken care of and left the distribution smiling.

The children today were calm and settled nicely into the process. We were so comfortable with the groups today that we managed to get some of them to laugh uncontrollably as they tried to hide their laughter but simply couldn't. "CHECKA!" [SMILE]

We thank all of our donors and only wish that everyone could experience the laughter and the thanks that we have received from the children over the last two weeks. "ASANTE SANA." [SLEEP WELL]

Helene Compeau & Thereas Carravetta
for SCAW Team Tanzania

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Tanzania: Home Visits

When possible, Sleeping Children teams like to visit the homes of children who received a bedkit in a prior year, to see how the items have "stood up" and to interview the parents to see what impact the bedkit has made.

From Tanzania 2011

Today we drove to a rural area and visited two homes of girls who received bedkits in 2010. The two girls walk about six kilometres to and from school each day. At the first home, the team observed the mosquito net, her school shirt, the school bag (tattered), the bedkit carry bag, and the foam mattress that the child had received. Interestingly, the mattress was without its material or poly cover.

From Tanzania 2011

Mama Wandoa says the mothers of recipients may make a dress from the material covering the foam mattress. The girl, aged about eight, said she liked having the exercise books to use at school, which she still had although they were filled.

From Tanzania 2011

When asked what impact the bedkit has had, the father said that thanks to the mosquito net, their daughter no longer had many mosquito bites. The parents also said the child was doing well and enjoyed going to school. The home was a frame construction, with masonry walls and steel sheets for the roof. There were three rooms in the house and twelve people lived there. It was completely dark inside as there was no electricity.

From Tanzania 2011

At the second home the bedkit recipient was also a girl. The team observed the mosquito net over the child’s bed. The bed was a wooden frame with rope strung back and forth to support the foam mattress.

As in the first home, the mattress did not have its material or poly cover, which may have been used for other purposes. The mother had made the khanga (a wrap around material) received from SCAW into a dress, which the child was wearing and which was still in good condition.

From Tanzania 2011

The mother showed us the school bag, unopened in its original packaging. She explained she was saving the school bag for the next school year, since it was too big for her daughter to wear when she received it.

The Sleeping Children team thanked both families for allowing us to come into their homes. The visits reminded us how fortunate we and our children are in Canada, how little the bedkit recipients and their families have, but also that the bedkits are having a positive benefit in their lives.

Ted Swanston
for SCAW Team Tanzania 2011

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Tanzania: A Teacher's Life

Having recently retired from teaching and having other teachers on this year's team, we have been extremely interested in the lives of the teachers we have met on this distribution.

From Tanzania 2011

In conversation with one young teacher, she told me that her average class size was 100 children.

That's a 1 to 100 ratio in a classroom with very few resources such as assistants and computers or even the basics like paper and pencils. It is very inspiring to know that these teachers want the same for their students that we teachers want for ours in Canada. Although very few students attend school after seventh grade as they cannot afford the tuition for secondary school, the teachers still want to have their students produce strong academic results by the time they leave. We have been impressed by the level of English vocabulary that these children have learned especially when today's kindergarten class was reciting the ABC's.

From Tanzania 2011

Watching the children running down the roads we have travelled to go to school, only emphasizes the importance and joy of their days in school.

So when we talk to the parents we emphasize that one of the goals of Sleeping Children is to give each child a good night's sleep so they can be successful at school.

Nancy Loveless
for SCAW Team Tanzania 2011

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Tanzania: Jitihada

Today in Jitihada we started the day demonstrating the items in the bedkit to about thirty parents of bedkit recipients. Team member Mike showed the parents the beautifully coloured foam mattress, and to the cheers of the crowd, lies down on it as Nancy first holds up the sheet and then puts it over Mike, who pretends to go to sleep.

From Tanzania 2011

Two team members hold up the mosquito net and the team explains that this is a treated net to give even more protection from those ornery little beasts. At this point I did my best (read awful) demonstration of a mosquito that was trying to bite Mike - and then pretended to fly away frustrated. Our Tanzanian team mate/driver/friend and translator Emmanuel (who was profiled in an earlier blog) explains the items to the crowd in Swahili, while Nancy dances around with the school bag and the other team members hold up the items, all the while enjoying the cheers and enthusiastic reception from the crowd.

Our team is excellent -- a cohesive unit -- which is making my job easy. We are enjoying each other's company and laughing frequently enough that we sometimes forget we are working.

From Tanzania 2011

Today, thanks to our team, this gave me the opportunity to interview some parents and children. Sleeping Children interviews bedkit recipients and their parents to try and gain some understanding of how the families live, how the bedkit will help them, and how it might be improved. Team members on SCAW distributions often comment that the interviews impact them deeply, to hear some of the realities of how people of very limited means try to survive and live.

Our demonstration of the bedkit at the beginning of the day broke the ice with the thirty or so parents, so I decided to experiment, and do an interview with the whole group. We asked questions about the bedkit and got some interesting comments. The parents felt the mosquito net would be crucial in giving the family more protection from malaria-carrying mosquitos. Most households had only one untreated net to protect one or two family members, so a second was very welcome. We explained their children would receive a treated net that even repelled those deadly mosquitoes.

From Tanzania 2011

Then we showed the parents the piece of material that each child would receive. Some mothers said they could get access to a sewing machine which they would use to make shorts or a skirt for their child. Other mothers said they would be able to hand-sew these items. All were enthusiastic about the material which Mama Wandoa decided to include for the first time this year in the bedkit.

We then asked the parents for suggestions on what other items might be considered for inclusion in the bedkit in future years. One mother said, "Underwear" and many other mothers loudly voiced their agreement with this suggestion. Our team will pass this suggestion on to Mama. Other suggestions were to include soap, shoes, and a toothbrush and toothpaste -- oh that we could give them all these things and much more.

From Tanzania 2011

We ended the interview by thanking the parents for their comments, and said we now had to get to work to take the pictures of their children which would go back to the donors who provided the funds for the bedkits. They nodded their understanding and agreement, and off we went to do our jobs and to experience the joy of seeing another 700 beautiful Tanzanian children smiling as they received their bedkits.

Ted Swanston
for SCAW Team Tanzania 2011

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Tanzania: The Children of Tanzania

As we arrived, most of them were patiently waiting with their parents to see what was in store for them.

From Tanzania 2011

We then showed them their gift - "zawadi," demonstrating and role playing each component of their bedkits. Each and every item brought cheers from both the children and their parents -- especially when one of the team members got under the mosquito net.

From Tanzania 2011

Off to the line to wait for their new clothes and another line for the pictures. The children of Tanzania are the most patient of all. Imagine waiting several hours to have your picture taken! Especially if you are number 700!

And then throw in an intermittent rain shower and you have the children of Tanzania.

Helene Compeau
for SCAW Team Tanzania

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Tanzania: The Tanzanian Miracle Lady

We, the Sleeping Children Tanzanian team, start each distribution day with a Mama Wandoa hug and that gives us the day's inspiration.

From Tanzania 2011

Mama Wandoa has organized the 7,000 bedkits to the Tanzanian children each year for the past eleven years. During the year prior to the August distribution, she co-ordinates with the Ministry of Education to select the children who will receive these bedkits. Mama works closely with the mattress factory owners who make the 7,000 mattresses and also stores them for her until the distribution starts. The remainder of the bedkits are stored actually in her home!!!
Each day, Mama works behind the scenes checking off names of the recipients from the master list. She is the problem solver for each distribution day, speaking to moms and officials.

From Tanzania 2011

During these eleven days of distributions, she arrives at the selected site at 4 a.m. to supervise the unloading of the truck, and to act as a security guard until others arrive.

Mama Wandoa is a mother, grandmother, and great grandmother who is loved by her family and the community she serves.

Carol Swanston
for SCAW Team Tanzania

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Tanzania: Unusual travel

Since many children come from distances of over five kilometres, school communities are resourceful in their modes of transportation.

From Tanzania 2011

Today we witnessed an unusual mode of transportation when a truck, full of about 200 children drove into the distribution site cheering and smiling. This school had secured a "lorrie" to make two separate drop offs.

Imagine our surprise when we saw this!

The children jumped off the truck in an orderly fashion and were instructed by their teachers to form a line where they were guided to a classroom to be dressed in their new clothes.

From Tanzania 2011

Their joy and ours at receiving and giving these gifts made another day of extreme heat and humidity seem refreshing!

Thereas Carravetta
for SCAW Team Tanzania

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Tanzania: Jambo all!

Well in the last three days, thanks to SCAW donors we were able to secure a safe and comfortable place for 2,100 wonderful children in the remote villages of Tanzania.

From Tanzania 2011

This bedkit contains a comfy foam mattress, a huge mosquito net, shoes (flip flops), six notebooks, three pencils, three pens, a backpack, material for a school uniform, and material for a bedsheet and of course the bag it all comes in.

I have attached a picture of a little boy (Below) who came up to us during a break and showed us his feet. He had a huge smile on his face. When we realized why - It was because he was wearing his new shoes - the flip flops!!!!

From Tanzania 2011

We try to show them before they get their pictures taken what is in the bedkit and encourage them to smile, but because they have never had their pictures taken, most of them are quite shy or scared. And even though we encourage them to "checka" (smile), they look at us like "what?????" so we sometimes do a little dance or act silly to get them to laugh. But they are beautiful children!

When we interview them with a parent or guardian, we find out many things. Yesterday when we spoke with tewo families (with the help of our driver Emmanuel), we found out they were both orphans being cared for by relatives and both slept on the ground. Needless to say they were very grateful for the mattress.

Today, when parents were asked what else they would like in their bedkits, they asked for malaria pills or a bicycle so they could get around. Many travelled over two kilometers on foot today in the hot and humid weather. Many of the children are Muslim and since they are currently celebrating Ramadan, they have not eaten since sunrise which is around 6:30 a.m.

You can't help but feel compassion for these children who have so little but are so happy!

Blessings all,

Thereas Carravetta
for SCAW Team Tanzania

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Tanzania: The Journey Continues

Over the last two days, thanks to the SCAW donors, we have made the lives of 1,400 more children a safer and more secure environment. Although the roads into the tiny villages are full of potholes and gutters, our expert driver Emmanuel Katondo delivers us safely to our destinations.

From Tanzania 2011

Now Emmanuel is not only an expert driver, he has jumped into the role of translator, creative problem solver and a gentle giant as he supports the SCAW team and demonstrates his true compassion and love for the children.

At 33 years old, a graduate from the University of Dar es Salaam with a degree in accounting, he owns his own transportation company and a separate multi-media company. He has a family of his own which includes his wife Kyoga and two sons - Justin a three year old and one-year-old Josiah.

A finer ambassador for the country of Tanzania, you cannot find!

SCAW Team Tanzania

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Tanzania: Day 1 in Mzenga

Our Day One distribution was very successful and the team members were so excited to work together and see the rewarding results! Happy children leaving with their bedkits.

The 2011 Tanzania bedkit (From Tanzania 2011) For more photos, click here.

We left our hotel at six a.m. and arrived at the site shortly after eight. Mama Wandoa and her team arrived ahead of us and were busy getting ready for the first child.

The day ran smoothly and six tired but ecstatic Sleeping Children team members entered the van for the rocky ride home. Some large monkeys were spotted on our journey.

Two interviews were conducted at the end of the day. We interviewed a young girl to get a child's perspective on the bedkit and her observations were so insightful. She is an orphan who had lost both parents and her bed at home had consisted of a pile of rope on the floor for a mattress. She was thrilled to receive a bedkit that she said would change her life.

SCAW Team Tanzania

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Tanzania: The team has arrived

Team Tanzania has arrived safely in Dar es Salaam, having spent an overnight in Dubai enroute. Everyone is healthy, and all equipment and clothing accounted for.

Mama Wandoa & Nancy (From Tanzania 2011) For more photos, click here.

The team was met by Mama Wandoa, leader of the Overseas Volunteers here.

The mattress factory was on our route to the hotel, so we toured the factory where the foam mattresses for 7,000 children have been made and stored. We then went on to Mama's home, where she stores the mosquito nets, clothing, school bags and all other items in the 7,000 bedkits.

Tomorrow we're off for our first distribution, departing the hotel at 5:30 a.m. to try and beat some of the traffic. The team is looking forward to seeing the children, and we look forward to telling you about our first day tomorrow evening.

SCAW Team Tanzania

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Tanzania: The team prepares

From Tanzania 2011

The Sleeping Children Around the World team going to Tanzania this year gathered at 28 Pinehurst, the SCAW office, to get ready for their distribution this month. No, they're not going by motorcycle. They'll be taking a plane to Tanzania.

Pictured in the photo above are: (Left to right) Ted Swanston (Team Leader), Helene Compeau, Mike Compeau, Carol Swanston, Theresa Carravetta, and Nancy Loveless.

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