The six members of the SCAW travelling team met at 0745 hrs in the hotel lobby and walked to the Methodist Church that we were told was next door to the hotel. After walking a ways to the right we asked a person where it was. He told us that it was 500 metres in the other direction. When we had gone that distance and more, we asked another gentleman if he knew where it was. Once again, he told us that it was 500 metres farther along, but on the other side of the road. One more time we asked and were told it was yet another 500 metres. We finally found it, only to be informed by some helpful young men that it did not start until 1000 hrs, but we could go the office and wait if we wished. We did not wish to, so we went back to the hotel and had a long, leisurely buffet breakfast of Indian specialties.
We met with Dilip Chitnis and his IT specialist to fix our mobile phone problem before travelling to a local farming village to meet three of the recipients of last year’s bedkits. They had outgrown most of the clothes that they had received but they all still had their sleeping mat, blankets, and mosquito net. They are wonderful young people who wish to become teachers or join the army when they grow up. We toured their spartan homes, which housed their water buffalo on a room at the back. The water buffalo were used for milk or as a beast of burden. The parents were farmers who grew carrots on about four acres of land and earned about $1,000 per year on the sales. No wonder they were so thankful to receive the bedkits.
That evening, we met with the Belgaum Rotarians for the our pre-distribution meeting. We met all of the key players including the chairman who organized this year’s distribution. They have put a lot of hard work and planning into making this distribution successful.
The 2012 Belgaum Team
Click either photo to see more in the Belgaum 2012 Photo Album. Then click on SLIDESHOW at upper left to see them all in large size.
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