After driving four hours north of Mumbai,
we arrived at a country school that was located on the outskirts of
Dahanu. Today was a special day on the
Hindu calendar which honoured their god Ganash.
The children did two dances that related the importance of Ganash in
their lives and presented us with pictures that they had made that told of
local history. 
Despite the high heat and humidity, the
children travelled between 35 and 120 kms to attend today’s distribution. The
children were excited to receive the wonderful backpacks and bedkit filled with
schools supplies, a ground sheet, thick mattress blanket, a covering blanket,
clothing, pillow, pillow cover and age appropriate clothing. When the few
parents that were present were interviewed, they said that the bedkit was a
gift that would provide them with an immense boost to their quality of living.
Most earned about 100 Rupees a day, or $2.00 Canadian dollars. One of the local
Rotarian volunteers said that most of the children would not be able to sleep
this evening because of their excitement. They would never have dream of being
given such a lavish gift that would be theirs and theirs alone. We talked with
one person who said that there were 35 members of their extended family living
under their roof.
It is hard to describe how this sort of
feedback makes us feel as we represent the SCAW donors on this trip. It truly
is an honour and a blessing to be able to experience what we are experiencing
on this trip and know that all that is being done by the many volunteers here
in India is, “for the children”.
Team Mumbai 2013
