We handed out a record 1,200 bedkits to
needy children in the Belgaum area on the day that the Rotary Club of Belgaum
celebrated its 25th anniversary of its partnership with SCAW.
We arrived at a private club that hosted
the distribution in its gardens at 7:30 a.m. where the gates that we had to
enter by were jammed hundreds of parents already. It took a while for the local
Rotarians to clear the way for us, and once inside the grounds, we were greeted
like rock stars by the waiting children. Their cheers and clapping reached a
crescendo when we showed them what they were going to receive in their bedkits.
The children were fed a hearty breakfast
that had been donated by the Potdar family, which they have done for the past
few years. Once done, the well organized distribution proceeded flawlessly
thanks to the excellent support of all the members of the Belgaum Rotary Club,
the ladies of the Inner Wheel and other family relations. In recognition of the
25th anniversary of the partnership with SCAW, the Rotary Club also donated
a battery operated LED lamp that would light up a 10’ x 12’, which would
provide ample lighting for the children to do their homework because most of
their villages do not have electricity. 
The team returned to the hotel to
freshen up prior to the Silver Anniversary celebrations that evening. Dilip Chitnis, (SCAW Trust Chairman), Sanjay
Kulkarni (Treasurer), and Jeevan Khatav (AV
Specialist) had organized the celebration. It included speeches by the Rotary
District Governor Dr. Jorson Fernandez, the SCAW Team Leader Bill Sergeant and
an emotional recorded video message by Duncan Macgregor. Dr Fernandez speech
talked about the major accomplishments of Rotary in India, in particular with
making India polio free for the last two years, as well as the benefits of SCAW
to the most needy in their society. He challenged the members of the Belgaum
Rotary to research and document what has happened to the recipients of the
bedkits from 18 – 25 years ago. He wanted to publicize the impact on those
recipients of having received a bedkit. One successful example cited was Amin
Sheikh in Mumbai. Presentations of flowers were then made to the SCAW team and
in return, the Rotary Club President was presented with a framed, signed letter
by Dave Dryden and commemorative book that documented the history of the
Belgaum distribution from 1988 to 2013. Dilip Chitnis was then presented with a
Fanta orange pop and a kazoo by the team on behalf of Duncan Macgregor in his
absence.
The celebration included the presentation
of several floral arrangements to the SCAW team from representatives of the
outlying Rotary Clubs who host distributions. The 25th Anniversary
cake was then cut and the national anthems of India and Canada were sung.
The evening concluded in style with a
delicious Indian meal and great conversation about past distributions. Many of
the original members of the SCAW Trust from 1988 were present and reminisced
about the four-person team that Laura Harper led on that initial distribution.
They also talked about going to Hubli to learn about how to run a distribution
from an OVP perspective. Ironically, the tables are turned today and it is the
Belgaum Club that is providing the expertise and advice to the other clubs who
are organizing the distributions.
Bill Sergeant for Team Mumbai/Belgaum 2013
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