Today we had two bedkit distributions, both
at schools. The morning was at an urban
school in Jessore and we distributed 500 bedkits. The Bangladesh bedkit includes a ground
sheet, pillow, sheet, two blankets, two sets of clothing, a mosquito net, flip
flops, a water bottle, a tiffin (lunch) box, and a knapsack.
The children changed into one set of their
new clothes, and put their old clothes in a bag. When asked to set the bag aside for their
photo, many children were reluctant to do so, clutching the bag to their
chests. While these children may not
have many possessions, they value dearly the ones they do have.
As usual, the distribution began with one
of our Rotarian Overseas Volunteer Partners, Rawley, holding up each item from
the bedkit. The children cheered for all items, especially the mosquito net and
raincoat. The raincoat always elicits giggles,
especially when one of the Rotarians, Baized models it for them! Rowley’s wife, Gul Ru, has joined us and
assisted us getting the children dressed in their new clothes and interpreting
when we interviewed families about the contents of the bedkit.
One of our favourite moments occurs when we
assemble the children for photos in a large group. The youngest children sit in the front row
and we ask them to each hold an item from the bedkit. These tiny children take this job very
seriously! Often a child will clutch the
item tightly, perhaps wishing they could keep it. They
don’t yet understand that just around the corner a bedkit awaits, complete with
that item and much more.
In the afternoon we drove over an hour to
get to a more rural school in Noapara, surrounded by large banana and palm
trees. We had quite a welcome, as we
were greeted by a student drum band then walked through two rows of older
students in blue and white uniforms. The
founder of the school was present, and informed us that the school has a 100%
literacy rate. We distributed 180 more bedkits, making a grand total of 2, 920
bedkits handed out so far. Thanks to SCAW’s
generous donors for making this distribution possible.
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Team Bangladesh 2014
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