Mumbai: A First-Time Experience

Being my first time with SCAW as well as coming to India, I had no idea what to expect. On distribution day one it took us approximately 3 hours to arrive to our destination. The village was very rural. Goats, cows, chickens and pigs all shared the roads along with auto rickshaws, scooters, motorcycles and trucks.

The children had put up welcome signs and decorated the dirt path with colorful sand designs.

Once we unpacked and set up, the welcome ceremony began. Five young girls began to do a dance in their finest clothes. What impressed me most is how well behaved the rest of the children were while watching. All sitting still in single file.

Finally we got started. My days task was to draw a smiley face on the children's thumb once they had had their picture taken so that we wouldn't give them two bedkits. I loved that job because I saw how excited they were to finally receive their gift. The children were very small for their ages, clearly signs of malnutrition. A few also had sores that were infected or vision or hearing disadvantages. Those kids seemed the most happy.

All in all the day went well and we gave out around 200 bedkits to these children. I can't wait to do it all again 
tomorrow!

Adam Steeves for Team Mumbai 2015
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