Tuesday, January 26th, is Republic Day in
India. The weekend celebrations were akin to our Canada Day weekend. It
was also an off day for the SCAW Team in Chennai as we said goodbye to
Puducherry. In the morning, we visited Auroville which is a
place that has been transformed from a barren plateau to a lush green landscape
in which a city is beginning to take shape (www.aroville.org).
After lunch and a stroll along the ocean front in Puducherry,
we began our journey back to the Chennai area. As we got close
to Chennai, we had the opportunity to visit homes of flood victims in
two locations. The first village received about 30 bedkits and the flood level
reached the knees of the inhabitants.
The second village area flooded to above
waist levels and there were over 150 recipients of bedkits from this village
area. There is still a lot of water in evidence even now. The
sightseeing at Auroville and Punducherry was very nice, but seeing the place
where the children live and seeing the children who had received the
bedkits with their families was very special.
Our partners, The Rotary Club of Ambattur is
a very special group of people. They consider themselves to be a
"project" club. Three important ongoing projects are SCAW,
their hospital, and their school. But that's not all!
After the floods, they set up Medical Clinics
with 100 doctors volunteering their time to provide medicine primarily for
Rat Fever and ointment for cracks in the feet. They serviced over 6,500
people at 8 clinics while also getting ready for the SCAW
distribution to 5,000 children. We are blessed to be amongst these very
giving people who share their hearts with others.
