Children and parent(s) travel from local communities either by walking, recycle, or jeepneys to receive their gift from the SCAW donor. When visiting homes, conducting interviews and seeing the beautiful smiles on all the children’s faces it is obvious that this precious gift is very important to the child and family.
We were fortunate this morning to meet two past recipients who had received bedkits 15 years ago. We had many questions to ask them about where they are living, school and daily life as well as the importance of the bedkit that they had received. We were pleased to hear that both young men are attending university. They told us that they remembered the sleeping mat, school supplies, and to our surprise that one of the young men is still using the mosquito net to this day.
The importance of the bedkiit was again demonstrated at today’s distribution. Children from five indigenous tribes travelled from the mountain region with many walking or riding in trucks for several hours.
In their small mountain homes they have no electricity or running water. Water is trucked in and is purchased at 2 pesos a pail. The average family uses 12 -15 pails a day. These recipients have many hardships. For example these tribes often have to rebuild their homes on a yearly basis because the homes are washed away down the mountainside during the rainy season.
Receiving a bedkit today was a very important event for each child and family.
The entire Canadian and Philippine SCAW team was treated to a ceremonial dance performance.
Team Philippines 2017
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