Today started with the realization the schedule had been more taxing for some of the team members. It was decided the prudent thing to do would be to rest up for the next leg of the distribution tour; there was much travel time ahead and thousands more kits to pass out to the many wonderful children.
Kay and
Archie volunteered to represent SCAW for a midday press conference alongside
our Rotarian colleagues. It was our chance to get the word out and get some
name recognition for SCAW. We showed up at the press gallery with Sameer Rupani
and Pankaj Apte and took our seats at the table. In the 25 or so minutes we
had, we conveyed the scope and direction and depth of SCAW. Sameer and Pankaj
outlined a brief history of the Rotary Club/SCAW relationship, and their roles
as procurers and facilitators; describing efforts to maximize kit content, yet
retaining the highest value of each item.
Kay
described the story of Murray Dryden's experience in Pune, with wife Margaret,
nearly 50 years ago, and the subsequent passionate legacy that developed out of
which SCAW was born.
As a
newcomer to the SCAW team, Archie conveyed his experiences as a newbie, and the
depth of emotions that arise from witnessing the warmth of the community we
serve, and are serving alongside.
We closed
the press conference with a TV interview with Kay, who went into more detail of
SCAW. We left feeling good about the experience, knowing there would be a
little more exposure for this growing movement.
Afterwards,
our Rotarian hosts treated us to a wonderful lunch, followed by a tour of St.
Crispens Orphanage; the site of SCAW's first distribution in 1970. We were
grateful that the head supervisor was able to take some time out of her busy
schedule to show us through the orphanage and give us a little information
about how it worked. As we sat at the table discussing things of SCAW, Rotary
Club and St. Crispens, Sameer showed the supervisor a photo from that first
distribution all those years ago. To everyone's amazement she recognized one of
the young girls who was a bedkit recipient! Apparently, she was an orphan who had been
brought up through St. Crispens and had graduated to become a teacher ... at
the very same orphanage! To add to this great news, we were introduced to a
girl in her teens who had been a recipient in 2009 for the millionth kit
distribution tour!
Such a great
testament to the effectiveness of both SCAW and St. Crispens. This gave us all
much to contemplate.
After this
profound visit we went on to visit two temples. The day ended with a delicious
meal that was provided by Rotarian Shailesh Gandhi and his warm and wonderful
wife and family. India is really a home away from home!
Archie Degaust
Team Pune 2019
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