Pune 2019: Witnessing the joy and appreciation

November 21

Today was a day filled with hope for a thousand recipients of the SCAW bedkit. To see the faces of so many children and their parents smile with gratitude for the gift of a SCAW bedkit is a wonderful thing for the volunteers to witness. The generosity of the SCAW givers is so appreciated. It’s is only through the photos that most donors get to see the joy and hope their gifts give.

Diane Barrick
Team Pune 2019

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Pune 2019: Raising awareness and remembering SCAW's beginnings

20 November

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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Bangladesh, 2019: More Distributions Later in November

Cyclone Bulbul hit Khulna shortly after we arrived at the hotel, and although it had abated somewhat after crossing land, it still came with torrential downpours and destructive gusts of wind. Streets were flooded, sheets of roofing torn off, and there were multiple power outages. Over 2 million people were evacuated.

One day's distribution was postponed, and completed the following day. As the path of the cyclone tracked through all the places we were scheduled to go, the SKD team had to reorganize their plans. Some sites became unavailable in the short term, but we completed the distribution of 6,232 bedkits. 

The remaining 1,768 will be distributed at two sites later in November. Stay tuned!

Chris Hills

Team Bangladesh, 2019

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Pune 2019: The embrace of a community

Today we traveled to a small school in Mahude, on a rough country road 70km from Pune. This is a farming population that is scattered throughout picturesque rolling mountains; a checkerboard of various crops colour the countryside, with small temples dotted along the road.

Upon arrival we were introduced to all the people involved in making this distribution possible. In Mahude this endeavour was a challenge because of the sparseness of the population; children had to be brought from outlying schools, which in this area is arduous, to say the least. We were so warmly greeted by our hosts, and were each given a wonderful headdress. To my wonderment, we were seated on carts, and ushered in by oxen who were colourfully adorn for the occasion.

The celebration that followed brought tears to my eyes, as I felt as though I was coming home from a long journey. These wonderful people offered us all they had with smiles and warmth.

Distributing the kits and ushering children to the photo area today firmly instilled a great feeling of gratitude that these people allow us into their lives to share what we have for them. The lines of giving and receiving blur in situations like these. Thank you so much Mahude!

Archie Degaust
Team Pune 2019

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Pune 2019: First day of distribution

We have traveled 12,000 km and 2 days to finally meet our first 1,000 children and their parents. It was definitely worth our effort.

As the minivan arrived in Palus, in the Sangli District, we were greeted at their school. There they were, sitting so beautiful and SO patiently.

One of the classes performed a delightful song beneath the multi-coloured canopy.

The body language and expression on the faces of the parents and grandparents was one of deep gratitude, bringing me to tears on several occasions.

Thank you, dear friends at home, who have given these beautiful children these gifts of love.

Kay Mountford

Team Pune 2019

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Pune 2019: Impressive teamwork!

Today was a day filled with community spirit, organization and cooperation. Our Pune team members helped to pack 1,000 of the 8,000 bed kits to be distributed. The other 7,000 were packed at seven other sites close to where they will be given out.

What a joy to see students, teachers, Rotary members, and our SCAW team working side by side to pack the numerous items the children will receive! First we packed the backpacks with school supplies, rain ponchos, pillow cases, washcloths and towels. Then we filled large woven carry bags with blankets, pillows, ground sheets, bedding, yoga mats, clothing, and mosquito nets. Any factory would have been impressed with our assembly lines, which kept on revolving around the room until all 1,000 kits had been assembled. Even the youngest family members joined in the fun!

Everyone was then rewarded with a delicious meal prepared by a local resident. What a great way to start our adventures here! Tomorrow we are off to our first distribution site and 1,000 happy smiles.

Diane Barrick

Team Pune 2019

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Bangladesh, 2019: Another Large and Successful Distribution

At the Akalam Muslim High School today, the team perfected the twin photo sites for handling a high volume of bedkits. 

Again, a great deal of credit must go to the volunteers who worked with the children all day long. Local Girl and Boy Scouts along with senior students from the school, took great care in guiding the children around the distribution site.

This area had been hard hit by Cyclone Bulbul.  Trees were being removed from roads, logs floated downriver for lumber mills, and firewood was being collected.

Many children were brought to the site by boat!

Chris Hills,

Team Bangladesh, 2019

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Bangladesh, 2019: A Record Day Bringing Smiles to 1300 Children

The SKD team set another record today by bringing happiness to 1300 Bangladeshi children. We were honoured to be making this distribution at Boga, the ancestral home of one of Bangladesh's heroes of the Liberation War, Group Captain (rtd) Shamsul Alam.   

For this number of children we set up two adjacent photo sites, with the children's change rooms and waiting area right next to the cameras for ease of flow. 

Thirty one cadets offered great assistance to the team, moving the children from location to location around the distribution site. Many other volunteers from Dr Yakub Sarif Degree College (the host site) made for this successful day!  

Group Captain Shamsul Alam, his brother Rezul Karim, and sister Durran, generously hosted a delicious lunch for the entire SKD team, a perfect end to a perfect day!

Chris Hills,

Team Bangladesh, 2019

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Pune 2019: Our adventure begins

The Pune India team has arrived safely! We were met at the airport by several Rotarians and are now looking forward to meeting the 8,000 children who will receive bedkits from our generous donors.

Team Pune 2019, from left to right :
Fran Wilson, Cindy Hobman, Diane Barrick (Team Leader),
Archie De Gaust, Kay Mountford and Andrea Tynan.

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Pune 2019 - Post your comments here

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Bangladesh, 2019: Thursday, Planning Ahead

Today was a non-distribution day, but the SKD team wanted a good sense of our next site where we would be handing out 1300 bedkits. We drove the three plus hours and ferried across two rivers to reach our destination.

Some families live all their lives on boats such as this, traversing the many waterways of this country.

This is the classroom that will become one of the changing rooms for the children.

Three "mature students" are part of the team assessing the site facilities.

The photo below is of one of the many unheralded workers hauling sand to fill in the wet spots of the site.

Village children are always curious when visitors arrive on their doorstep!

The passenger ferry crossing the first river; the larger ferry for trucks, buses, and cars followed shortly afterward.

Chris Hills,

Team Bangladesh, 2019

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Bangladesh, 2019: 1200 Bedkits Distributed in Sunny Bhola

The day dawned warm and sunny (sorry Ontario) as we set off early to take speedboats upriver for the Bhola distribution. In less than an hour we were docked and into the vans taking us to the school in Bhola Sadar Upazila.

This distribution marked another "first" for the SKD team in Bangladesh, who had taken the initiative to split the 1200 bedkits into two photos sites. Two cameras, and two bedkits laid out, with simultaneous picture taking helped bring smiles to many faces! 

The flow of children was excellent! The two groups of children filed through the photo sites and went off to receive their bedkits. 

The school had arranged for many, many student volunteers who helped tremendously in ensuring a steady stream of children to the various stations in the distribution cycle.

Chris Hills

Team Bangladesh, 2019

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South Africa 2019: Final day of distributions

Today we were back to the township schools to distribute our last group of bedkits. The children were so excited and had been eagerly awaiting our arrival.

Our primary contact at the school was Abigail, a social worker who described the dire circumstances in the homes of the children we met. She optimistically pointed out that through education, the lives of these children can be changed.

She described a program in the school where parents can volunteer to work at the school providing assistance with cleaning, cooking and organizing and using the limited skills that they have. These parents accumulate volunteer hours and are paid in “moolah” which they can spend to purchase grocery items from the local grocery store. This program restores the dignity for marginalized women and allows them to be positive role models for their children while empowering individuals to make choices and save for special items. We were very impressed with the focus on dignity and empowerment. And as an added bonus, the school is immaculate!

What a wonderful distribution site to end our time in Johannesburg with!

Team South Africa 2019

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