We have arrived safely in Dar and all our luggage made it too. 👍🌺
Wendy and Benjamin met us at the airport and we are now at the hostel getting settled. The team is coming together nicely.
Team Tanzania, 2024
Upendo 🇹🇿 + SCAW 🇨🇦
What an incredible fun-filled day! The SCAW team was up early to begin a long journey to a distribution in Dompe. Here we were met by welcoming children, marching bands, dance performances and smiles everywhere.
After the distribution the Rotarians provided us with a delicious meal of authentic Sri Lanken food! What a feast!
Then we were off to another distribution in Kekanyia. What can I say, another warm welcome! How lovely to see the happy children receiving their gifts from SCAW. Thank you to the Rotarians here in Sri Lanka who are organizing these distributions. Bravo!
Team Sri Lanka 2024
Rotary Club of Kelaniya 🇱🇰 and SCAW 🇨🇦
The SCAW team had a productive get-together with three of the key members of our OVP, the Rotary Club of Kelaniya. The 2024 Sri Lankan bedkit with fourteen items was displayed. 7,000 needy children will be delighted over the coming weeks.
Our dedicated Rotarian Partners 🇱🇰 and our SCAW 🇨🇦 team
The purchasing process for all the bedkit items was outlined, demonstrating the time and effort our OVP puts into getting the most value from SCAW’s donations. Our heartfelt thanks for your dedication.
Team Sri Lanka 2024
Rotary Club of Kelaniya 🇱🇰 and SCAW 🇨🇦
Our team arrived safe and sound in Colombo, tired but excited to begin another distribution. Today we have a pre-distribution meeting with our partners, the Rotary Club of Kelaniya.
We are looking forward to working with our partners to give the gift of sleep to 7000 little ones. Stay tuned.
Team Sri Lanka 2024
Rotary Club of Kelaniya 🇱🇰 and SCAW 🇨🇦
GETTING READY
All the preparation work for our distribution of 7500 bedkits is taking place right now in Mama Wandoa’s house. Mama’s son Benjamin, along with her wonderful Upendo volunteers, are in the process of putting all the items for the children into backpacks. They will be stored in the bedrooms of her house until we arrive.
The team from Canada 🇨🇦 is getting very excited to be travelling to Tanzania next week.
Asante Sana Upendo.🇹🇿 (See you soon).
Team Tanzania, 2024
Upendo 🇹🇿 + SCAW 🇨🇦
We went to Masakhane Tswelelopele Primary School in the community of Zandspruit, a crowded settlement of 30,000 people, on three separate days. This no-fee public school has over 1,000 students, or learners as they are called. The poverty and overcrowding was a shocking contrast to the gated middle-class communities just a few kilometres away. The school is overcrowded with many portable classrooms so there is no place for the children to play.
The school’s cook, who lives in the community, led us on a walk to visit two homes of bedkit recipients. The first home was comprised of two small metal shipping containers, separated by a concrete walkway. One container belonged to a 27-year-old mother of four children aged 3-10. The home consisted of a room with a double bed, a small stove and wash basin and a wardrobe. Her youngest children sleep on the floor or on her bed and the older children sleep on the floor in her mother’s house, the second shipping container. The bedkit mattress wouldn’t fit in the room, so the older children in the grandmother’s house will use it. Across the road is a community bathroom and water station that the family uses, carrying water back to the home to boil for drinking and washing. Two of our team members have 27-year-old daughters, so the contrast between our daughters’ lives and the challenging life of this young mother was stark.
The second home housed a family of seven. It was slightly larger with a shared kitchen/sitting area and shared toilet outside. We were shown the thin blanket that they put on the floor for the children to sleep on. The family were thrilled that the children now had a mattress of their own to share. The father repeatedly shook our hand, said thank you and expressed how happy they were with the gift of a bedkit. He said that the children had had two good nights of sleep on the mattress.
Some of the community have jobs at the school one or two days a week. We spoke to two security guards who had children who had received a bedkit. One father couldn’t stop smiling. He said he got a good sleep for the first time in years as there were no kids in his bed. It was the first time I had thought of the impact of a bedkit on the quality of sleep of the entire family.
We also spoke with the school’s principal. She remarked, ”These children have never had anything. I see happiness in their eyes now. If they sleep, they can learn”. The principal commented that many of the parents told the school staff how happy they are with the bedkits. They feel that someone cares about them.
As we were saying our goodbye, the cook hugged each of us and physically lifted us up, which we learned is the ultimate sign of thanks. Our team thanks the donors of Sleeping Children for the gift of the bedkits that touched 1,500 children and their families so profoundly.
Team South Africa
Rotary E-Club of Eagle Canyon 🇿🇦 and SCAW 🇨🇦
What a fantastic day!!! We went back to two of our sites from our first two days where there had been a number of children absent and we were able to finish distributing the remainder of the bedkits at both of these school locations.
At Zandspruit Nooitgedacht Primary the children in grade one received bedkits.
It was a struggle but this little guy managed to get his bedkit all the way to his waiting parent.
The little girl off to the left needed a little help in the end.
Then we were off to our final location - Vosloorus-Mampudi Primary School. This is a school of over 2000 learners. Bedkits were distributed to children in grades 1 to 6. Here is our final young lady receiving her bedkit. A celebration took place with high fives and a hug!!!
Success!!!! 1500 South African children have received the gift of a better night's sleep. South Africa is a new country for us and we are very pleased with the hard work that our Overseas Partners have done to be able to reach this accomplishment. A special pat on the back for the club president, Sanette Mostert.
Team South Africa
Rotary E-Club of Eagle Canyon 🇿🇦 and SCAW 🇨🇦
We had a successful distribution at the primary school with all kids, labels and bedkits accounted for. We had our share of cars coming in during the distribution due to the space being shared as a voting poll station.
The parents waited outside the gates and some kids had transport waiting for them so everyone left with huge smiles on their faces.
The parents were happy to share stories of their one room homes that have never had a mattress to sleep on and no kitchen. Some of these homes had 4 to 6 family members in the space.
Since the team completed the distribution at 2 pm we took the time to travel to Sandton Square to see the sculptures of Nelson Mandela.
Team South Africa
Rotary E-Club of Eagle Canyon 🇿🇦 and SCAW 🇨🇦
The South Africa team has been blessed to be staying in a hotel in Johannesburg with all the amenities close by. You really feel like you could be in Canada with the mountains in the background.
This morning’s distribution was only 5 km away and when we were arriving the team noticed the change in the atmosphere through the district. Now there were clay roads, pot holes (more like sink holes) and clothes hanging all around. The ambulances were in the area but were clearly escorted by police.
The school site was crowded from the onset, but this is more due to fact that there will be an election on Thursday and this is a pre-voting site.
We completed photos for 382 donors. This is the entire first grade class. With the time spent in between while we waited our team is practicing yoga with the kids and singing their hearts out.
Team South Africa
Rotary E-Club of Eagle Canyon 🇿🇦 and SCAW 🇨🇦
Like Canada, South Africa is a vast country with a diverse population. We experienced this fact in Johannesburg. The sprawling city, South Africa's largest, presents promising opportunities and daunting challenges for its residents. Our distribution at the Rock of Hope Ebenezer Hannah Home for Children gave evidence of how some of these daily challenges can be effectively addressed at a community level.
Pastor Thomas and his wife Shirley founded Rock of Hope on the site of a former fruit farm in 1992. Besides caring for orphaned children, the organization houses the elderly and runs an array of businesses, providing income and work skills for residents, plus operating revenue for the organization. These include a bakery, sewing and pottery divisions, and a chicken farm. The center also relies on outside contributions: cash and in-kind donations like our bed kits.
Rock of Hope currently houses 120 residents of various ethnic backgrounds, including 58 children. There is a nursery, pre-school and aftercare open to resident and non-resident children, and even a fully-equipped mobile kitchen dispensing sustenance for non-residents. Private citizens and businesses hold functions at the home to feed the community and pay operating expenses for Rock of Hope.
We were impressed by residents like Julie, an octogenarian who is blind and has provided advice and guidance to the children for more than a decade.
Rock of Hope is living evidence of how a community can come together to serve its most vulnerable residents, young and old, and offer hope for a troubled world.
Team South Africa
Rotary E-Club of Eagle Canyon 🇿🇦 and SCAW 🇨🇦
After getting our feet wet at our first two distributions yesterday we were excited and eager to head out for our second day at Zandspruit Nooitgedacht Public School. Here we distributed bedkits to the grade one students. Being that it was Sunday we were very appreciative of the teachers who donated their time to come and assist their students in getting ready for the distribution, helping them change into their new track suits and getting them lined up and ready. Their assistance was invaluable. Judging by the exceptional behaviour of these children you could see the amazing rapport established between the children and their teachers. There are 6 classes of grade one students and each class consists of around 40 learners. I truly admire these teachers for the work they do daily. As one of them stated "it is a labour of love.”
Following a short presentation to the parents and children, explaining the process for the day, what SCAW is, why we do what we do and showing the items that they would be receiving, we were presented with a special gift. The students had created an amazing piece of art to thank us for coming.
Look closely at this beautiful tree and you will be able to see a colourful thumbprint made by each grade one student
Then it was time to get busy. The children gave us wonderful smiles for the photographs that will be sent to our donors, then they were on their way to receive their special gift of a bedkit. Julie was giving out bedkits today and one child in particular really warmed her heart. As he approached to receive his gift he was quite hesitant and uncertain but when he saw what he was receiving he lit up with the biggest smile imaginable.
It took many hands to make today happen and to bring joy to the students of Nooitgedacht P.S. A special thanks to the teachers for their assistance in organizing the children and to our rotary volunteers for assisting in today’s distribution. Special recognition goes to the Rotary E-Club of Eagle Canyon and their President Sanette Mostert for all the hard work over the past months in preparation.
Team South Africa
Rotary E-Club of Eagle Canyon 🇿🇦 and SCAW 🇨🇦
Sleeping Children has returned to South Africa for our second distribution after four years away due to Covid. As the volunteers from our Overseas Volunteer Partner, the Rotary E-Club of Eagle Canyon, are all new to the project we started off with two smaller distributions.
South Africa OVP and SCAW
Our morning was at Mampudi Public School in Vosloorus, a school with 1000 students in a southern suburb of Johannesburg. Three children were ill with chickenpox and were unable to attend; however we made sure they received their bedkits. During a pause in the distribution, I was able to chat with some of the Grade 5 and 6 students, who spoke English well. I explained Sleeping Children’s mission to provide a good night of sleep to children around the world. We examined each item of the bedkit. When the girls in the front row realized that they would each be taking a bedkit home, one of the girls clutched her friend’s hand and remarked “She is going to cry”. When I said I hadn’t wanted to make her sad, she corrected me: “tears of joy”. She was not the only one with tears, although mine were from a mixture of emotions. The children were truly grateful and looked forward to testing the bedkit out that night, especially the warm blanket.
After a successful morning, we drove half an hour to the Ebenezer Hannah Home, a unique community operated by pastor Thomas Merime and his wife. This nonprofit provides housing, food, and social services to children who are orphaned or neglected and seniors living in poverty with no family support. It also provides subsidized housing for community members in need of support, who then work at the centre in exchange for the lowered rent. The Home operates a preschool and a bakery and sewing centre, where residents and community women are trained in skills that can benefit the Home as well as provide outside income. We had the privilege of joining this community for lunch, and it was a pleasure to watch the adults and children enjoying a healthy lunch together. The seniors fill the role of grandparents for the children, and one couple have helped raise almost 100 children while living in the community. They truly have built a family here.
Ebenezer Hannah Home
Before we distributed the bedkits, we were entertained by an impromptu concert by the children, led by our team member Jan. The children energetically participated in typical English action songs like “Old Macdonald” and “Twinkle Twinkle”. When it was their turn to choose the songs, our team was in awe of the beautiful harmony of the children singing gospel songs in their local language. We have no doubt that the bedkits will be put to good use in this family community.
While the number of bedkits may have started small, the impact for these two communities was large. Congratulations to our Overseas Volunteer Partners on a successful first day.
Team South Africa
Rotary E-Club of Eagle Canyon 🇿🇦 and SCAW 🇨🇦
The world may be getting smaller but it still takes a day to fly from Toronto to Johannesburg, South Africa. We arrived quite late but Sanette, from Rotary Club of Johannesburg, greeted us at the hotel. On our first full day, Sanette, with Sizwe, Nobesuthu (Nobes), and our driver, Linden, welcomed us as we toured Europa Foam. The sprawling facility, which employs 100 to 150 workers, provides mattresses for the children. Nisha was our guide.
Our next stop was Rainbow Blankets, where we met Mehmet, the owner. The company has been in operation for 30 years and produces 10,000 blankets a year.
After lunch overlooking the scenic golf course at Eagle Canyon, the SCAW team of four met to prepare, followed by a meeting with Sanette and other local partners.
We are happy to be in South Africa and looking forward to this distribution and to a fruitful ongoing partnership with Rotary Club of Johannesburg.
Rotary E-Club of Eagle Canyon 🇿🇦 and SCAW 🇨🇦
Today we distributed our last 550 bedkits. Your 8,000 bedkits have been greatly appreciated by the children and their parents. The days ahead will begin with a good night’s sleep.
My most memorable moment today was when a small child with challenges was soothed by a cookie and bottle of water. He could then calmly receive your generous gift. He went away very happily with his Mom.
Team Uganda
Inner Wheel of Kampala 🇺🇬 and SCAW 🇨🇦
Wow! What a day. . . . Again we travelled up the mountain roads to a site that had a 360 degree view of valleys and green mountains. The sun shone all day and the pictures all had this spectacular background. It was probably the best distribution yet as all the pieces fell together. To top it off, we were treated to a phenomenon most of us had never seen . . . a Circum Zenithal Arc . . . to us a rainbow that instead of touching the ground at each end remains as a circle above us.
Circum Zenithal Arc
We had a bit of a scare when we arrived at the site . . . our large truck carting the 550 bedkits was completely on its side in a ditch! Apparently they had off-loaded all the kits and then turned the wrong way out onto the road and tipped over. Heaven knows when they got out, but that was the only wrinkle in the whole day!
We were then treated to a performance by a group of women who sang, danced and brought gifts of fruit and vegetables, not for us but for their community. It was a joyous occasion for all.
Gifts of food for the family
We then went on to a lunch again hosted by one of the women in the Inner Wheel which was followed by a home visit right next door. The woman had 6 children living in a 2 room mud hut and her husband had died during Covid. Needless to say, she was overwhelmed by the gifts of food given to her and her children. This is always one of many sobering moments in our distributions. However, there are also a number of joyous moments such as seeing the children’s faces and the faces of their families, when they receive their bedkits.
It was a perfect day from every aspect!
Team Uganda
Inner Wheel of Kampala 🇺🇬 and SCAW 🇨🇦
Bananas are a staple food in Uganda and that is obvious when you see the many, many banana palms planted in every nook and cranny around the country.
There are five different types of bananas grown here, each with a specific use.
Gonja bananas are for roasting on a grill or in the oven. This variety can also be fried.
Embidde bananas are fermented to make a local brew. The ripe bananas are mashed with grass releasing the juice which can be consumed or have sorghum added to it to begin the fermentation process. The resulting brew is distilled producing the local drink.
Ndizzi bananas are very small and eaten as a raw fruit.
Bogoya bananas are larger that the ndizzi variety and also eaten raw as a fruit.
Matooke bananas are steamed, mashed and eaten hot.
We have had the pleasure of having many of these varieties at our distribution lunch feasts.
Bananas are transported in every imaginable method from boda bodas, on the backs of bicycles, in baskets on the top of women's heads, to large transport trucks.
Bananas being transported by boda boda.
Bananas figure prominently in local art as well (picture).
Clearly, bananas are an important part of this culture.
Team Uganda
Inner Wheel of Kampala 🇺🇬 and SCAW 🇨🇦
We had the opportunity to go on another home visit after today’s distribution. We all remembered the family: their son has a disability - his Dad got to be in the photo with him, as he couldn’t sit unsupported. Their house was a duplex made of clay and their side had two rooms. There was a cooking area out back, some goats, and a pumpkin garden.
The family consists of mom and dad and four children - the two youngest are disabled. They are 11 and 6, but look considerably smaller. The team referred to them as “having vulnerabilities”. The children were so happy and it was a joy to meet them. We sang “if you’re happy and you know it” and they clapped during the whole song.
There were three home visitors at their home, part of a government initiative. It’s a peer mentorship program, with folks from the community mentoring their neighbours, mostly on health-related topics. They visit each family monthly and teach them.
We gave the family some money and two Canada T-shirts and a Canada ball cap. Plus, they now have a bedkit. One of our team members told the mom that the bedkit is for the child but that the items could be shared. Mom shook her head. We don’t speak the language, but if we understood her, she was saying, “No thank you - this is for my child.”
Team Uganda
Inner Wheel of Kampala 🇺🇬 and SCAW 🇨🇦
Yesterday, after our distribution in a remote village, we got to do another home visit. We had to climb a steep hill which was very rocky and muddy. Unfortunately, we arrived to find the mom was taking one of her children to hospital and the father wasn’t home. Luckily, grandma was home to take care of the other three children. We brought the family a gift of food to say thank you for letting us visit their home.
It was a sort of compound - two small homes made of mud and sticks, and a “shed” with a fire burning. Mom and Dad’s home had a cooking area and a bedroom, and Grandma’s home had 2 bedrooms and a main room. We saw that the new SCAW mattress was still rolled and sitting on a bed. The bedkit recipient was already wearing her new shoes! Shoes continue to be the hottest item and the one that the children AND their families cheer the loudest for.
On a related note, one of our team members spoke with a community volunteer today at the site who said there are many children with intellectual disabilities in the community, largely due to maternal malnutrition during pregnancy. We hope the gift of a bedkit relieves some of their burdens and allows for healthy development overall.
It is a gift to visit these families and have them open their doors - humble as they may be. It is illuminating and bittersweet: knowing we made a difference yet seeing just how much work there is to do.
Team Uganda
Inner Wheel of Kampala 🇺🇬 and SCAW 🇨🇦
Today was day 6, distributions 7 and 8. We hit a wee snag when the truck carrying the mattresses and bedkits broke down a few kilometres from the site! The team set up as best we could and the children got dressed while we all waited, fingers crossed and breath held. Luckily, the truck arrived about an hour after the team, and we all set to work: Inner Wheel, SCAW, and families. We rolled and tied 550 mattresses in no time at all, thanks to all the helpers.
Then we put the bedkits into the basins, again a team effort that moved smoothly and was much quicker thanks to families jumping in to help.
When the distribution happens, we have community volunteers, all of whom had children receiving a bedkit today. They stayed with our team for the whole distribution - lifting bedkits to be given out, and helping children carry their new bedkit and mattress. The help was most welcome as the bedkits are heavy- they are so filled with gifts for the children! $40 can go so far and gives children amazing opportunities to rest and to learn at school.
It was a smooth distribution, thanks to the amazing volunteers.
It takes a village to make a distribution.
Team Uganda
Inner Wheel of Kampala 🇺🇬 and SCAW 🇨🇦
Some quirky things we’ve seen along the way.
The traffic in Kampala was dense and chaotic; cars, buses, and motorcycles sharing the road. And oh my, let’s talk about the roads! Many were constructed with the red dirt of Uganda, and the potholes (craters?) were massive. It was common to see 2 or 3, or even a family of 4, on a motorcycle. But it’s the cargo that has been so entertaining. I wish I could’ve photographed all of the things we have seen! We see people carrying crates of fresh eggs, bananas, or other food (sometimes prepared food for sale), live animals such as chickens and turkeys, construction materials like slabs of drywall or 10 feet rebar (carried sideways), furniture, and even a stack of boxed mini-fridges.
The condition of the roads slows the traffic down considerably, and so an economy has emerged where people sell goods as they walk through the traffic. We were offered everything from food and clothing (men’s boxers), to windshield wipers and rat poisoning. Also to be seen on our long bus drives is the beautiful landscape of Uganda, lush green plants, rolling hills, and the red mud. We’ve also spotted both Toronto and Montreal hockey jerseys! And of course, we’ve seen several SCAW bedkits making their way home on motorcycles.
Team Uganda
Inner Wheel of Kampala 🇺🇬 and SCAW 🇨🇦