SCAW Blog: Rwanda, 2024: September 29

After a much needed rest day, the team departed south for Huye, formerly known as Butare. The journey began with a long and slow crawl up one of the steeper hills behind a transport truck that just barely made it to the top. We enjoyed watching the bicycles hitch a ride using the bumper of the truck as it rolled along.

As the road opened up we took in the lush greenery of the rolling hills of Rwanda. Huye is home to the National University, and was once a leading candidate to become the capital of Rwanda after independence, but lost out to Kigali due to its central location. Now, Huye is the fourth largest town in Rwanda with a population of 55,000.

On the outskirts of town, we turned off the main road onto a rain-rutted, red clay trail, until we arrived at Karama. The site was large, situated in a valley surrounded by tall hills. Today's progress was slow, but steady. This particular area was one of the more impoverished, with many disabled and barefoot children. The need here was very evident.

As the day progressed, dark clouds turned to torrential rain with mothers, children and the team all seeking shelter. A decision was made to pause the remainder of the distribution for the day, and continue the next morning. Our team shuttled back for an overnight stay in Huye to rest up for what will be a busy day tomorrow.

Team Rwanda, 2024

Rotary Club of Kigali Virunga 🇷🇼 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Rwanda, 2024: October 3

Today is our second last day in the Lake Kivu area and the distribution was cancelled due to bedkit transport issues. Tomorrow will be a double distribution day (2 x 500) followed by a four hour drive back to Kigali ahead of a factory visit and then a flight home on Saturday.

Today we enjoyed a local chicken lunch on the shore of Lake Kivu.

Wish us luck tomorrow! 

Team Rwanda, 2024

Rotary Club of Kigali Virunga 🇷🇼 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW: Rwanda, 2024: October 2

An excellent day, today, in all sorts of ways!

This is our eighth day of distributing bedkits and it took place right in Rubavu Town, about 10 minutes from where we are staying.  The site was a school with children from grade 1 to grade 11 and the principal helped us by providing access to three classrooms which we used for handing out the bedkits as well as a space for taking pictures of the children receiving them.

In the classroom there was a timetable for the grade 5 students and it shows how much time these children spend in school, starting at 8:45 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday.  Students are provided a lunch by the school each day, a common practice in Rwandan schools.  Blackboards are still being used with chalk for writing. Here is a picture of the timetable in one classroom: 

We successfully distributed 500 bedkits today and thanks to the weather holding (i.e. no rain or thunderstorms), an excellent, hardworking Rwandan volunteer group from the local area as well as the Overseas Partner Volunteer Rotarians on site, all was done within five hours, our best time yet.

We try and make the experience of the children receiving the bedkits as fun and memorable as possible.  Our team leader, Doug, is a master at this using his oversized clappers and bubble wands to the delight of the children.  Some samples of Doug’s talents are pictured below. 

When we finished the bedkit distribution, we then headed out to do a home visit.  From where we distributed the bedkits to where the family lived, was about 5 kilometres.  On the way there we saw other families on their way home carrying their bedkits.  They had big smiles on their faces and looked so happy as we drove by.

At our home visit, we met a family where the husband and wife had two children and had received a bedkit this morning. They walked the five km home and were there to greet us.  They lived in a one bedroom, brick/concrete three room part of a house. We were shown the main room and kitchen. The mattress was a very welcome addition so that the little girl had a place to sleep on her own without having to share the communal bed.  The family was very happy and appreciative to get the rest of the bedkit which will, no doubt, be put to very good use.

The team worked very well today to ensure that another 500 children will get a good night’s sleep.

For the children . . . .

 Team Rwanda, 2024

Rotary Club of Kigali Virunga 🇷🇼 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Rwanda, 2024: October 1

Today’s adventure!

We were delayed with today’s distribution until the afternoon so being able to sleep longer and relax in the morning was a treat. Our team strolled down to Kivu Lake, giving us a chance to explore the area. Then off we went to our distribution. Thank goodness for our wonderful driver, Jean Claude, as he maneuvered us through the rough roads of Mahoko! The team had to get out of the van while he safely got us over this hole in the road (pictured below). There was a street market going on so everyone was watching.

Around lunchtime we arrived at an alternate site from what was originally planned and we were greeted by many wonderful nursery school children who just wanted hugs and boy did they get them. It was a Catholic school with 250 nursery school age children and 1250 senior students. The headmaster graciously canceled school in the afternoon so we could use his school for our distribution!

Before the senior students left we watched and participated in a little basketball. Apparently the game of basketball is taken quite seriously in Rwanda and these boys did not disappoint!

Before the students went home we were able to engage in some English conversation with them and as you can see in the photo below, English was one of the subjects being taught. One young man in a group asked me, “How can I learn better English like you?” to which I answered, “Well I was a teacher and these 2 ladies are nurses and the best answer is to stay in school and study,” to which he replied, “I will do that!”

When all students had cleared out of the school we began to give out the 500 bedkits. Of course we had some help at the beginning to get the mattresses in place.

We also had help as the children left the gated school to find their parents.

It was another successful day here in Rwanda with 500 more children sleeping well, despite the rainy day!

Team Rwanda, 2024

Rotary Club of Kigali Virunga 🇷🇼 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Rwanda, 2024: September, 30

First Rwanda Road Trip

Home base has been the capital city, Kigali, but at the end of the week we headed east a few hours to the district of Gatsibo. We went to three distribution sites over two days with an overnight in a hotel in Kabarore. This was challenging for the Rotary and SCAW teams but successful although we ended in the dark the first day using car headlights to help take the final pictures. On the road trip we saw interesting types of road conveyances and then we saw the extensive cooperative, as well as agriculture in the lush valleys (Rwanda is the country of 1,000 hills) with rice, kidney beans, bananas, potatoes, tea and more.

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Our team is great, and we are having fun with the children, parents and the Rotary members as you can see in the team photo with bubbles.

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And we ended the evening in Kabarore sampling the local Banana wine – which was a uniquely new taste – and look!

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We are travelling back to yesterday’s site to finish since lightning and torrential rain shut it down - it will be a big day with two sites one hour apart and then a 4-5 hour drive to the western sites. 

The view from my hotel room is above and there is a bus station that emits VERY loud revs starting at 5:30 am.

Team Rwanda, 2024

Rotary Club of Kigali Virunga 🇷🇼 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Rwanda, 2024: September 27

It was a good day! 

It is a big operation to organize 500 children to receive their bedkits with contents of the right size: dresses for the girls, shorts and t-shirts for the boys, sandals, a basin for washing, sheets, a blanket, three workbooks, two pens, a mosquito net, a backpack for school and a mattress for a good night’s sleep. Oh, and there is a language challenge as well which makes it really interesting as do some of the cultural norms!  It is a great learning experience for us all. And, at the end of the day, like magic, there are happy parents/guardians and children on their way home.

Rwanda is a recently added country for our distributions and SCAW has been working very hard with the Overseas Volunteer Partner (OVP), the Rotary Club of Kigali Virunga, to provide bedkits to various parts of the country where they are most needed.  It is a tremendous undertaking given that the OVP sources the contents of the bedkits, organizes their assembly, and then, after selecting the various distribution sites, gets them to the sites.  Once there, the distribution process of registering the children, getting their picture taken and handing out the bedkits is always a challenge, especially to do it in a timely manner.  And then we have to get the children back to the parents.  So, it has been a learning process for all involved.

Our distribution site was a local government area and included a small compound of confiscated bikes and motorcycles.  Here are our fearless team leaders hard at work!

While the children and families were waiting, ‘Bubbles’ AKA Doug, entertained the children and adults alike. There were lots of happy smiles and delighted laughter.

Team Rwanda, 2024

Rotary Club of Kigali Virunga 🇷🇼 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Rwanda, 2024: September 25

We were excited to be on the road driving to Gashora for our second day of distributions. On the way we saw people carrying huge bundles of sugarcane on the back of their bicycles. We could see the parents and their children anxiously anticipating the bed kits. 

Help was waiting for us. The registration table was set up and most of the kits were ready to go. Since it was day two, we were aware of some of the issues we might face since “things might not happen  as smoothly as we hoped.”

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The afternoon took us to our 2nd distribution of the day in the district of Nyamata. We distributed over 600 bed kits today. Unfortunately, things were a little bit slower than we hoped, but not to be deterred, we completed the last few photos with the assistance of the headlights of a car as the sun set over the dusty fields. 

Team Rwanda, 2024

Rotary Club of Kigali Virunga 🇷🇼 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Rwanda, 2024: September 24

And so it begins…

Today we were honoured to give out exactly 400 bedkits to the children in the first district of Ruhuha in Rwanda.  All 400 bedkits arrived early at the site while it was still dark. 

The children were delighted to see the colourful mattresses along with an additional bag filled with some sheets, a wool blanket, a mosquito net, a dress for the girls and some shorts for the boys along with an additional t-shirt, some school supplies and a brand new pair of flip flops. 

But the best part of our day was seeing those colourful mattresses on the road home being transported on a bicycle along with the child. Yes there is a child there behind the parent!

All in all both the SCAW team and the Rotary Club of Kigali were thrilled to see the many smiles on the faces of the children. 

Stay tuned for more adventures from our team. 

Team Rwanda, 2024

Rotary Club of Kigali Virunga 🇷🇼 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Rwanda, 2024: September, 21-23

After much planning and organizing by our team leads, Theresa C. and Doug M., as well as great support from the SCAW office, Team Rwanda 2024 was officially ready to head to Kigali.  Team members Michael and January B. from Victoria, Theresa from Kamloops, Doug from Stratford, Margo L. from Port Stanley and Carol and Joep D. from Penetanguishene were eager to go.  

Michael and January flew a western route from Victoria and arrived in Kigali on Sept. 21, as planned.  The rest of the team flew the eastern route from Toronto to Brussels to Kigali, a total of around 16 hours flying time. 

Travelling these distances is not always easy.  Besides being on the long side, the group from Toronto had to be routed through Montreal, then they switched aircraft and flew overnight to Brussels.  The plan was then to continue on several hours after arriving in Brussels and fly direct to Kigali landing around 6:30 pm.  All was on track until 10 minutes prior to boarding for the final leg of our journey when the flight was cancelled.  Then came the scramble to get rebooked so that we could still make the deadline of arriving at Kigali on Monday, September 23.  Three hours later, we sorted out the remaining flight segment and, after spending Sunday night in Brussels courtesy of the airline, we arrived a day later than scheduled.  Monday was planned to be a travel rest day with only the pre-distribution meeting scheduled for 5:30 pm.

We were joyfully met by some of the Rotary Club members after we landed and cleared customs and arrived at our accommodation by 9 pm.  We will be rested and ready to go on Tuesday morning to start distributing 5,000 bedkits to children that really need them. We will continue this work over the next 11 days.  

Our overseas partner, The Rotary Club of Kigali Virunga, has also been very busy sourcing and organizing the bedkits, selecting the children who will receive them, planning the logistics of transportation and deciding on the location to meet the children and be generally available to help this distribution run smoothly.

The process of getting the team to the country, meeting the overseas partner volunteers, getting to the various distribution sites and meeting both children and parents while representing the donor on site are all part of the interesting challenges that SCAW travel volunteers experience.  No matter how much planning that is done, there will always be surprises that further challenge completing the task at hand and those surprises make this very special volunteer activity quite interesting.

And we do all of this . . . for the children.

Team Rwanda 2024

Rotary Club of Kigali Virunga 🇷🇼 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2024: September 5

An exciting day was had by all. Today we celebrated the giving of 7000 bedkits. The SCAW team is so grateful to have had the experience and opportunity to support the Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa's project to help the children of Honduras. 

The success of the distribution was largely due to the extraordinary effort of Rotarian Edgardo Yescas and the tireless Rotaractors led by Ciara and Andrea. In addition, a big thank you to everyone involved and to our donors who make this all possible.

Team Honduras, 2024

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa  🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2024: September 4

Our crack team of volunteers was on the road at 6:30 this morning, on our way to today's distribution at a school within the city. Our very capable driver, César, negotiated morning traffic on narrow streets to once again deliver us safely to our destination. 

When we arrived, many of today's 700 bedkit recipients and their teachers were already waiting for us in the covered courtyard. The sound of excitement and anticipation was wonderful for us to hear.

Our team got to work preparing for the flow of children through the various stations of the process. Team member Neil worked with some of the local volunteers to build a small set of steps to help the little ones get up to the area set up for photo taking. Another excellent example of team effort.

Once our process began, it moved smoothly and we completed the distribution of today's 700 bedkits. Very satisfying for us, and appreciated by the children. 

Before heading back to our hotel, we stopped in at the warehouse where the bedkit items are being stored and assembled into kits, just to do a final count before our last day of distributions tomorrow. All looks good!

Thanks to our generous donors, another 700 children will sleep a little better tonight.

Buenas noches!

Team Honduras, 2024

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa  🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2024: September 3

Fun fact: the Honduran flag 🇭🇳.

The two blue lines represent the two bodies of water (Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea). The white represents the land between the two bodies of water. The five stars 🌟 🌟🌟🌟🌟 represent the 5 Central American countries: Guatemala,🇬🇹 Costa Rica 🇨🇷, Nicaragua 🇳🇮, El Salvador 🇸🇻 and Honduras🇭🇳 

A mosaic made of stones

When arriving at a distribution site, we have to assess the best way to move the children through the area to receive their bedkit. We try to keep the route easy, with no obstacles.

Figuring out the logistics

At today's location we had to find a way to move the bedkits, which were stored on an upper level, to an area accessible for the children so they didn't have to climb stairs. 

Today's creative, innovative and fun way of moving the bedkits involved a few people tossing them from the second floor to the first.

Many volunteers formed a "conga line" that help move them to the endpoint so the children could collect their bedkit safely.

Sometimes we have to take a pause due to a backlog of children waiting to receive their bedkit. We entertained them by doing the Macarena as pictured below.

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Another way our team kept the children entertained during a pause is pictured below.

One of the Rotarians used his time in the Military to get the children to repeat some cadence drills. It was another successful distribution.

Team Honduras, 2024

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa 🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2024: September 2

“Teamwork makes the dream work “ is definitely an appropriate saying when referring to the results of the successful completion of a bedkit  distribution.

Rotary club and Rotaract members assist the SCAW Canadian team by translating phrases into Spanish that will be useful in directing the children on their way to receiving their bedkit.

Rotary, Rotaract & SCAW working together.

Parents and children taking their bedkits home.

Teachers and parents choose various modes of transportation such as a tuk-tuk taxi to travel to and from the bedkit distribution site.

Teachers returning home via tuk-tuk taxi after assisting at a bedkit distribution.

Team Honduras, 2024

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa  🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2024: August 31

The team and driver arrived at the school site at approximately 7:30 am. We were greeted with a traditional Honduran dance presented by 8 students.

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Today we had two exceptional cases where the SCAW and Rotary registered students had been hospitalized, unable to be present for their bedkit. Each parent provided a picture of the child, their registration was verified and we were grateful to honour the two children and their families with their bedkit.

Our hot and humid day concluded near 2:30 pm, after seeing almost 700 happy and satisfied faces.

Team Honduras 2024,

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa  🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦 

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2024: August 30

Today's distribution was at a school on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa. We were welcomed with music by children's marching bands and a delightful performance of a traditional dance by some impressive young children. 

Niños durmiendo alrededor el mundo is Spanish for Sleeping Children Around the World. 

Rousing music by a marching band. They have been practicing for the Honduran Independence Day parades on September 15th.

Children in traditional dress danced in our honour while proud families and teachers looked on.

Like every distribution, children were brought in from a number of schools in the area.

Each distribution site is different, but the one thing that remains constant is the wonderful team effort involved. It is truly inspiring to see the dedication of everyone involved in bringing bedkits to deserving children each day. 

We are a team of six representing SCAW (with the support of a lot of people back in Canada), but a successful day like today requires dozens of people working together, both on site and behind the scenes. Fortunately, we have such a group.

Team members all pitch in to move bedkits to the area where they are handed out. 

On to Day 6 tomorrow! Sleep well.

Team Honduras, 2024

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa  🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2024: August 29

**Fun fact: the school year in Honduras 🇭🇳 is February to November. 

Another early morning start for the SCAW Team and our overseas partners, which also includes numerous volunteers (municipal workers, adult children and spouses of Rotary members, university students, etc.)

Ever wonder what it's like at the distribution sites in Honduras?

Once the children arrive they are checked in and assigned a number. From there they are given a white T-shirt (to be worn for the photo) and navy shorts.

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Then they are lined up in groups to get their picture taken. Once the photo is snapped, there's another check point and off they go to collect their bedkit.

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It was another successful distribution day!

Team Honduras 2024

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa  🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦 

SCAW Blog: Honduras 2024: August 28

The Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa contracted with their supplier to provide mattresses, pillows, bed sheets and pillowcases in various Disney & cartoon prints which the children really love.

We were treated to a performance by a musical instrumental band.

The teachers from the five schools included in today’s distribution were very helpful in ensuring that children were reunited with their parents or put on the correct bus for the return trip to their neighbourhood with their bedkits to take to their homes.

Team Honduras 2024

Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa 🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2024: August 26

After many months of planning and countless hours of preparation, today we were able to meet and hand bedkits to the first 700 beautiful Honduran children who are beneficiaries of the generous donations of our donors. Our reward of a smile and a timid "gracias" is instant and lasting.

A lovely welcome to the location of our first distribution.

Our thoughtful Rotarian partners had tents set up to protect us and the children from the hot sun.

The children had also been preparing for this day. They treated us to a performance of a traditional dance and song, as well as a lovely speech of appreciation delivered by a nervous but determined young boy while his "abuela" proudly looked on. It was a moving moment.

Getting the children to smile for the camera.

Hmmm - she has a choice between a green backpack or a black one (she chose the black)

After a joyous day with the children, we were able to visit two of the warehouses where the bedkit items were stored and assembled into kits. It was impressive to see the vast piles of mattresses alone.

A mountain of mattresses, but by the end of next week, these will all be delivered!

We were informed that the assembly of the bedkits is done by local volunteers, including some parents and teachers of children who will be receiving a bedkit. Also of note is that one of the warehouse spaces is provided for free by a local church, and the other by the municipal government. It truly is a community effort.

Happy children leaving the schoolyard with their precious new belongings.

Much respect and thanks go to our Overseas Volunteer Partner in Honduras, the Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa. Their hard work and dedication to the children makes all of this possible.

Wishing a good night's sleep to all children, everywhere."

Team Honduras, 2024-

Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa 🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2024: August 27

Today I met with the Principal designate at the day 2 distribution site. This school site has a student population of 535. The Principal designate recognized how happy and grateful the children were to receive the bedkit gift.

The teachers understand the positive impact the bedkit will have on the students and their families. 

The Rotary Club of Welland provided toothbrushes, toothpaste and bandaids to the Principal for this school site. 

Traditional dance greeting

The Rotaractors are a tremendous help with the distribution. They are assisting at stations and with translation.

Full group photo

Looking forward to more smiling faces tomorrow. 

Team Honduras 2024

Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa 🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2024: August 26

Hola from Honduras.

The SCAW team arrived on Saturday, August 24, 2024.  The Rotary Club from Tejucigalpa met us at the airport and managed to give us a tour of the site of our first distribution.

Our overseas partners have been very busy this past year getting ready for the distribution.  

When we leave in two weeks, 7,000 children will be getting a better night's sleep.

Team Honduras 2024

Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa 🇭🇳 and SCAW 🇨🇦