BY CYNTHIA REASON
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| From Kenya Album 2007 |
The one thing Etobicoke resident Veronique Presswood will take away from her recent mission to help the children of Kenya sleep better is the grateful expressions on their young faces.
"It's always the smiles of the kids - that's what gets you," she said of her two-week trip to Nairobi with Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW).
In March, Presswood, along with fellow Etobians Brenda Oliver and Duncan Macgregor, set out with three other volunteers to distribute 4,000 bed kits to the neediest children in the slums of Kenya's capital. The kits, consisting of a mattress, blanket, pillow, insecticide-treated mosquito net, light clothing, a towel and a few school supplies, left many of the children dumbfounded, Presswood said.
"This was probably the first time many of the kids had ever received anything new," she said. "A lot of them don't ever get out of the slums and the conditions they live in are just deplorable ... there's no running water and the bathroom facilities are beyond belief."
Since its founding in 1970 by Murray and Margaret Dryden - parents of legendary hockey stars Dave and Ken Dryden - the Canadian charity has delivered more than 869,000 bed kits to children in 32 different developing countries.
The Kenya trip was Presswood's second such journey - last year she travelled to the Philippines. Like all SCAW volunteers, she paid all her own expenses on both trips - a policy that ensures every penny of the $30 donation is invested in a single child's bed kit.
"Even then, you come home feeling like you got more than you gave," she said.
Not only that, but all of the materials put into the kits are sourced and assembled by overseas partners in the country of distribution. In Kenya that partner was the Rotary Club of Nairobi, which not only assisted in the selection of the neediest children, but also arranged for all items to be made locally.
"That way, the kits not only benefit the kids, but also put money into the local economy," Presswood said, adding that a donation towards a SCAW bed kit makes a nice way to honour a friend. "It's only $30 and it does so much."
For every donation of a bed kit, donors receive a commemorative photo of the child who benefited from their generosity.
For more information on SCAW or to donate, go to www.scaw.org
