As published in the Stratford Beacon Herald: Monday, March 14, 2011.Mike Beitz
Staff reporter, The Beacon HeraldSo many faces.
Shy ones. Silly ones. Thoughtful ones. Proud ones.
There are young ones with smooth, unblemished skin, and older ones with wrinkles etched deeply into their weather-worn foreheads.
Almost all of them are smiling, with big, expressive eyes.
They look genuinely happy, despite the poverty that surrounds them every day.
Sue Orr captured hundreds of faces with her camera during a recent two-week mission to India with Sleeping Children Around the World, and that’s one of the things that stood out the most for her.
“They’re such vibrant people, and very, very gracious,” said Orr, who was part of a seven-member team that helped distribute 4,000 donated bedkits to children in some of the poorest regions in and around Belgaum, in southwestern India last month.
The $35 kits, which include things like a sleeping mat, blanket, clothing, mosquito net, school supplies, and a metal plate, cup and bowl, are delivered by volunteers in underdeveloped and developing nations like India, Africa, Nicaragua and the Philippines to fulfil one simple goal — to give needy children the opportunity for a good night’s sleep.
A simple goal, but a worthwhile one, said Orr, who has participated in three excursions with Sleeping Children Around the World now. The first was in Kenya in 2007, and then in Bangladesh in 2009.
Each trip convinces her of the importance of reaching out to the world’s most underprivileged.
“People’s lives are changed by these kits,” she said. “It’s like they’ve won the 6-49.”
At each of the nine locations where the bedkits were distributed, hundreds of eager children and their parents lined up, many walking long distances to do so.
They were happy, excited and overwhelmingly grateful to receive the modest gift, said Orr.
“I had women coming up to me, putting their hands together in prayer and saying ‘
namaste’ (a respectful Indian greeting),” she said. “They were very appreciative.”
Some even kneeled and kissed her feet, which at first made her uncomfortable until the team’s translator explained that it was their way of saying thank you.
“Some days it would just bring me to tears,” she said of the experience.
Helping those who have very little — some of the people she met worked for 70 cents a day — was “very humbling,” and gave her an important sense of perspective that many people in prosperous countries like Canada seem to lack, said Orr.
“We just take things for granted here. We worry about the stupidest things,” she said. “They’re thinking about, ‘what are we going to do to get through the next day.’”
“But for them, they wake up and it’s a good day. They appreciate it.”
The hundreds of photos Orr took on the excursion — what she calls Faces of India — illustrate that spirit, and it’s something she keen on sharing.
In fact, it part of the Sleeping Children Around the World model.
A photo is taken of each child who receives a kit, with a card showing the donor’s name and sometimes a personal message. Those photos are then sent back to the donors to show how their $35 contribution has made a difference.
The organization’s website also features a blog with regular updates on the bedkit distributions written by the volunteers themselves.
And Orr chronicled the trip, with comments and photos, on her own Facebook page.
Her last entry: “Arrived home safe and sound ... 40 hour trip door to door ... Can't wait to do it again!”
More information about Sleeping Children Around the World can be found at
www.scaw.org.
mbeitz@bowesnet.com
The donor newsletter for the Pune bedkit distribution has gone to print and can be downloaded from the Sleeping Children Website.
The donor newsletter for the Belgaum bedkit distribution has gone to print and can be downloaded from the Sleeping Children Website.
The donor newsletter for the Chennai bedkit distribution has gone to print and can be downloaded from the Sleeping Children Website.
Following the information session, we were led to the distribution site. All 100 kids were lined up to get changed into their new clothes and receive their bedkit. Once all the kids were changed, they lined up in order and in the shade as they waited to get their picture taken. My duty of the day was interviews, which I was pretty excited about because it gave me a chance to interact with the parents again. One of the Rotarian wives, who also owns a copper piping factory with her husband, was acting as my translator. Right away, I knew I was going to like this woman. She was extremely organized, eager to help and a strong woman.
We left the last distribution site feeling the same way we felt leaving every other distribution site: on a natural high after being surrounded by so many beautiful children and parents. But it was also a little bitter sweet, given that it was our last distribution and we were about to go home, back to our everyday lives. Part of me wanted to keep on going, join another distribution team and continue to hand out bedkits. I’m not gonna lie, part of me was pretty tired – waking up at 6:00 a.m., getting back to the hotel and 8 or 9:00 p.m., and sitting on the bus for hours on end each day and spending whatever free time I had, writing. But I wouldn’t have traded this for the world.
No portion of a bedkit donation is spent on administration — 100% reaches a needy child. Each $35 donation (Canadian funds) provides a bedkit that consists of a mat or mattress, pillow, sheet, blanket, mosquito net (if applicable), clothes outfit, towel and school supplies. Bedkit contents vary from country to country depending upon local needs.
The Canadian-based charity provides bed kits to needy children in developing countries. Each kit is made up of necessities such as a mattress, pillow, sheets, blanket, mosquito net and clothes. Basics items that mean so much to a child in need.
We learned about this wonderful organization through Laura’s family. Each year, her Grandparents donate bedkits for Christmas presents for their family. Her Uncle has travelled to Bangladesh twice now to distribute thousands of bedkits, and has learned firsthand how far each dollar goes.
The Rotarians are some of the most well-respected men in town. They are factory owners, they are doctors, they are IT developers and they are engineers. Their wives are just as educated. I spoke to one woman, Sonal Dhamankar, who is an obstetrician. She and her husband each own their own private practice in Belgaum and they have one daughter.
There was one girl in particular that stuck out in my mind that day. Her name is Veena Benti. (Pictured at right with Tamara at the SCAW distribution site in Harugari, India. Photo by Tamara Kaftalovich) She’s 22 years old and originally from the town of Harugari, but is now going to college in Bangalore, working toward a degreein business administration.