By MIKE BEITZ STAFF REPORTER
Volunteering to help some of the poorest people on the planet inspires a variety of feelings: hope, humility, pride and perspective.
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| From Bangladesh 2011 |
Stratford's Doug MacDougald will travel to Bangladesh this week to distribute bed kits for the organization Sleeping Children Around the World and, when that works is done, he'll stay a little longer to attend the wedding of a fellow Canadian volunteer to a Bangladeshi Rotarian closely involved with the charity effort.
"Who knows where and when romance will happen," said MacDougald as he prepared for the trip to the impoverished South Asian country.
When he arrives, MacDougald will lead a six-member Canadian team in the two-week distribution of 6,000 bed kits containing a ground sheet, pillow, blanket, mosquito net, clothes and school supplies.
The kits are central to the organization's belief that every child, no matter how poor, deserves a good night's sleep.
"It's a wonderful charity," said MacDougald, who, like other "volunteer travellers" with Sleeping Children Around the World, will pay his own travel expenses to participate in the distribution. "It is a very direct assistance for poor children."
Team members will visit some of the most impoverished villages in the northwest, northeast and southwest corners of Bangladesh to hand deliver the bed kits, with the help of the Rotary Club of Dhaka.
This is MacDougald's fifth trip with Sleeping Children Around the World and his fourth to Bangladesh.
It's no luxury vacation.
It's often hot and humid, and villages in Bangladesh lack many of the comforts and amenities of the Western world, but Mac- Dougald has no reservations about going back.
"It's my annual readjustment of priorities," he said.
Handing out the much-needed supplies is a moving experience, noted MacDougald.
"When you're actually up close and hands-on, it really sinks in emotionally," he said.
Anyone can make a donation to help cover the cost of the $35 bed kits, distributed in developing countries.
Sleeping Children is a "100% charity," meaning every penny of donations is spent on bed kits and not on administration or operating costs, noted MacDougald.
More information about Sleeping Children Around the World can be found at www.scaw.org.
Regular updates from the Bangladesh team will be posted in a blog at http://scawlivereports.blogspot.com
mbeitz@ bowesnet.com
