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Home My WebLink AboutHuron Expositor, 2015-05-13, Page 19Wednesday, May 13, 2015 • Huron Expositor 19 Seaforth resident visits the Philippines for charity work Marco Vigliotti Huron Expositor Chris Hills spent the better part of the first three weeks of April crisscrossing the vast island nation of the Philip- pines, helping to distribute 5,000 bed kits to needy chil- dren residing in some of the country's most impover- ished communities. As part of his ongoing vol- unteering efforts with Cana- dian charity Sleeping Chil- dren Around the World (SCAW), the Seaforth resi- dent was once again afforded the opportunity to hand -deliver the valued aid packages, which contain 38 crucial necessities such as mosquito nets, toothbrushes and school supplies. He also distributed 28 bed kits purchased with dona- tions generated from a SCAW fundraising dinner held in Clinton back in late March. Hills, who has now visited the Philippines three times for SCAW, remains upbeat about the impact the pack- ages can have for impover- ished children there, most of whom live in simple tin roof shacks in the country's dere- lict, typically flood -marred slums. Even the sourcing of the products benefits the coun- try, he explains, with the items contained in the kits produced in the Philippines. 'All of the items are manu- factured and/or sourced in the Philippines, so that pro- vides a boost to the local economy," Hills said in an interview after returning from the trip, which ran from April 3 to 19. Members of the charity's Philippines -based partner group assisted Hills and six other Canadian volunteers as they ventured out to 16 different locations across Luzon, the country's most populated island. In addition to delivering the kits, the volunteers con- duct interviews with recipi- ent families to see what other items they would want included in the packages and to gain a firmer picture of their living situations. Despite most residing in "grim" dirt floor dwellings often located in active flood plains, Hills noted that the families remained remarka- bly positive in the interviews even as they described the challenges of living in extreme poverty. "They can sit there and tell you these horror stories and it's so matter of fact that you'll have the interpreter in tears, the Canadian in tears and eventually the mother and father in tears telling you the story;" he said. "But, you will never come along happier people." The interviews also pro- vide powerful imagery for subsequent presentations by the volunteers back in Can- ada detailing the importance of the work they do, Hills said. "As you learn more about (their) everyday life, you're better prepared to paint that picture for people," he added. Hills points to school sup- plies as being among the most popular items in the care packages, stating that children there are greatly enthusiastic about the pros- pect of attaining a formal education. Although there is no cost to attend elementary school in the Philippines, supplies for classes are not provided and must be independently purchased. It's a cost that can be espe- cially burdensome for the families served by SCAW, most of who barely eke out a living pillaging scrapyards for pop cans and other recy- clable goods, Hills said. "There are huge sacrifices made to get children to school - you've never seen children as excited to go to school and as disappointed if they can't go," he said of the Filipino children. "If they miss school, it's a bad day." As a travel leader for the charity, Hills is entering the last of his four-year term vis- iting the Philippines. After next year, he will be shipped off to another yet to be deter- mined nation served by SCAW. Hills acknowledges that it will be difficult to say good- bye to the "dedicated" local volunteers and parents and children he met while sta- tioned in the southeast Asian country. "You develop really close attachments," he added. "You see 5,000 children, you meet them. You meet family members, you also meet some of the parents and teachers involved." SCAW claims to be one of a few Canadian charities, if not the only one, to allocate all fundraising revenue to its services and programs. Declaring itself the 100 per cent charity, it guarantees that all bed kit donations reach a needy child. Administrative expenses at SCAW are reportedly covered by a legacy fund set up by founder Murray Dryden. It does not conduct tele- marketing or mass mailing campaigns. The cost of a bed kit is $35. For a donation of that cost, a donor will receive a photo- graph of a child with the bedkit, showing the donor's name and country on a label. In addition to the Philip- pines, SCAW also provides bed kits to an array of devel- oping countries, including India, Bangladesh, Togo and Kenya. Since its incorporation in 1970, it has donated about 1,415,000 bed kits. Chris Querido/Submitted Seaforth resident Chris Hills takes in a celebration with local Filipino children during his visit to the Southeast Asian nation last month as part of charity work for Sleeping Children Across the World. I rY p 33 Main St., AMY - Seaforth McCLURE REALSales Rep. r' r — EsrATE 519.600.1577 1 519-525-3988 LTD" b. 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