Townsman, 1991-02, Page 31Travelling
and helping
at the same time
BY LINDA STRAUS
STRATFORD
I have just returned from the
experience of a lifetime! I saw two
countries and their people in a way
no tourist would see them. It was a
privilege to be one of five volunteers
who travelled to San Pedro Sula,
Honduras and Bogota, Colombia to
distribute bedkits to needy children.
We were volunteers with a regis-
tered non-profit charitable organi-
zation called Sleeping Children
Around the World (also known as
SCAW) based in Islington, Ontario.
The other volunteers were Dick and
Joan Hryniu from Lakeside, and
Don and Mary Lee from Brantford.
We are all dedicated to the work of
SCAW and met for the first time in
early May. It was an honour to be a
part of this wonderful organization
which provides necessities we take
for granted.
Sleeping Children Around the
World was founded in 1970 by
Murray and Margaret Dryden, par-
ents of the N.H.L. goalies. Mr.
Dryden, a keen photographer enjoy-
ed photographing children, espe-
cially "sleeping" children. He took
trips overseas to photograph sleep-
ing children of other cultures. On a
trip to Asia, he stumbled over
something on a dirty street and was
horrified to discover that it was a
child sleeping on the pavement.
From this, and having known many
nights without a clean, warm bed as
a travelling salesman during the
Depression, the idea of providing
bedkits for children in poor, deve-
loping countries evolved.
August, 1970 the first bedkits
were distributed by Mr. Dryden in
Pune, India. In keeping with the
propject's original purpose, he
photographed the children who
received the kits. Word spread and
soon individuals, clubs, service
groups, school children, were mak-
ing donations. To date, children in
28 countries have been furnished
with kits. SCAW still operates out of
the Dryden home where many
volunteers converge to work.
SCAW has a unique concept. 100
per cent donor dollar reaches the
Third World child. The bedkits are
made up in the country where they
will be distributed, thus saving on
transportation costs, material costs.
Employment is provided for needy
local families and some skills are
being taught. It also ensures that
the kits include the kind of items
most useful for that climate. The
countries where distributions are
made have an earnings per capita of
$300 per year or less. There are
many volunteers in both Canada
and the Third World Countries.
Contact people in the Third World
country arrange for the contents of
the bedkits and the packaging of it
for the families to carry it home,
decide who is to receive a bedkit
and make arrangements for a
distribution point. All of this is done
before the travelling volunteers
arrive. Bedkits presently cost $28
Canadian. Every cent is used and
gets to the child. No administration
costs are taken from the donation.
Travelling volunteers, as I was, pay
all their own expenses. Each donor
receives a photo showing the reci-
pient child with his or her bedkit
and a card identifying the donor.
As travelling volunteers our main
jobs were to give the bedkits to the
selected children, and to photo-
graph the child with the bedkit.
Honduras and Colombia are
beautiful countries, as are the
people. In San Pedro Sula, Hondur-
as, a city of 400,000 we distributed
layettes to 2,069 children up to age
two. Many of the mothers were very
young and had walked many miles
in temperatures over 40°C. to stand
in long lines to receive their
bundles. We met mothers who were
not simply seeking another free
hand-out but rather the opportunity
to give their children a better
chance at survival and an opportun-
ity to better their meagre existence.
One couldn't help but compare this
scene with the pampered life of our
North American children. Many
times we were torn between emo-
tions of sympathy and feelings of
outrage and anger.
In Bogota, Colombia a city of six
million people, the distribution took
place in several poor barrios and
invasion areas where homes were
made from any materials that could
be found such as cardboard, scrap
wood, metal, plastic bags. There
was no water or heat. Temperatures
dropped to freezing at night.
Bogota's elevation is 8600 ft. above
sea level. The children receiving the
bedkits in Colombia ranged from 4
to 14 years. Upon viewing the
under -nourished, underclothed
bodies of these desperate children
there is no doubt in my mind of the
genuine need. It was common to see
orphaned teens dressed in all they
owned living in hollowed out caves
in the side of the mountain, going
through the garbage, trying to seek
out whatever they could to sell.
In both countries, faces of desper-
ation, sadness and hopelessness
changed when the bedkits were
handed out. In their own way,
sincere gratitude was shown. Child-
ren gave hugs and kisses; parents'
eyes welled up with tears of joy, as
did mine. I won't quickly forget
these faces. Children everywhere
are precious treasures.
Many times the experience was
emotional and tugged at one's heart
strings. One has to see the terrible
conditions these people endure each
day to believe the horror. It was
heart-warming, in both countries to
see some of the wealthy sincerely
interested in and helping the poor.
We arrived home knowing that
over 4,000 very needy children or
families as the bedkit would be
shared would sleep in their "first"
bed and were given a ray of "hope"
for the future. All of this was
possible because of the generosity
of many donors (from Australia and
Spain, too), volunteers and dedicat-
ed workers in both countries.
Would I do this again? Yes, -
tomorrow if I could, and highly
recommend getting involved if you
love children, travel and want to
really see a country!
TOWNSMAN/FEBRUARY-MARCH 1991 29