Cosy package

IF NEARLY 20,000 underprivileged school children belonging to Chennai and its suburbs are able to indulge a restful night's sleep, the credit entirely goes to a Canadian organisation called "Sleeping children around the world," headquartered in Ontario

Does the connection sound far fetched..? Founded 30 years ago, SCAW's mission is to provide slumber kits to needy children across the globe. Inspired by the sight of his own child sleeping peacefully on her bed, as opposed to images of children in underdeveloped countries settling for the pavement or the bare floor that registered in his mind during his days as a travelling salesman, Mr. Murray Dryden(who later entered the construction material business) founded SCAW along with his late wife Margaret Dryden.

Another reason Dryden felt motivated to reach out to poorer children who couldn't afford the luxury of a comfortable bed was because he strongly believed that the comfort of a bed is a basic right of a child. It is indeed interesting to note that SCAW's first distribution of 50 bed kits was made at Pune in 1970. Since then it has provided bed kits for nearly six lakh children in 31 countries world over. In Chennai alone the value of the bed kits distributed so far in association with the Rotary Club of Ambattur, with whom it has tied up for the last 13 years, is estimated around Rs. 171.15 lakhs - this includes 4250 infant layettes.

Funded entirely by donations mostly from donors in Canada, the U.S. and Australia who donate $30 towards a bed kit, as many as 25 utility items are locally procured and put together by the members of the Rotary Club who start work months ahead of each distribution, sourcing items and assembling the kits.

The slumber kits consist of a ground sheet, mattress, bedsheet, cotton blanket, pillow cover, towel, lunch box, etc.

The infant layettes consist of a flannel bedsheet, plastic and foam sheet and pillow, cotton vests, coloured dresses, napkins, towels, woollen sweaters etc. Sourcing the kit items locally also ties in with SCAW's philosophy of generating local employment.

Travelling volunteers from Canada who represent SCAW make it a point to be personally present at each distribution. SCAW works in association with service organisations like the Kiwani, Rotary Clubs and Salvation Army to organise and carry out distributions.

Currently on a visit to Chennai, the team lead by Bob Meinschenk and comprising Linda Taiabjee, Brian Stanyer and Linda Stanyer and Jane Woods will distribute 2000 bed kits and 1000 layettes between January 22 and 27, 2001.

Says Bob Meinschenk who has been deeply inspired by Murray Dryden, of his work with SCAW, "Its an opportunity to give back to society and a very rewarding experience emotionally. It touches your soul and not a lot of things in life do that".

Linda Taiabjee confesses that SCAW work is one of her favourite tasks. In addition to being a travelling volunteer, she frequently makes presentations in churches, service clubs and to school children on the programme.

Since overheads are totally eliminated or kept down to the barest minimum, (SCAW's headquarters is a functional office, everyone who works for SCAW is a volunteer, everything right from postage to film to office supplies is donated) every cent of the $30 is spent on the kit.

The documentation is thorough and donors get a photograph of the child with the kit and a giant label bearing the name of the donor, while for the children the label is a reminder of someone across the globe who cared to make life better for them.

The recipients are selected after careful scrutiny and the members of the Rotary club of Ambattur conduct periodic checks to ensure that the kits are not sold or given away or misused.

Says Thiruvenkadam, Chairman SCAW, Rotary Club of Ambattur, "To identify recipients for the layettes we usually liaise with the Public Health Centres in Ambattur and Avadi and zero in on the most needy children. For the slumber kits, we select 30 schools based on information provided by the Education Dept.

In addition, deserving candidates are also chosen by other service organisations and members of our own Rotary club."

While the faces of the beaming children happily struggling to carry away the bed kits and the young mothers proudly receiving the infant layettes is reward enough for both the agencies involved, the whole spirit of the exercise can be summed up by Murray Dryden who says that he feels the need to reach out to these children because he knows the difference between being poor in Canada and elsewhere, but more importantly, because these children too are God's children.

SUDHA UMASHANKER

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Section  : Southern States
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