Needle news

Back to the travel clinic today for the third and final Twinrix shot, so I should now be protected from Hep A & B, plus I've already had the Tetanus/Diphtheria and the Typhoid Fever shots.

Lots more to go yet, though, and at various intervals from departure date, so to keep it all straight I made a schedule of the shots and dosage dates for oral vaccines, as well as separating which ones are administered at the travel clinic from those I get from my family doctor. I highly recommend such a schedule to anyone taking this kind of trip.

This isn't cheap --- about $300 paid to the clinic so far and the meter is running.

Meeting the team

Co-leaders Richard and Joan pulled in our team of volunteer travellers yesterday for an initial orientation session. We received 4 hours of non-stop information on everything from what to pack to the logistics of a distribution site.

Turns out I am one of two first-timers on the Bangladesh trip. Richard and Joan are experienced hands, having been involved with Sleeping Children for more than 20 years, and having travelled on at least that many bedkit distribution missions (although this is their first trip to Bangladesh). Maxene and Doug M both have one trip under their belts. Marg and I are the rookies.

Forms were passed out for obtaining a police check (mandatory), physician's approval, and a travel visa from the Bangladesh High Commission in Ottawa. We also sign a legal release form absolving Sleeping Children from liability.

Looks like a great team, and our leaders are clearly equipped to handle whatever comes our way. Here's a picture.


L-R: Joan, Marg, Richard, Me, and Maxene (Doug M unable to attend).

Deshi joke

As the birth of the baby became imminent the father, Mr. Jamal, telephoned the hospital. Unfortunately, he got through to the Bangladesh Cricket Control Board by mistake.

"Has anything happened?" he asked.

Jamal was most puzzled when the voice at the end of the other line replied, "Oh, yes they are all out... the last two were ducks."

What's in the news there?

Back to see Dr. Saldanha at the travel clinic, this time to get a Typhoid shot and the second Twinrix vaccination. 

I've also been checking the news from Bangladesh, just to start getting a feel for the country and what's going on there. The big story seems to be the offshore search for oil and gas which, if successful, would be a boon for the developing economy. The country has a relatively small coastline on the Bay of Bengal, and offshore boundaries are being disputed by neighbouring India and Myanmar (formerly Burma).

The politics are very confusing. There are two major parties, each led by a woman, and both leaders are in jail. The army runs the caretaker government, and has arrested 12,000 political prisoners, including the leader of the third party, in the past two weeks. The last time Bangladeshis actually had a chance to vote out a government was in 2001. It's a mess.

Don't leave home without...

I dug into the literature provided yesterday at the Travel Clinic. I get the impression they would rather you just stay home. 

But if you MUST travel to Bangladesh there are many, many things to be avoided, and many pharmaceuticals to keep on hand to help you survive when you do something stupid, like eating a piece of fruit or putting an ice cube in your Coke (See the list on the right). 

I'm thinking that if you were caught in Toronto with this many drugs in your possession, you'd probably be explaining it to a judge.

What's this all about?

Welcome to day one of my blog.

This is the journal for my first trip as a volunteer traveller with Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW), a Canadian charity that provides bedkits to children in underdeveloped countries.

In addition to being of some possible interest to friends and family, I hope it might be useful for anyone who is contemplating a trip like this.

Since its founding in 1970 by Murray and Margaret Dryden (parents of NHLers Ken and Dave), SCAW has raised more than $20 million to provide bedkits for 935,350 children in 32 countries.

Bedkits  are pulled together in the destination country with the help of an in-country partner (usually a Rotary Club or Lyons Club), and are purchased with donated funds. Anyone may donate, and that is how everyone first gets involved. If you'd like to donate, please go the web site.

One cool thing ...

Donors receive a picture of their bedkits with the children who received them (see top right). The gratitude is evident in the smiling faces. Some of them trek many miles to get to a distribution point.

Another cool thing ...

All donated funds go to purchase the bedkits. Administration is funded from an endowment set up by the Drydens, and we travellers all pay our own expenses.

On our 19-day trip to Bangladesh in October, we will be distributing 8,000 bedkits.

Even though departure is more than 4 months away, preparations are well underway. I have been contacted by my team leaders, Richard and Joan Hryniw. Flights have been arranged, travel insurance purchased, and this morning I received my first round of vaccinations at a travel clinic in Mississauga, accompanied by a 20-minute speech covering all the ways one can be stricken in that part of the world.