|
Booths
were set up every 500 metres or so in
the main street throughout the city and
suburbs and in every town and village
in India. There were probably around 2500
in the Agra area alone-necessary to get
complete coverage of every child under
5 in each district.
The day was heavily advertised on television
and radio. Posters were everywhere and
huge banners were slung across main roads.
In addition
to this, auto rickshaws with loud speakers
encouraged people to bring in their children
for immunisation. It was truly impressive.
The
children were absolutely delightful and
many of them had been dressed in their
Sunday best to have their drops. It appeared
to be quite an occasion! In most cases,
each child was given either a balloon
or a whistle - some cried - others came
up readily. Strangely, many children were
brought in by their fathers - equally
dressed for
the occasion.
The
Indian Rotarians were extremely hospitable
and were genuinely pleased at our participation
in what was described by PDG Satish Wadhwa
from D3110, as "a very noble cause"
While six people enjoyed their stay in
an hotel at the expense of the Agra Rotarians,
eight of our group enjoyed the hospitality
of PDG Satish, his wife Bina and daughter
Dolly at their home in Agra. Dolly was
particularly good to us as she took us
around Agra Fort and a huge fair. It couldn't
have been easy for her trying to keep
control of 14 Rotarians and friends. (She
was lucky - I had to shepherd them for
10 exhausting
days ! PDG Ian)
The week following the NID we encountered
Rotarians and volunteers on board our
train checking to see if all children
under five had been immunised. There were
immunisation booths set up on platforms
and we are told that volunteers went out
to far-flung village to ensure that no
child escaped being immunised. We came
across some really dedicated and selfless
Rotarians.
India had only 200 or so cases in 2003,
compared with around 1,000 every week
twenty years ago. In India, this year,
we hope to have conquered polio forever.
The final round of NIDs is already planned
for November 2004 to February 2005 - just
to make sure. On each day, millions of
children are seen by hundreds of thousands
of volunteers, many of whom are Rotarians.
Rotarians
have much to be proud of in helping to
rid the world of this scourge to mankind.
WHO and other agencies would never have
even started the programme if Rotary had
not been involved. After over half a billion
dollars has been donated by Rotarians
and usefully spent, how many lives have
been saved ? How many bodies remain unravaged
? Five, 10 or even 20 million ? Who can
tell ?
But
thank God that we're almost there - Thank
Rotary for making it happen! - Ian
Wright
PDG District 9470, Chairman RAWCS Western
Region, Chairman ROMAC Western Region,
WA
|
Blessings 2003 - 2004
