Rotary’s flagship international effort is the eradication of polio.
Many Rotarians pay for their travel and volunteer their time to participate in mass immunization days around the world. Typically this will involve helping in public health promotion campaigns to illustrate the importance of vaccination programs. This followed by a day or perhaps 2 where volunteers under the supervision of local Rotarians and medical staff administer 2 drops of polio vaccine to children under the age of 5 years.
Pictures show Sylvia and Tony Sheard administering drops in a rural village near Agra, India.
Sylvia said “ What an amazing and humbling experience. Women handing you their babies and children to you to receive the 2 drops of polio vaccine. They would have received the drops anyway, but the presence of Rotary and a white, blonde woman attracted a lot of attention to the national immunization day,
Tony said “ Children and families arrived from nowhere, on bikes, motorbikes and by ox cart to get to the clinic which was hastily set up on a porch of a rural home. The children’s names were ticked off a list by the Public Health Nurse and then we administered 2 drops to each unsuspecting child. It was a humbling experience that will live me for the rest of my life that they should be so grateful to some “white westerners” who had jetted in to offer help. Their gratitude renewed my enthusiasm and passion to continue to raise funds to ensure we eradicate this terrible disease from our planet”