"A wonderful but humbling experience" is how Marilyn Shaw refers to her recent trip to India as a volunteer on the "End Polio Now" campaign. A whole day's travelling (via Barcelona and Heathrow) saw her finally landing in Delhi and joining the other 19 members of the group who represented Rotary Clubs from Yorkshire, Surrey and Sweden. Working with volunteers from more than ten Indian Rotary Clubs, the group was part of the drive to eradicate polio which saw more than 179 million children under the age of five immunised in India in just one day.
Backed by Rotary International and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary alone having contributed over 900 million US dollars to date, the 25-year worldwide campaign has been outstandingly successful with the number of polio cases falling by 99%. More than two billion children in 122 countries have been treated with the oral polio vaccine. In India many states have had no new cases for years and only two are still reporting polio cases (the last being in September 2010).
Immunisation Day
The National Immunisation Day in India was originally set for 16th January this year but insufficient supplies of the vaccine led to it being rescheduled for 23rd, the day before the group was due to leave the country. During the intervening days Marilyn and her companions travelled to Lucknow, Agra, Varanasi and Khajuraho, assisting in orphanages, refuges and schools, working with local Rotarians and promoting the campaign to make people aware of the need for immunisation against polio. They visited an orphanage for 25 handicapped young girls which is totally supported by Rotary and staffed mainly by volunteers and watched the girls making jewellery to sell to raise some money for themselves.
After a little time for sightseeing which included the Taj Mahal and a trip up the Ganges, the volunteers returned to Delhi and were split into small groups to work in booths set up around the city. Big banners and aerial balloons advertised the National Immunisation Day and a young lad of about 14 years, himself a victim of polio, cycled the streets to round up the children using himself as an example of what could happen if they failed to have the vaccine.
In order to encourage the children, each received a gift or a toy after being given the drops and their small fingernail was marked with indelible purple dye to prevent them from returning for another present.
Marilyn is particularly grateful to Roma dentists who provided lots of toothbrush and paste sets and the many stores on the industrial estate which gave her a good discount on the items she bought with money provided by the Rotary Club of Menorca and donations, such as cars, dolls, pens, pencils, rubbers and pencil sharpeners, all of which delighted the young recipients.
Referring to the incredible amount of organisation involved in setting up the National Immunisation Day, Marilyn commented, "One thing that I did notice this year was how wonderful it was to watch all the Rotary Clubs in India working together which is what Rotary is all about. Their aim is to make India polio free and by working together they will achieve this."
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