The following report was sent to me by Chris Philip the wife of John Philip District Governor Elect District 1040. Chris along with many other Rotarians from many Districts throughout RIBI have embarked on this huge project, National Immunisation Day in India. This report covers two days and gives you some idea of the great dedication and Service Above Self that many Rotarians are portraying in their commitment to our goal of a Polio Free World.

David Rankin
District Governor Elect 2008-09

There was a steady flow of attendees - but it was hot and dusty and there were masses of local traffic and an open drain just in front of us. The temperatures climbed to well over 45c - it was exhausting - but such an enjoyable experience. One of the local volunteers had brought her 4-year-old son with her - Gupta. He was delightful and enjoyed playing with the balloons. Most of the children wanted pens and pencils - and even came back for extra ones - but were told in no uncertain terms NO - unless they brought another child along for vaccination. It was amusing to note that the 4 members of the local Rotary Club sat and watched all this from the sidelines - and just ensured we were supplied with cold drinks and a slice of Pizza for lunch.

When there was a lull at about 1pm we exchanged banners and took photos for each other. By 2.45 there was very little activity so we came back to the hotel - having vaccinated about 220 children. Monday - Friday will be house to house follow up - a tedious process to ensure every child receives the vaccine. It is an enormous effort but well worth it.

I really enjoyed being involved and can appreciate that we must continue this time-consuming effort. The cream on the cake was coming back to the beautiful Tag hotel in Lucknow and having a cool shower before an hour in the lovely pool. The hotel staff is busy organising the pool area for another wedding ceremony (there was one last night) This is a Hindu wedding - very interesting to watch from the sidelines.

We have to go to a de-brief meeting at 7pm with the organisers and report how many children were immunised. Then tomorrow the DG is coming to meet us to say thank you; some are then going off to Agra and Jaipur on a sight-seeing trip. I am staying to go on the house-to-house visits and then will fly to Delhi and Tuesday morning and on to Kathmandu to meet with Rotary contacts there with a view of setting up some projects to help reduce child mortality.

No one has been ill so far - but one or two succumbed to the heat today and felt exhausted. I am looking forward to seeing my photos - and all the other's pictures too.

Day 2

Another early start - breakfast at 6.45am. Several members of the team seem to be feeling under the weather - the usual stomach and diarrhoea problems. Ten members of the team are leaving at 12 noon to travel by mini bus to Agra (Taj Mahal) and Jaipur. They are as yet undecided if they can face the 6-hour drive not knowing where the nearest loo is!

Two stay behind this morning - ten of us go to a poor area of town to join in the house to house visits to find children as yet unvaccinated in the Sunday programme. I am teamed up with Tony and June Pallat from Pocklington. We work with three local 'volunteers'. They have a clip board to record no's found and chalks to mark each house visited - as well as cool box contain vials of vaccine. It is a very tedious job and will take them four days to cover all the houses in their allotted area. We begin at 8 am - already feeling the hot sun on our heads. There are people cooking on the streets (food to go for those in a hurry...), many shop keepers just staring blankly into the distance, groups of men sitting or lolling in shady corners - trucks, lorries bicycles whiz past.

I feel like the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - our aim to seek out all under 5 year old without a mark on the left small finger nail (showing they had received the vaccine yesterday). Each knock brings a woman - sleepily to the door  - brief conversation - and children are brought from dark corners of the one-roomed houses. In one an elderly grandmother lies cuddled up beside her 2 yr old grandchild - who is unwell - with 'fever' and therefore cannot receive the two drops. The volunteers mark all this down and place a symbol on the door lintel. In another house the young girl appears and denies any children present - but then produces two - a baby and a toddler, who duly receive the vaccine. This is a Muslim area and there has been a resistance to receiving the vaccine apparently through fear that it might make the children impotent!! As we move slowly along the road we begin to gather a trail of on-lookers- children who should be at school but are not. I learn that the school day starts only at 10 am.

We turn into a very narrow unmade alleyway - and I realise the shacks either side of the  alley - with locked doors are all homes. We knock at each one and make contact with the  occupants. Children are brought to the door-way and the vaccine given. As a reward each child gets a gift - a pencil, a pen or a balloon or whistle. We cause great interest - and Tony manages to engage some young boys in a conversation about cricket!  Our journey took us into various hovels, shacks and rooms and in the two hours we spent with our volunteer team we vaccinated 25 children.  We left to go to another project - they carry on until 4 pm. It is a real effort to try to make contact with every single child under 5 - but so necessary.

Our next destination was a primary school built by the rotary club of Lucknow for poor children. They had installed a toilet block, which was being formally opened and we were invited guests. The block of 5 boys' loos and 5 girls' loos had cost a mere 200 pounds. Until then girls had nowhere to urinate at all - boys used the bushes. The school caters for 900 children in two sittings - 7.30 to 11.30am and second sitting 12.30 to 4.30pm. There are 25 teachers and no equipment at all. The 5 classrooms have mud floors, no proper roofs and only wooden benches and rough tables. There was a painted computer on one wall - the nearest they get to technology. Yet all the children were there to greet us and welcome us. They were clean and quite smart and sat patiently as the Headmaster and the President of Rotary gave their talks. I felt I wanted to help - a little goes such a long way. They need proper concrete floors and roofs, which don't leak - chairs and desks - and equipment.......... The school fees are 3 rupees per month (that is 50p per year!!!!!). Even then there are families, who cannot afford to send their children to school. Rotary gives scholarships to bright kids. It is hard to imagine that 50p is too much to spend on your child's education.