Reflections on Rotary in India

         


 
During January 2020, I returned to India (location of our first D6270 Friendship Exchange in 2018) to visit clubs and projects in Cochin, Coimbatore, Maheshwar, Delhi, and Jhansi, for 2 weeks.  The journey involved interaction with more than eight Rotary Clubs and visits to over a dozen Rotary projects. 
 
National Immunization Day (NID) 2020 India.  Our Garg NID 2020 Team of nine from the USA (CA, OR, WA, & WI), organized by PDG Anil Garg (RID 5240), received briefings from WHO and UNICEF in Delhi, and from WHO - Jhansi.   We participated in immunization activities in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, including the End Polio Now Parade, Booth Day immunization drive, WHO Certification reporting, and House-to-House immunization confirmation activities.  We were welcomed by the four Rotary Clubs in Jhansi, a metropolitan area with over 2 million people and several hundred thousand children to immunize.  Planning for the NID was extremely detailed.  Dedication of people involved in the effort was observable.  Over 1,200 booths were operated on Booth Day for people to bring their children to receive the oral polio vaccine.  The next day, NID door-to-door activities commenced as NID workers checked to see whether children at each residence had received their polio vaccination – the left pinkie is colored purple, okay, vaccinated, otherwise we should vaccinate.   The partnership among WHO, UNICEF, RI, US CDC, Indian Government, and Gates Foundation is critical to continued polio-free success in India.