National Immunization Days in India-January 2017

Two precious drops.

Probably as much as the visit to the Jaipur Limb Factory, being a part of a National Immunization Day in India has long been a draw for me. One of those things which I not only wanted to participate in, but also one of those things which kept missing the 'tick mark' on my bucket list. Until the last Zones 33/34 Zone Institute, where I received a doubled up reason to move it to the top of the list. Kim Waters mentioned over a year ago that she wanted to participate in a NID in India when one became available, and began the process of securing all of the shots she needed for the trip. Having traveled fairly extensively in the last 30 years, I had pretty much everything I needed except for a couple of boosters. At the Zone Institute, however, the current class of District Governor Nominees for 2018-19 began the planning for THIS NID. Having participated with Governor Kim and her current class' trip to Jamaica in July, Kim and I immediately felt a call for this trip. As the Rotary International Director Designate at the time, it fit! As the would- be director to serve with this class of Designates, and an opportunity to build relationships with this wonderful group of up to 29 aspiring governor leaders in our zones, it fit! In fulfilling a long time draw to participate, it fit! As a mutual desire with my life mate, it fit!

My very own "Immunization Kit".  It contains various written materials, but most of all, My Yellow Vest and Polio Free India Cap.

Roughly three months later, here we are. As we arise in the morning, the teams from both zones have gathered at the Lalit Hotel for breakfast before we embark upon the day. Roughly 40 Rotarians from our zones, consisting of governors, past governors, future governors, past presidents, past Rotary International Directors, non-Rotarians, a past Rotary International Vice-President, and one Rotarian who joined Rotary just a few short weeks before the planning of the trip, heard about it, and said 'I'm In!'
 

Rotary International Zone 34 Polio Warriors

 Arriving at the central dispersion point, we were greeted by an Interact Club at the Silver City Prestige School.  As it turns out, the whole country is welcoming a world of several hundred thousand Rotarians all across India, in every corner of the country, from every corner of the world.

Interact Club 'Welcoming Committee.'

All of us were welcomed as if we were dignitaries, with the presentation of a lei.

And as fast as Santa in his sleigh, we are 'teamed up' and swept of to our separate Immunization Camps.  I thought it interesting that the clubs reference their booths, tables, stands, whatever they have, as "Immunization Camps."  Quite appropriate, I think, in this war against Rotary.

Kim Waters and I were teamed up with our Zone 34 team leader, Past District Governor and Zone 34 End Polio Now Coordinator Cynde Covington and her husband, Barry.

The next 'several' pictures come from our three separate visits during the day to three camps in outer Delhi, in the cities of Greater Noida, Sector Alpha 2 in Delhi, and Dadri. Our awesome host, Rtn Kapil Gupta, himself the President of Rotary Club Green Greater Noida, introduced us to local Rotarians in each camp, and assisted us in the immunizations.

We don't have the tally sheets yet as to the exact number of children immunized across the country of India on this day, but the estimate was that roughly 200,000 volunteers would immunize as many as 172 million children today.

Each child gets two drops of the vaccine.

Followed by a purple marker pinkie on the left hand to attest that they received the vaccine, and to be able to distinguish them in the mop up sweep tomorrow.

Our first "Immunization Camp" visit.

The precious vials, stored in an ice block between usage.  Each vial contains 40 drops, enough to immunize 20 children.

The parents, excited to have their children immunized, often wanted to pose for a picture.  Lots of families, by the way, came by on motorcycles.

Second Immunization Camp was a children's school.

Our host, Club President Rtotarian Kapil and District Governor Kim swap banners for their clubs.

Careful records are kept all day long by the health care worker responsible for each immunization camp.

The carrier cooler box which holds the precious vials for transport, and the purple marker for pinkies.

Getting 'into the spirit', Kim even paints the left pinkie purple!

Lots of pictures, but nothing compared to the over 400 pictures I made during the day, and not counting any of Kim Waters', nor any of the other members of our Polio Warrior team, off in different parts of the city.  We are all so humbled and blessed to be a part of this effort to "Keep India Polio Free."

Tomorrow, it's MOP UP day in the streets...Where we go door to door looking for children that were missed in Sunday's NID. Stay tuned.  We'll be together as a Zone 34 Polio Warriors Team all day, and so we'll have pictures of everyone on the team!