Walk Around the World with Rotary Global Passport!

Last week we visit the laboratory of Jonas Salk and this week we are in Toronto, Canada’s largest city. When we think of Toronto we think of the CN Tower, the Hockey Hall of Fame and maybe the University of Toronto. Students attend from 159 countries with a total of 15,600 full time students.  It was at this University that our story begins in the early 50’s. Dr. Leone Farrell worked tirelessly to develop the ‘rocking’ cell cultures for developing bulk production of toxin in a liquid medium. This adapted to the “rocking” method & developed into what is know as the TORONTO METHOD. This enabled mass production of the polio vaccine! It was her research that pushed polio vaccine production to meet the needs of the world. More information on Dr Farrell can be found at the Museum of Health Care. We may want to attend a Rotary meeting in District 7070, the home of 5 Rotary International Conventions. There are approximately 300 Rotary clubs in Canada with 55 clubs in this district. Rotary

  Fellow walkers, let’s go to Pittsburg and find our about VACCINE. That word is being used so often on the news connected to coronavirus! We will visit the University of Pittsburg and learn the story of Dr Jonas Salk work. Dr Salk was a virologist and his work began in 1948 when the polio virus began. People would go to bed not feeling well and wake up paralyzed for the rest of their lives. By 1955 it was proclaimed the largest health problem in the world. They developed a vaccine and  the testing evolved 20,000 doctors, 64,000 school personnel, 220, 000 volunteers and 1.8 million school children. It took 25 yrs to remove polio virus from North America. This historic picture was taken during those  testing months. As you know we still have polio in two countries. Polio was a pandemic however we were not using that word in the 50’s. So we need to be aware the corona virus is with us for years and because it is airborne we will need to wear masks, wash our hand and keep a safe distance

  After being on the global walking tour for eight weeks you may feel the need for a ‘wonderful cup of tea’. We know a Rotarian that can serve us a great cup of tea , Ravi’s  founded the largest tea packaging company in Sri Lanka. This is the homeland of K.R. Ravindran, Rotary Foundation trustee chair. Sri Lanka is a beautiful country with great mountains, beautiful beaches, water falls, lush forests, magnificent gardens and the country host 100’s of historic Hindu Temples. The most famous being Dambulla Royal Cave Temple and Golden Temple. We will see large herds of elephants which are a symbol of pride, cultural and religious significance. As well, the countryside is the home of several beautiful birds. Ravi organized and led the Nation wide polio eradication campaign thus Sri Lanka was one of the first Asian countries to be declared Polio Free. Over 21 million Sri Lankaians live polio free! The foundation is the conduit to meaningful change. We all need to do our part to help rid th

Greetings fellow globetrotters!! Can you believe we have been travelling the Globe for seven weeks. I think it is time to have a little break and go fishing. Let’s visit our International President and First Lady - Holgar and Susanne Knaack in Germany. “Rotary Opens Opportunities “ is this year’s theme so lets take  this river opportunity. If we sit two to a boat and use the entire river we can keep the social distance rules. Get ready to catch rainbow trout, lake char, taimen, pike, walleye and maybe perch or carp- all are common in Germany’s rivers, brooks and lakes. In the July issue of the ROTARIAN  - “Rotary opens opportunities for us to live a richer, more meaningful life, with friends around the world, based on our core values “ said Holger. Fishing for opportunities to make new friends in Germany!! If we have time we might attend the Rotary Club of Herzogtum Lauenburg - Molly. This is  the home club of  Holger . His life’s work has been involved with real-estate so maybe we can

This week we made our way to Switzerland and the UNICEF offices. Did you know that Geneva is the second largest hub of the United Nations (next to New York). There are over 200 non governmental organizations located in this beautiful city. The mandate of UNICEF is to advocate for the protection of children’s rights. Their basic needs and opportunities of every child to reach their full potential. Based on the ‘Rights of the Child ‘ their work is well known around the world. UNICEF is a  major force in the fight against polio.  The partnership with WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and the Gates Foundation will soon make it possible for the promise of a POLIO FREE WORLD -soon to become a reality. Geneva is a global city. The population of approximately 915,000 with 2/3 living in Switzerland and 1/3 living in France.( It is expected to reach 1 million In the very near future). Be sure to taste the famous chocolate, sail on Lake Geneva and watch the stars over he tope of the snow covered

This week we travel to Afghanistan and the capital city Kabul. If you choose to visit most hotel rates would be approximately $47.00 per night and alcoholic beverages are illegal.  World travellers would plan to visit the famous ‘ Blue Mosque’ as seen in this picture. This beautiful historic site is a source of great national pride and reflects the culture of the country. The boarder between Pakistan and Afghanistan is where most of the active cases of polio appear . This is due ,in part , to the unmonitored movement between the two countries. There is an increase in manned permanent transit posts where children can be vaccinated. It was reported that 1.6 million children were vaccinated at approximately 380 test points. This is critical to the fight against polio. The area is home to nomads, seasonal and economic migrants and agricultural migrant’s families with no fixed homes. We are hopeful that very soon we can celebrate the end of polio. With only two countries left and most activ

  Week 4 finds us in Pakistan. This nation has several cases of active polio. In Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the  confirmed cases are pushing  the total to 139 with 4 more new cases. An 8 yrs old boy was confirmed and died, and a 24 month old boy has been confirmed in an emergency operation centre. Two more cases of two boys under the age of 4 yrs. This country has experienced political unrest which caused major problems for our medical teams. Last year four staff were killed and two policemen were injured trying to protect them. Recently the government of Pakistan has changed and is now supporting our efforts to vaccinate all children under the age of 5 yrs.  The coronavirus caused 80 million children to be missed. “We must ensure that we work with communities to protect vulnerable children with vaccine, while ensuring strict safety and hygiene measures to prevent any future spread of COVID 19” said Dr. Hamid  Jafari. The pictures show the volunteers sanitizing their hand before gree