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Showing posts from August, 2020
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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
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  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
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  Week 3- greetings from Nigeria. On June 19, 2020 we were delighted to receive the news that ‘Nigeria has achieved  WILD POLIO-FREE status. This also means that the African region is polio free- cause to celebrate the last country to be declared polio free with only two more countries to go! This achievement would not have been possible without the novel strategies adopted in a consistent fight against polio and other vaccine preventable diseases. We commend the strong domestic and global financing and the commitment of government at all levels. In Kano State you may see these brightly coloured tricycles being used by polio Survivors as a means of transportation. Some are able to work ,when suitable work becomes available in factories. With no social network life maybe difficult however they make the most of every day. Nigeria is doing their best to move forward. It is a fast growing country with their population Expected to reach 400 million by the year 2050. The new capital is Abuja
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This week we will visit in Holland. While there we should spend a day walking through the tulips. Dutch Rotarians have used tulips as a way to raise fund to support polio eradication. During the 2013 charity auction the idea became a reality And in the first year 1.5 millions tulips were sold. This generated approximately $2,000,000.00 US . Thanks to Dutch Grower, Jan Lichthart, this Rotary initiative has spread to Switzerland, Germany, France, the USA and thanks to Vesey’s to Canada. Tulips are on display during the Tulip Festival and the country side is beyond beautiful. Be sure to visit the Kurkenholf and hear the tulip story. The beautiful END PILIO NOW TULIPS are being sold over the last two year in Canada. We plan to be back on October 24th in time to plant a lovely END POLIO NOW TULIP garden in Nova Scotia on World Polio Day. Plan to donate a box of tulip by donating a box tulip bulbs for $25.00 CAC . E transfer to  rotaryronw@gmail.com  to plant 750 tulip in celebration of the