Well,
We've talked a lot about our experiences, the warmth of the Indian people, and the neat things we've seen. But, the primary reason for us being in India is to see all of the good work and camaraderie Rotary is achieving worldwide. Before I start, I'd like to apologize for not posting pictures with this post, as I have some amazing ones. I'll have to edit this post later when I have access to a card reader that works.
As many of you may not know, Rotary set out in 1985 to rid the world of the crippling disease Polio. They have succeeded in curtailing the disease by 99% and have drawn the attention and support of the World Health Organization, the UN, the Centers for Disease Control and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but there are four countries left where the disease has continued to hold on;
Afganistan, Pakistan, India, and Nigeria. Rotary has contributed over a billion dollars since then, and hundreds of thousands of man hours, and that has been multiplied by the extra support they are receiving from those great organizations.
We were fortunate enough to be in
Porbandar for one of two Polio vaccination days for the whole year. In every city Rotary is in, they set up enough walk-in areas to cover the population, and will also go door to door afterwards to ensure the children of their towns and cities are vaccinated.
We also witnessed blood drawing to test for
Thalassemia and HIV.
Thalassemia is a genetic, inherited blood disease that has major and minor carriers. Minor carriers are unaffected, as only one of their parents was a carrier. A major carrier has both parents affected, and there is no treatment other than regular blood transfusions that lose effectiveness over time, and they will suffer a shortened lifespan, not to mention putting further strain on the blood supply. They test to inform children so that they won't marry another carrier and hurt their offspring.
In
Rajkot, we were given a presentation on a literacy effort to ensure children are
achieving at their grade level within government schools, which are sorely lacking in standards and basic equipment. They distribute one kit for each classroom, which consists of a binder to test proficiency, and a trunk for of story books and interesting reading to hook children on the joy of reading.
We witnessed a number of permanent projects. We saw a several kilometer long dam built with Rotary funds to supply 100,000
Rajkot citizens with drinking water. We toured an English language library to help children and young adults with
English skills. We were shown a doll museum created by reaching out to
Rotarians around the world to donate dolls that represent their culture, and as we were shown around by the projects' progenitor, we saw several classes of children come through and they were absolutely delighted.
There was also an 'all in one' clinic for the poor that had an x-ray room, a doctor's examination room, a dental clinic, a diabetes center, and a drug collection and
distribution room. To get the drugs, they reach out to doctors to donate the sample they get from
pharma companies, and they go door to door to collect medicine that people aren't taking anymore, taking care to discard expired pills. This allows them to give cheap and effective medical care to people who would otherwise go without.
Now we are in
Bhavnagar, and last night we saw something pretty remarkable. The club here has convinced the parents of 75 slum kids to allow their children to come to the Rotary meeting hall in the evenings, where they are bathed, provided with school clothes, a home cooked meal (literally, food is brought from Rotarian family kitchens), and lessons for several hours on everything from English to the sciences. These children would otherwise be aimless, getting into trouble or begging, and now their future has been opened up to untold possibilities.
In India, after 7
th grade, called standard in India, school is private, so you have to pay. The children that show discipline and good work ethic are then sponsored by the Rotary club to go to high school, as long as they continue to perform well. They have been doing the project for ten years now, and are just about to graduate their first students from high school. Their hope is that they become successful contributors to society, bring their family up along with them, and join Rotary to give the same chance to others.
In
Rajkot, they do something very similar. In India, the poor produce a lot of children primarily to help them earn money, either through begging or collecting trash. Rotary is helping the children earn the same amount they were earning picking up trash and
recyclables all day by arranging for a dealer to seek the best price for them collectively. They were being taken advantage of by shady dealers before, because they didn't know the going rates for what they were collecting. Now, they earn the same amount of money in half a day, so their parents are appeased. Rotary fills the other half of the day with education, a bath, clothes, and a warm meal.
Today in
Bhavnagar we visited another one of their major projects (this club tends to focus their funds on a few major projects), where Rotary is supplying school benches to the public schools of
Bhavnigar. They visited a number of schools several years ago and noticed that the most basic needs of these schools weren't being met by the government. There wasn't clean drinking water, there weren't always bathrooms, and the children sat on the floor of the classrooms.
Rotary has stepped in to provide for all of these needs within the city, and for desks that meant coming up with 8,000 of them. They have trimmed the cost of each desk in half by having a carpenter member, and have supplied 5,000 of the desks to date, with the remaining 3,000 to be delivered over the next 2-3 years. We saw a few of the bathroom 'blocks', a separate building with his and hers bathrooms that may have been the cleanest public bathrooms we've seen here in India.
It's hard to talk about these things, not to mention experience them, and not be moved. Rotary here, and invariably around the world, does a multitude of amazing things, some on a global scale, but most on a local scale that helps fill in the holes not being addressed by government.
I speak for our whole team that we have been overwhelmed (seem to be using that word a lot for this trip!) by all the good that is being done by these people, who through the blessing of success in this world have taken it upon themselves to help others at least have the opportunity to do the same. It's something we take for granted in the United States, where we have all of our basic needs met, and a clear path to success, provided we choose to take it. We are truly grateful to Rotary for this opportunity, and I feel it has already changed our lives for the better. We are constantly told we say thank you too much, but we can't help it. We have been moved.
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