Kicking Polio out of Africa

That is the name of the Rotary International campaign to fight polio locally and in the build up to the World Cup, there has been a push to give free polio immunizations across Africa.

Here in the Western Cape this week has been identified for doing immunizations and Rotary clubs have been asked for volunteers to help. Michael and I plus 3 other Constantia Rotary volunteers, including Toni our Ambassadorial scholar, met at the Wynberg Clinic to travel out to different communities here in the Southern Suburbs.

Our team went to six pre-school and primary schools centers in Mowbray and Rondebosch. The three nursing sisters had been doing these immunizations for weeks in and in some places were seeing hundreds of children at a time.
One of the preschools had mostly immigrant children many of whom spoke French which was an excellent opportunity for Michael and I to speak with the children and reassure them in French. the little girl who hopped on my lap was at that school. the little boy hogging the photo was a jumping bean who actually was too old to receive the drops.

We were giving drops of polio vaccine and a dose of Vitamin A to each child between 1 and 5. altogether I figure we did about 140 vaccinations. the children were very sweet at all the places but occasionally one would be super afraid and start crying, which often effected others... I sometimes helped one of the nurses with giving Vitamin A capsules but mostly just helped with directing the children and reassuring shy ones. Michael had the job of marking their little fingers which is done to be sure a child is not given an extra dose and to show they have received the drops.

In Mowbray at the Gingerbread Hause they had lovely signs painted on the walls- one of my favorite things!

The pre-schools have very different facilities but one thing in common was obvious- the care and attentiveness of the people running the centers.The teachers and class heads welcomed our visit and the children were adorable. It was a good way to spend the morning. Between our three teams, we were able to help immunize about 500 children - a good morning's effort!

For more information on the Rotary International effort visit: kickpoliooutofafrica.wordpress.com