Monday, February 25, 2013

We are 'This Close'.



A team of 27 Rotarians from USA, Australia, New Zealand, and France are in Chandigarh to take part in the fight against polio during the national immunization day (NID).

Led by Cynthia Wright Covington with her husband Barry Walter Covington as co-leader from USA, the team went to various booths in Mauli Jagran, Manimajra town, Bapu Dham Colony in Sector 26, to administer polio drops on Sunday, and later today in the morning went for a house-to-house mop up operation.

"India is a shining example in the world in eradicating polio through remarkable collective efforts of government and Rotarians", said Cynthia Wright Covington, who is on her third visit to Chandigarh with the NID team, having come earlier in 2009 and 2011.
The team comprises 23 Rotarians from USA, one each from Australia and France, and two from New Zealand, including 81 years old past district governor William Edward Crawford from US.

Having learnt about this team's trip, a 27-years old Rotaractor from Alaska, Ann Marie, also joined the team at Chandigarh and felt completely transformed having interacted with little children and families in some of the slums outside the city.

After participating in different localities around Chandigarh on Sunday, during the NID, they went around house-to-house for mop up operations on Monday.  Later in the afternoon, as they returned, for a brief stopover for lunch at Hotel Aroma's Aquamarine, they posed for a "This Close" pose for the media.
Later in the evening they attended the reception that our Club organised.
Kudos to PDG Madhukar Malhotra, and Rtn. A.P. Singh for coordinating their visit, Rtn PP Praveen Goyal for providing an overview of polio-eradication efforts made in India,  and all the host Rotarian families who so graciously opened their homes for their visiting guests.