Hannans Rotary Club

Helping to eradicate polio

Four Kalgoorlie-Boulder residents have returned from a trip to India during which they contributed towards a worldwide effort to immunise 1.6 million children against the deadly polio virus.

Hannans Rotary Club members Raelene George, Linda and Greg McLerie and Lisa Ellery formed part of a nine-person team from Western Australia which joined with volunteers from India and around the world.

The National Immunisation Day in February was part of PolioPlus, a Rotary program to eradicate polio from the world.

Mrs George, a nurse at Kalgoorlie Hospital, said isolated cases of polio were now found only in the Indian Subcontinent and West Africa.

She said the team stayed with Indian host families in the industrial city of Visakhapatnam on the east coast.

“We also had the opportunity to observe other community service projects being undertaken by Rotarians in India,” Mrs George said.

“We were incredibly impressed by the work Indian Rotary clubs are doing to help those less privileged in their communities. Their projects include building schools, orphanages, hospitals and hospices.”

The Rotary Foundation’s matching grant program enables projects to be undertaken at the joint cost of the foundation and two Rotary clubs. The team saw many projects in India which had been funded this way.

“A public toilet in Ichapuram had been constructed by the local club with the assistance of a matching grant from the foundation and a contribution from the Rotary Club of Devonport in Tasmania,” Mrs McLerie said.

“We were pleased to report to their president upon our return that their toilets were in good working order and very much appreciated by us at the time.”

Hannans Rotary president Lisa Ellery said she was proud of the team. “Some members of the Western Australian team couldn’t handle the food but all the Kalgoorlie members bore up sensationally,” she said.

All four Kalgoorlie-Boulder residents agreed the experience was rewarding and humbling.

“I suffered from polio as a child and it has affected me throughout my life,” Mrs George said.

“Being part of the final push to eradicate this disease from the face of the earth has been an incredible experience for me.”

For more information about PolioPlus visit here. Pictured below are the Hannans Rotary members in India.