Proud survivor

Congratulations on your inspiring story on Rotary and PolioPlus in the February issue. As a polio survivor, I couldn’t be prouder to be a Rotarian. The year 1946 was an “epidemic” year in Central Illinois. I found myself sharing a hospital hallway with other patients, as nurses placed steaming-hot towels on our affected body parts. I was then moved into a dormitory, where early one morning, a male nurse lifted the dead body of a young boy from the bed next to mine. Later, I shared a room with a patient in an iron lung. Today, our North Phoenix [Rotary] club includes Rob Whiteaker, a past governor of District 5490 who helped distribute polio vaccine in India. Rob collects the loose change members have with them each week. It may not seem like an exciting way to raise funds, but I’m betting Rob meets our club’s annual PolioPlus goal.

Dick Kemp
Phoenix, Ariz., USA

Fighting polio in Nigeria

Your February issue shows the noble responses and contributions – especially the US$100 million Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation challenge grant – from Rotarians and non-Rotarians who are pushing for polio eradication. Here in Nigeria, I helped supervise the 26 January effort in the Kuje area of Abuja. It was an eye-opening exercise. While many people clamored for their households to be vaccinated, others refused to open their doors, and [our] nurse, who is well known to them, spent over 20 minutes pleading to administer the drops. Though these incidences may represent a small percentage, polio will not be eradicated in Nigeria if one child is not vaccinated.

Nze Kanayo Chukwumezie
Asokoro, Nigeria

Both sides of polio

As PolioPlus subcommittee chair for District 5960, I would like to offer additional information about Minnesota’s efforts to combat polio and postpolio syndrome. The Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Center in Minneapolis is well known for its work, beginning in the early 1940s, with polio victims. In our district, we have survivors, two of whom are Rotarians. As a Rotarian, I have seen polio from both sides: in those who contracted the disease as children in the United States and survived, only to be plagued later in life with postpolio syndrome, and in the prevention of polio, while participating in a National Immunization Day program in Africa to immunize children. We must all continue to partner in our pledge to eradicate polio.

Dianne Nesvig
North Mankato, Minn., USA

Cash to cure?

The articles about polio eradication are wonderful. To overcome reluctance to immunization, we should consider offering a financial incentive – paid in cash or in script to every person who is immunized. In poor countries, this would go a long way toward achieving our goal of eradication.

Thomas H. Solenberger
Barrow, Alaska, USA

Article inspires Eagle Scout

I am a 15-year-old Eagle Scout in Troop 287 in North Platte, Neb. An article in the January 2007 issue [“Relief in a box”] described how ShelterBox sends out survival kits to disaster areas. My mom is a Rotary member and wondered if I could do something similar for my Eagle Scout project. I called the local American Red Cross chapter, and the director and I discussed what they needed most. Other scouts, volunteers, and I filled 10 storage tubs with all kinds of office and medical supplies. I helped the director write a grant and obtained cots and blankets for 10 shelter and emergency command posts. We also purchased a laptop to provide service in rural areas. We raised $6,000 through the grant and from donations from the Rotary Club of North Platte and other groups. Thank you for providing the inspiration for my Eagle Scout project!

Taylor Williams
North Platte, Neb., USA

Help readers with geography

Since it is accepted that many Americans have a very poor knowledge of geography, your articles about Rotary’s efforts around the world would be enhanced by a small map of the country being written about and its location within a specific continent, plus the location of the state or region within that country.

James Rini
New Castle, N.H., USA

Attack the root cause

In the article “When words fail” [March], RI President Wilfrid Wilkinson hit the nail on the head when he said, “We know water is the key issue. Once they have good water, they can have good health. When they have good health, they can go to school, become literate.” Continuing this logic, literacy leads to the knowledge to improve economic and social well-being. This in turn can help to reduce the ills of population explosion, religious intolerance, crime, and poor government. [Clean water] will become increasingly important, and at the same time more difficult to provide, as the world’s population escalates from 6.6 billion to about 9.3 billion by 2050. This population will struggle to tap the .007 percent of the world’s fresh water accessible for human consumption and use.

Terry Simms
Halifax, N.S., Canada

Bring back phonics

I was moved by your article in the March issue, “When words fail.” It did not, however, address a major obstacle to teaching children to read, which Rotarians cannot overcome. When [U.S.] schools left the teaching of phonics behind, they left the students behind. I have 10 children. My children who were in a school that taught phonics-based reading did well. Unfortunately, we moved and the [new] district used “whole language.” Those children whom the school taught using whole language and a variety of other methodologies struggled, and still struggle today. When phonics is left out of the mix, more children fail.

Deborah Hage
Silverthorne, Colo., USA

Photo overload

I support your broad and frequent coverage of the quest to eradicate polio, but I think you overdo it with the same picture of a [volunteer] putting drops in the mouths of children. In the February issue, I counted what is essentially the same picture 10 times on nine pages. How about more photos of the children who did not receive the vaccine, those who must use crutches and braces and wheelchairs? That demonstrates the urgency to move ahead with haste, and probably tugs at the heartstrings with greater effectiveness.

Bill Oehler
Naples, Fla., USA

Keep on bloggin’ 

As 2008 Group Study Exchange team leader for District 5110, I was pleased to read a letter in the March issue advocating that teams keep blogs to inform more Rotarians about programs funded by their generous contributions. Readers may wish to track the adventures of two teams exchanging between District 5110 in Oregon, USA, and District 4790 in northern Argentina, at www.District5110GSE2008.org and http://igeoregon2008.blogspot.com.

Emily Francona
Port Orford, Ore., USA