Mark Franklin, UJ Boy Child Project, a Busy Weekend for the Club & PolioPlus

Last Week

I wasn't at the meeting so I am grateful for President Jean sending me photos etc.

President Jean anticipating a
Springbok victory in the World Cup!

Mark Franklin talked about the days of his youth.  It must have been interesting and amusing.  It always concerns me that those of us who are of a certain age are totally unimaginable as young people to others.....just show them photos of your misspent youth and they are shocked by your hair....if you're male that you actually had any and if you're female the hairstyle and very often how short your skirt was.

And Stewart Mutegeki assisted the Rotaract Club of Johannesburg and the Community Engagement Dept at UJ with their Boy Child Project.  He is standing at the extreme left.

This Coming Weekend
First of all there's  the Rotary Rosebank Youth Leadership Course....don't forget to let President Jean know if you will be attending and assisting with the braai on the Sunday.

Secondly, The Food Collection at Norwood Spar.  In all there are 18 two-hour slots to be filled but only 8 have been taken so far.  I know that there are Rotarians at the Youth Leadership Course but we have 36 members!  Costa Qually shouldn't have to struggle to get people.

This Week
It's a Business Meeting but quite a few Rotarians & Board Members will be in the Magaliesberg.  

Friday 18th October
Boniswe Mdingi, who is a polio victim will be talking about polio.  She also distributes clothing so if you have any clothes that you no longer need, bring it on the 18th.

Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 30 years. Our goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever.

As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we've reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979.  This was a project to immunise 6 million children over a number of years.  

1985 saw the launch of PolioPlus, initially to coordinate the private sector with this Rotary initiative which had  target of $120 million.  

Three years later Rotary International and The World Health Organisation launched The Global Polio Eradication Initiative. There were an estimated 350 000 cases of polio in 125 countries.

We've helped immunise more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. So far, Rotary has contributed more than $1.8 billion toward eradicating the disease worldwide.

Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyse as many as 200,000 children each year.

Explore the history of Rotary and polio eradication