Dubai, Julie Felix and Syrian Refugees.....amongst other things.

Last Week

Where is Dubai?  You may well ask!  The amazing thing was how many members of the club had been there...okay, many of them only in transit.  Wendie White, the MD of Lloyd Orr Communications, gave us an entertaining talk on the pleasures of Dubai  but understandably, as Dubai Tourism & Marketing is one of her clients, none of the less savoury aspects of the political side of Dubai.  Nevertheless you have to admire the economic and business acumen that transformed the one Gulf state with negligible oil into a Consumer Mecca.  Many thanks, Wendie, for an interesting talk.

A Night at the Zoo - 5th November
Lori Bramwell-Jones has organised a night experience at the Johannesburg Zoo on the 5th November.  You don't have to spend the night there but some of us will need to be careful about not being kept behind in error.  I suggest that you have your ID with you just in case.

And here's Julie Felix singing that Tom Paxton song all about it in the '60's.  She's practically forgotten today but I remember her coming to our Folk Club and thinking how exotic she was and maybe when I grew up......  Paul Simon also came but that is another story!

DG's Regional Dinner, 19th November
This is an important event as it replaces the DG's Visit to the Club.  There aren't any details as yet about cost etc but please put it in your diaries. Partners are also welcome and it gives us the opportunity to socialise with Rotarians from other clubs.  We must be well represented so let's not just leave it to those who are obliged to go....especially as David Grant sent us this nice email!

Rotary Global Grant GG1531461: Application approved

Dear President Neville, James and Mark

Congratulations to you and the Rotary Club of Rosebank on being awarded the Rotary Global Grant GG1531461 for such a worthy and exemplary project. It is a great achievement and one to be admired by all the clubs in our District.

We look forward to hearing of the project’s progress in due course.

Kind regards

David

District Governor

Rotary District 9400

This Week
Steven Anastopoulos is presenting a "Mind Trap Quiz".  I don't know what that is but it sounds extremely dangerous.  Is the Wanderers lunch bait, do you think?
I have just had my mind X-Rayed and this is what mine looks like inside....not a pretty sight.  If Steve is attempting to purify our minds with this quiz and I lose my not very attractive lodger I would be grateful.

ROTARY AND SHELTERBOX SUPPORT SYRIAN REFUGEES

A refugee family from Syria seeks shelter in cramped conditions on the Greek island of Lesbos.

Photo Credit: Rachel Harvey/ShelterBox

In Syria, where a civil war has been raging since 2011, more than 6,000 people flee the country every day. As of September, more than 4.1 million people have become refugees, and 7.6 million more have been internally displaced.

“The plight of Syria’s refugees is a litmus test for the world's compassion,” says Rotary International General Secretary John Hewko. “Rotary members worldwide are profoundly disheartened by the refugee crisis now unfolding in Syria and other parts of the world,” which the United Nations has described as the worst in decades.

“Rotary is following the situation closely,” Hewko says. “We know our members have an inherent desire to act, to relieve the suffering and uncertainty that displaced individuals and families are facing. We call on you to respond as Rotarians have for more than 100 years: to use your professional skills and acumen, leverage your connections to other leaders, and mobilize your local communities to provide the necessary resources and funding to address the humanitarian crisis.”

Rotary members can donate to the disaster relief efforts of our project partner ShelterBox. The organization has supported the Syrian relief effort for close to four years and is working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to distribute relief materials. ShelterBox is also working with communities in Greece and parts of Turkey to provide transitional housing and supplies to displaced people passing through these regions in an effort to reach other countries in Europe.

Rachel Harvey, a member of a ShelterBox response team that recently returned from Greece, says Syrian refugees are making dangerous crossings to the shores of Greece.

As many as 2,000 people arrive daily on Lesbos’ northern beaches, says Harvey, referring to a Greek island in the Aegean Sea off the Turkish coast. The trip from Turkey to Greece usually takes about an hour and a half. “The flimsy rubber dinghies are invariably overcrowded, and the majority of passengers can’t swim,” she says.

Harvey adds: "The experience is terrifying. Another trauma added to the layers that many of the displaced have accumulated through war in Syria or South Sudan, insecurity in Afghanistan or Pakistan. One man told me: 'It was a nightmare. I don’t know how we got through that trip,' ” she says.

Says Hewko: “We appreciate our clubs and members for their support, helping the millions of displaced people find shelter and rebuild their lives and communities. Every refugee is in our hearts and minds.”

Learn more about ShelterBox

Mark Potterton, Wendie White & the Rotary Peace Fellowship

Last Week

Dr Mark Potterton, the Principal of Holy Family College, spoke to us about the problem of Violence in Schools.  What we didn't know was that he had served on a government commission to investigate schools in rural areas which means that he has an extensive collection of photographs of school lavatories, unoccupied, I hasten to add.  We were only treated to a couple of them.  It was a fascinating talk and he emphasised the 'violence' that badly maintained buildings and facilities and non-caring teachers perpertrate upon learners and how schools should provide a safe haven from the violent environment in which many learners live.

We could see that in many of the schools he showed us that teaching was not only inadequate but practically non existent and he emphasised the non involvement of many teachers in caring for the children or even the environment in which teaching is supposed to take place.  He showed us a number of photographs of a school with broken windows, light fittings with no globes or tubes and graffiti over everything and asked if we could guess which school...no-one could.  It turned out to be Sandringham High, a very successful school in the past.  One of our members, Juanette McCrindle, gasped in astonishment when Mark mentioned the name of the school as she was former pupil there.

Juanette McCrindle with her partner,  Rainer Bairam who is a member of the Rotary Club of Zikwasi, Zambia.

President Neville's Blast from the Past


Who would have imagined that the distinguished Dr Neville Howes played in a Band!

Well, he did in his well-spent youth and Bonny Pawley, a Rotary Ann from Kyalami Club rediscovered him, came to our meeting and revealed all to the world!   I will draw a veil over...............

This Week
Our speaker is Wendie White, Managing Director of Lloyd Orr Communications and Vice President of the Association of National Tourist Office Representatives.  One of her clients is the Dubai Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing and it's Dubai she is going to be talking about.

Wendie became a partner and took over the reins at Lloyd Orr in late 2008. Wendie has 28 years experience in the South African travel industry, having spent most of her time in wholesale tour operating and is well known and recognized in her field.

Prior to joining Lloyd Orr, Wendie held the position of Managing Director at Holiday Tours. This experience adds an in-depth advantage to our clients as her insight and first hand knowledge of the tour operators and other South African travel companies ensures invaluable synergies. She believes that relationships are the key to good business and applies this philosophy when interacting with her vast network of media and trade partners.

Wendie has travelled the world extensively and her enthusiasm is well known and respected by many hoteliers, tour operators and other tourism suppliers worldwide. Wendie is passionate about her work and likes to be very involved adopting a hands on approach to the business.

Wendie speaks English, Spanish, French, and has a good understanding of Afrikaans and Zulu. 

WHAT PEACE MEANS TO ME

To commemorate the International Day of Peace, we share the personal perceptions of Rotary Peace Fellows.

People and nations worldwide will observe the International Day of Peace on 21 September, the date designated by the United Nations in 2001 “to be observed as a day of global ceasefire and nonviolence.”

That commitment to peace is directly linked to goals pursued by Rotary members since The Rotary Foundation’s mission to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace was proclaimed in 1917.

To fulfill that mission, Rotary conducts global forums, hosts international peace symposiums, continues its decades-long collaboration with the UN, and promotes initiatives such as the Rotarian Action Group for Peace.

Rotary’s most tangible effort to build peace and promote conflict resolution is the Rotary Peace Centers program, established in 2002. Each year, the program prepares future leaders to work for peace through a two-year master’s degree program or a three-month professional certificate program at Rotary’s partner universities around the world.

Today, more than 900 of these peace fellowship alumni are applying their expertise -- easing tensions in border conflicts, drafting legislation to protect exploited children, providing security to diplomats, and pursuing many other career paths devoted to peace.

Learn how you can support Rotary Peace Centers

Read a blog post from a Rotary Peace Fellow celebrating the Day of Peace in Central 

Welcome Juanette & Nicole! Bill Kosar visits & Jean Bernardo collects Bottle Tops. This Week Dr Mark Potterton Talks.

Last Week
We welcomed Juanette McRindle, formerly of Orange Grove Club and Nicole Nsegbe, formerly of Johannesburg North Central Club.  We are delighted that you have joined us and I'm sure you will have many happy years at Rosebank (Johannesburg).
It is to your credit that you opted continue with Rotary when current circumstances changed as that would have been our, and Rotary International's loss.  Thank you.




We also welcomed Bill Kosar of the Rotary Club of Watamu in Kenya.  He is the East African Regional Commodore, International Yachting Fellowship of Rotarians.  He made an interesting point, that the Yachting Fellowship is the oldest Rotary Fellowship and South Africa was a founding member but there is currently no membership in South Africa which is extraordinary!
He gave a staggering statistic, that more than 5 000 people drown in Lake Victoria every year and spoke of the efforts of the Fellowship to supply lifejackets to local fishermen.  Many thanks, Bill, for your visit and we hope to see you again soon.

Appeal

Jean Bernado has appealed for plastic bottle tops and those little plastic closures that are used to seal bread bags.  The Interact Club at Centurion College is hoping to collect 100 000 for a wheelchair and we must help them.  Deluge Jean with plastic bottle tops!

So that you don't forget. There is a permanent reminder in the sidebar.

This Week
Our speaker is Dr Mark Potterton, the Principal of Holy Family College who has happily provided the venue for our Careers Day, the second of which will be on the 28th February, 2016.  Mark taught at Sacred Heart College and then joined the Catholic Institute of Education.
He left to join Umalusi, the national quality assurance body for education but returned to the CIE as Director until he became Principal of Holy Family College in 2012.  Since then he has been very successful in raising the standard of the school and upgrading many of the facilities to 21st century requirements.
He has written numerous books on such topics as School Evaluation and is particularly interested in providing a good education for children with disabilities or learning problems.
His doctoral thesis at Wits was on the topic of violence in schools and that is what he will be talking to us about on Friday.

From the RI President

K.R. Ravindran

President, 2015-16

T +1.847.866.3235

F +1.847.866.3390

KR.Ravindran@rotary.org

Dear fellow Rotarians: It is our pleasure to announce Rotary’s annual World Polio Day kickoff event on 23 October in New York City. We'll use this occasion to shine a light on Rotary’s leadership in the fight that has brought us This Close to ending polio. The Livestream event, co-sponsored by UNICEF, will bring together our partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, government officials, and global health leaders from nongovernmental organizations and will mobilize more than 30,000 supporters. July and August brought great milestones in the polio eradication effort. For the first time in history, Nigeria -- then all of Africa -- marked one year with no new polio cases caused by the wild virus. We are closer to making good on our promise to end polio forever, but there's still work to be done. As we protect the progress made in Africa, we focus even more sharply on Afghanistan and Pakistan. Our World Polio Day kickoff event is our opportunity to update participants around the world on our progress and next steps and inspire them to share their voices, donate, or advocate for eradication as we near the finish line. We invite you to join us and watch the event live, starting at 18:30 New York time (UTC-4) or later -- a recording will be made available. We also ask you to raise awareness of our polio eradication effort in your own community and build a local audience for our World Polio Day event. Visit the End Polio Now website to download resources that can help you raise awareness and funds. Share this information with your Rotary clubs, districts, communities, and elected officials. Thirty years ago, we told the world what Rotary believes: that we can achieve the eradication of polio. Our dream is becoming reality. For every child, on World Polio Day, let’s push ahead to the reality of a polio-free world. Warm regards, Rotary International President K.R. Ravindran and Rotary Foundation Chair Ray Klinginsmith

ONE ROTARY CENTER 1560 SHERMAN AVENUE EVANSTON, ILLINOIS 60201-3698 USA ROTARY.ORG

Jane Lagaay, a Mosque, Business and Polio Plus

Last Week

Jane Lagaay told us about herself, from growing up on a farm outside Adelaide in he Eastern Cape to heading up the SG Mobility Division of Super Group, a logistics, supply chain management and transportation company that has about 7 000 employees.  They took over a logistics company that she started with a group of friends.  It was a really interesting talk and we are privileged to have someone of her stature in our club.

Visit to the Nizamiye Turkish Mosque Complex in Midrand

This really was a fascinating outing, partly because our guide was so entertaining.  The mosque and school are part of the international Gulenist Movement that follows the moderate Islamist teachings of Fethullah Gulen and is noted for its schools and the importance it places on inter-faith dialogue and cooperation.  It is not popular with many other interpretations of Islam but is praised by many for its progressive approach. The movement has schools and universities in 180 countries.  The Nizamiye Mosque was financed by Ali Katircioglu who added a clinic to the complex at the request of former President Nelson Mandela.   

The complex is enormous.  The school is bottom right.

Here we are preparing to enter the mosque with some strangers bottom right.

Once inside identities changed completely.

And some people even fell asleep after taking their photographs as the carpet was so comfortable.

Afterwards it was lunch in the Turkish Restaurant...and I think many of us will be happy to return for the food.  Afterwards a few of us bought baklava at the bakery . 

Many thanks to Lori Bramwell-Jones for organising such an enjoyable outing.  Also thanks to Lyn Collocott for the photographs other than the two sleepers who were captured by Jean Barnardo.

This Week is a Business Meeting so if you are one of our non members who wants to see what the club gets up to....other than have speakers and outings......then this is the meeting to attend. You will hear all about the projects we are involved with and how we try to make our community a better place for everyone.
Rotary's motto is Service above Self.  This meeting will show you how, as the Rotary Club of Rosebank (Johannesburg)we try to live up to it.

Rotary Family Health Project in South Africa

MEET OUR POLIO PARTNERS

Eradicating polio is a complex job. Since 1988, we’ve collaborated with the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF to tackle the disease through our Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Here’s how our roles break down.

THE STRATEGIST: WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) coordinates the management and administration of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and provides technical and operational support to ministries of health in countries around the world. WHO is responsible for monitoring our progress and strategic planning.

THE VIRUS HUNTER: CDC

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) deploys epidemiologists, public health experts, and scientists to investigate outbreaks of polio, identify the strain of poliovirus involved, and pinpoint its geographic origin.

THE IMMUNIZER: UNICEF

UNICEF buys polio vaccine and manages its distribution. The agency spreads the word about the benefits of vaccination to gain community acceptance – a process known as social mobilization. On the ground, field workers immunize children with the help of local health workers and volunteers such as Rotarians.

THE ADVOCATE: ROTARY

Rotary uses its members’ business acumen and passion for volunteerism to build awareness, fundraise, and encourage national governments to donate to and otherwise support the polio eradication effort. More than one million Rotary members have volunteered their time and personal resources to help end polio.

OUR OTHER PARTNERS

WHO, CDC, UNICEF, and Rotary spearheaded the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, but many other partners help us work toward our vision of a polio-free world.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: The Gates Foundation is a core partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. It is the largest private funding source of the GPEI, contributing over $1.9 billion to the fight against polio. The Gates Foundation will match all donations to Rotary for polio two to one, up to $35 million per year, through 2018.

National governments: Governments are the largest donors to the polio eradication effort. Without the financial support of governments worldwide, and especially political support in polio-endemic and at-risk countries, we could not administer the polio vaccine.

Local health workers: Local health workers often risk their lives to vaccinate children. For example, women in Pakistan receive training to go door to door, speaking to mothers about the benefits of the vaccine. They address fears and help bring the vaccine into remote communities.

Gavi: Gavi is an international vaccine alliance that brings vaccines to some of the world’s poorest countries. It is working with the GPEI to introduce at least one dose of the injectable inactivated polio vaccine into the routine immunization schedule.

Welcome again, Gushwell Brooks, Jane Lagaay & Bringing Education to Rural Mexico.

 Last Week

President Neville Howes welcomed another three former members of Orange Grove into our club, Cesare Vidulich, Tutty Faber and Bernard Neuhaus....also in the picture is Steven Anastopoulos who we welcomed a couple of weeks ago.  We are delighted to have you.

Our Speaker was Gushwell Brooks who gave us a well illustrated talk on the whole issue of Migration and the differentiation between Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Economic Migrants when there is a tendency to lump them all together as migrants.  The figures that quoted were amazing, 1,8 million in Turkey alone!

The figures for South Africa were extremely interesting because the numbers are surprisingly small:

• 82% of the working population between the ages of 15 & 64 are non-migrants
• 26,16% of non-migrants are unemployed
• 32,31% of 'domestic' migrants are unemployed
• 14% of 'international' migrants are unemployed, though their employment is often precarious
• 11% are employers
• 21% are classed as 'self-employed'
• only 5% of non-migrants & domestic migrants are employers or self-employed.
• migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers only constitute 3-4% of the population

This Week

Our speaker this week is one of our members, Jane Lagaay.  She will be talking about herself and what she does at Supergroup.  Her classification is 'Logistics' which sounds mysterious to me.  We are all looking forward to hearing what she has to say.

  

BRINGING EDUCATION TO RURAL MEXICAN AREA, ONE SCHOOL AT A TIME

Carolina Gonzales Rivas, a scholarship recipient and member of the Rotary Club of Jaltemba-La Peñita, Mexico, talks about how Rotary has influenced her life.

When Mariana Day moved in 1989 to the small beach town of Chacala, in Nayarit, Mexico, she noticed that the surrounding rural areas struggled to maintain schools. And most children weren’t able to go beyond an eighth-grade education. Day, who is a member of the Rotary Club of Bahía de Jaltemba-La Peñita, in Nayarit, had started a local scholarship program before she joined Rotary. Called Changing Lives, the program provided students with high school tuition, uniforms, school supplies, and transportation.

In addition, Rotary clubs from the United States and Mexico have been investing in the education of children in Nayarit since 2003, providing scholarships and libraries and rehabbing school buildings.

The lasting impact in the region is apparent.

“I think the combination of the scholarship program and Rotary’s interaction with the schools has made things seem possible, has changed the climate of education here, and the way the people think about education,” Day says.

One example of Rotary’s impact is Carolina Gonzales Rivas. She was able to attend high school thanks to Day’s scholarship program. Rivas is currently working on her master’s degree and has recently joined the Rotary Club of Jaltemba-La Peñita.

“I think that what Rotary is doing by supporting education and supporting students is to have a vision for life, to have aspirations – that’s what is going to change the world,” Rivas says.

The Rotary Club of Berkeley, in California, USA, along with the Bahia de Jaltemba-La Peñita club and other North American clubs, recently tackled their largest project to date: a monthlong renovation of La Preparatoria 20 de Noviembre , a high school in the village of Las Varas. Funding came from a Rotary Foundation global grant and the financial contributions of six Rotary districts covering the 25 Rotary clubs that participated.

A total of 90 volunteers including the school’s teachers, students, and students’ parents, improved the old buildings and built three laboratory classrooms. All three feature new equipment and technology and can be used by local residents as well as students.

Eduardo Dominguez, a member of the Bahía de Jaltemba-La Peñita club, says one of the biggest rewards of these efforts is the fact that a college education is now a real possibility for local students.

“There are many young people in Mexico with huge potential and with much to give, as long as they are given an opportunity,” Dominguez says. “Rotarians are helping those opportunities to occur, for [these young people] to become contributors to their communities.”

Friedman, Firlands, Gushwell and Bhutto Zardari

Last Week 
Professor Steven Friedman spoke about the new radical student activities on campus and how they were symptomatic of a much larger problem that encompassed the black middle class..a perceived lack of acceptance by the white community, formerly white institutions where blacks do not feel welcome and a host of other things.  He talked about hard-wired perceptions that we have just by being brought up here.  It's not prejudicial, just a natural knee-jerk reaction, and he gave a number of examples such as the frisson that runs through a local aircraft when the pilot is black.  It was a fascinating and thought-provoking talk.

Firlands Fete
The club always helps on the bookstall at the Salvation Army Firlands Fete every year.  Apparently it was a great financial success though we don't know the final figures yet.

Rotary Leadership Institute

The Part 3 Course Candidates

Peter James-Smith attended Part 3 of the RLI course last Saturday.  "I felt I needed to get a bit more up-to-date on Rotary," he said. "And Part 3 was really interesting as it contained such things as membership problems and there is a lot of interaction with other Rotarians from different parts of the District.  I would encourage any Rotarian to do RLI courses because I have found them very valuable.  RLI is separate from the District and Rotary International and so you get a broader perspective."

This Week

It's great when someone steps into the breach when our advertised speaker was not available.  Many thanks to Gushwell Brooks for agreeing to talk to us at the last minute.
He presents on 702 and Cape Talk as well as Radio Veritas.  He has an LLB from Wits and then slaved away in a corporate before deciding to escape.  He currently works for the Jesuit Refugee Services and he will be talking on "Migration".

Don't forget to let Mark Franklin know if you want to attend the wine tasting on the 17th......and let Lori Bramwell-Jones know if you want to visit the Turkish Mosque and Restaurant on the 12th.

From the Youth Committee

Donation in memory of the late PP Stephen Makete.

The handover of the splint to Luyanda, at Forest Town School has been moved to 23^rd September 2015, from 10:30 to 12:30.

The youth committee invite interested members to join them at this occasion.

Please contact Jean Bernardo.

From the Anns

To : THE BOARD OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF ROSEBANK

On behalf of the Rosebank Rotary Anns I would like to thank you very much for the generous donation of R25 000 for our participation in the Art Festival. 

Thank you, too, for the opportunity of sharing in the fun, the fellowship and the chance to make a difference, and the acknowledgement of the role of the Rotary Anns in the greater family of the Rotary Club of Rosebank. It is much appreciated. We look forward to many more years of rewarding team work.

Again, our thanks and appreciation.

Shirley Eustace

President

Rotary Anns of Rosebank.

POLIO: THE ROTARIAN CONVERSATION WITH ASEEFA BHUTTO ZARDARI

Illustration by Berto Martinez

Before her family was forced into exile, before her mother was assassinated, before her father became president, Aseefa Bhutto Zardari was known for something simpler, but in some ways equally powerful: In 1994, she became the first child in Pakistan to receive the oral polio vaccine, as part of the country’s first National Immunization Day. Benazir Bhutto, then prime minister, gave the drops to her daughter herself, a compelling endorsement of the nascent campaign.

“I was a baby at the time, so I don’t remember it,” says Bhutto Zardari, now 22. “But the moment was an inspirational one for the nation, and encouraged women to believe that polio drops were and are safe.”

In 1988, at age 35, Benazir Bhutto became the first woman elected to lead a Muslim country. She was assassinated in 2007, just months after she had returned to Pakistan after almost nine years in exile. But Aseefa Bhutto Zardari – whose father, Asif Ali Zardari, served as president of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013 – is carrying on her mother’s work. As a Rotary polio ambassador, she meets with officials, visits schools, and talks with families of health workers who were killed while working to vaccinate children.

Bhutto Zardari has raised the profile of the polio eradication campaign in Pakistan and around the world. She writes about the topic for the Huffington Post and joined Rotary International General Secretary John Hewko onstage at the 2012 Global Citizen Festival in New York City’s Central Park. On Twitter, with more than half a million followers, she encourages people in Pakistan to support ending polio and chastises those who stand in the way. In April, she invited two other prominent women in Pakistani politics to join her in the polio eradication effort, a move that garnered media coverage across the country.

In 1994, the year Bhutto Zardari received those first drops of vaccine, Pakistan had an estimated 35,000 cases of polio. As of 10 June, 24 cases had been reported in the country in 2015. Bhutto Zardari, who is completing a master’s degree in global health and development in London, talked to us about ending polio in Pakistan, her future in politics, and prospects for peace in her country.

THE ROTARIAN: Recently in Pakistan, some parents who refused the polio vaccine for their children have been arrested. Are those arrests justified?

BHUTTO ZARDARI: There is a great ethical debate about whether the arrests are justified. Is it the right of the citizen to refuse care? Is it the right of the child to have the best health care? Personally, I don’t believe arresting people is the best solution. Parents want the best for their children, and they are trying to ensure their safety. Educating the parents and persuading them to let their children have the polio drops is more powerful and, although time consuming, will be more successful in the long term.

TR: You’re active on Twitter. If you could use more than 140 characters on Twitter to send a message to parents who choose not to vaccinate, what would you say?

BHUTTO ZARDARI: In the media environment today, so much of our lives and what we seek to do is oversimplified, often stripped of meaning and context. Much of what I say on Twitter about this topic [of vaccination] is directed at people in positions of influence who are abusing their position by taking an anti-vaccination approach, rather than at individual parents. I know that the majority of parents, even those refusing vaccinations, have their children’s best interests at heart.

To parents who have held off on vaccinating: Do not take rumors as truth or let people use health as a political or religious weapon. Your children’s lives are at risk, and by giving them two small drops, you can ensure they will avoid the suffering that polio can cause. Speak to families who have experienced polio personally. Talk to the polio workers and learn from them.

If we had to reduce it to a campaign slogan, I would say to those parents: Don’t rob your children of a future they deserve. Give them a chance. Let them get the polio vaccine.

TR: What is the future of the polio eradication campaign in Pakistan? How will you continue your involvement?

BHUTTO ZARDARI: There is a serious disconnect between the significant and targeted efforts put in by the provincial governments and the hands-off approach taken by the federal government. To ensure the best chance of success, we need collaboration with the federal and provincial governments in order to have a united front. Along with this, we need to focus on training more lady health workers [a program launched by Benazir Bhutto that has trained more than 100,000 women to provide community health services] and polio workers. These health care workers will be able to use their expertise to support other areas of our health service in the future, and we need to plan for this. I am committed to a polio-free Pakistan, but I’m also committed to a healthier Pakistan overall. For now my focus is on polio, but I hope to carry on my training to get involved in other areas of health care.

This campaign needs more resources, especially in the environment of fragile security that so many of our heroic vaccinators face. The PPP [Pakistan People’s Party, founded by Bhutto Zardari’s grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto] recently proposed that donors fund a security health corps to protect vaccinators as they attempt to reach children in dangerous areas. This is crucial to protect the lives of our vaccinators and to ensure the success of the program. I often hear of vaccinators returning from high-security-risk areas, such as Quetta, who were unable to reach children because of the danger. The conventional methods of taking the program forward may not be enough if we do not simultaneously address the security concerns.

TR: Will you go into politics?

BHUTTO ZARDARI: I have always been in politics. Since I was a child, I have been surrounded by it. With a mother who was prime minister twice and a father who served as president, it is impossible to avoid politics. I am keen to make my own mark and ensure that I have the skills to best serve Pakistan in the future. That is why I have dedicated so much effort to my education, specifically focusing on health care and humanitarian concerns.

TR: What was it like to grow up in exile?

BHUTTO ZARDARI: I spent a good portion of my life in Dubai. It was difficult to see the struggles my mother faced being away from our home. At the same time, it was inspiring to see how she was able to maintain a presence in Pakistan while in exile. My father was in jail, and she was petitioning leaders worldwide to help bring democracy back to Pakistan. Despite all of that, she always made the effort to help my siblings and me with our homework, and attend our school functions and plays. We were always hoping to return home, but she made sure we never felt lost.

TR: Your grandfather was executed under a military dictatorship, your father was jailed, your mother was killed. What drives you to risk your own security by staying involved? Why not walk away?

BHUTTO ZARDARI: Walking away is not an option. My mother, father, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brother, and sister have all committed themselves to serving Pakistan. They have all believed that they could have a positive impact. While to many, they are simply political figures, they are my family. I trust them, and they have shaped who I am. I will carry on the cause that they have believed in, and that many of them have died for, to honor them and to serve my country.

TR: What prevents you from focusing on the tragedy you have experienced?

BHUTTO ZARDARI: While there has been great tragedy in my life, I am also aware that I have been given great opportunities. I have been able to study, I have been able to travel, and I have been able to create friendships with people from all over the world. I have also been blessed with an incredible brother and sister and a wonderful father. The support I get from my family is a great comfort.

TR: One of your mother’s legacies was inspiring women and girls, including Malala Yousafzai, who calls your mother her role model. What will it take to develop more female leaders in Pakistan?

BHUTTO ZARDARI: Just as I have been blessed to have such an inspiring mother, I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to get to know Malala. She is exactly right in identifying how we will empower women to take the lead in Pakistan in the future: education. We must ensure that women and girls have access to quality education so they are able to obtain leadership positions. At the same time, we must make sure that men and boys are being educated about equality.

TR: Will your country and the region ever see peace?

BHUTTO ZARDARI: I have great faith that one day Pakistan will have peace. I pray for the day when people can look beyond the bombs and the bullets and see my beautiful country, where the people have so much talent and bravery. It is a region in deep transition. One can only hope that the challenges of rapid population growth in South Asia will motivate leaders to strive harder for peace, and that we will be able to work with our neighboring countries to form a more stable and safe environment for our families.