Up bright and early, and down to our respective hotel dining rooms to enjoy breakfast before setting out in the buses to go back down into Sohna to the central location from where we would disburse to various locations throughout the area. We were dropped off from the buses and then walked through streets and alleyways until we reached the area where local officials, including the district collector and what would be referred to as the town council had gathered to await the arrival of our team. Our presence and participation in this N.I.D. could be considered “huge” by the locals. Imagine that over fifty people from six countries had left their homes and families to travel at their own expense, to join hundreds of thousands of other volunteers to provide drops of oral polio vaccine to well over one hundred and fifty million children, and all in one day!
I was introduced to the district collector and together, he and I cut the ribbon to officially open that distribution center. I was then invited to go inside a reception area, where we were to discuss the local efforts and how measures could improve. I had been requested to be rather stern with him and the rest of the council members, as there had been a few cases of polio diagnosed within the last twelve months, and there is a great concern that pockets of population, especially in Uttar Pradesh, were in danger of showing new cases of polio. Actually, in January of this year, one little boy of about fifteen months had been diagnosed as having polio.
After reviewing the policy of the village council, and the program to make sure all children were reached and vaccinated, it seemed to me that my expression of concern was not reaching the district collector and the members of the council. Finally, while sitting there, I happened to think of my six-year old grandson, “J.T.” I asked if the district collector had any children. He told me he had two young boys. I expressed my concern that with only one or two plane trips, children from this area could travel to countries which had been polio-free for decades and bring with them the virus to infect children who had not yet been immunized. Without appearing to be too critical, I assured the district collector that I would personally hold him responsible if any children were to be diagnosed with polio in our country. I encouraged him to enlist the help of whatever number of volunteers he needed to get the job done – to finally eliminate polio from the area. He agreed with what I described as my concerns and consulted with the other members of the village council attending this meeting and together they reassured me that they would do “whatever it takes!” I thanked all of them for their understanding of the gravity of the situation and their promises to take the steps necessary to ensure that all children would be immunized and, further that their villages would be polio-free in 2008 and beyond.
Once we had concluded our meeting, and shared tea and snacks (there is almost always tea served) we disbursed into several small groups throughout that village, and several of us walked quite a distance to various distribution centers, where we dispensed the polio vaccine drops to the children under the age of five years who lived in the various neighborhoods. Along with us was a young girl – a Muslim, of about seventeen years.
She was a member of the Interact Club in her town, and served as our translator. In addition, her father was with us and directed us to the various locations where the polio vaccine would be made available to the local children. We walked briskly from place to place, undeterred by the occasional water buffalo wandering aimlessly in the alleys, or the children who were playing marbles or the several youngsters who were relieving themselves on the side of the alleys. We eventually reached the girl’s village and again, wended our way through the narrow alleys (almost pathways) to the distribution centers. 
We even climbed a few flights of stairs to reach some of the “roof-top” distribution centers. There were always local men and women volunteers who were dispensing the vaccine, but they were so pleased to have us arrive and to assist them – giving the drops, marking the tiny fingers of those children who had received them with a purple marker (much the same as what was used in Iraq, following the free elections there) and moving onto the next child. 
The tiniest of infants up to children of five years were brought to the distribution centers by sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers and grandparents.
At one point, we had finished our work and walked out into the commercial area of the town, on a main thoroughfare. We located yet another booth where drops of vaccine were being dispensed and so we stopped to lend a hand. The young man at the booth indicated they had not been very busy. Well, Jill Woolacott (a tiny lady from Australia who was a part of our TEAM) was not about to let that situation continue. Each time she saw a woman walking by, carrying a tiny child, Jill took it upon herself to go out into the street, call to the woman and ask that she come back to have her baby vaccinated! Now THIS is ROTARY IN ACTION! Some of the other folks in the group joined Jill in her efforts to attract more “business” and pursued some people quite a distance before getting them to turn around and return to the distribution booth to have their children receive the drops of life. We were undaunted in our efforts. One of the village council members had joined us in the first half-dozen booths we visited. When it was time to move on to other locations, he arranged for two vehicles to pick us up and drive us there, since it would be a few kilometers away from where we were at the time.
Once we had visited all of the booths in our area, we were invited by our young Interact translator to join her and her father at their home in the village for some (you guessed it) tea and snacks! We were welcomed into their home and sat looking at the many Muslim characters painted on canvas and carved into leather framed and hanging above the doors into the living quarters. We had a delightful visit with them, learning that the girl was pursuing pre-medical examinations for college and that she wished to remain in India for her education and to return to her village to treat those with medical needs in the future.
We parted company with the father, and the young girl accompanied us back to the village, where we were to meet with all of the other members of our team who had traveled about a half-hour from the place we had all begun. When we arrived back in town, the buses were waiting, and several members of our team were being interviewed by local radio and television stations. One of them introduced me as the team leader, and I was also interviewed. We boarded our buses and drove back to Sanjiv’s farm, where we were to spend the late afternoon and evening, helping Sanjiv and Jyotsna celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary, along with several members of the Rotary Club of Delhi-West, and other friends. Up to now, it HAD been a very good day!
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