All for one

“It’s my first trip to India and one from such close quarters,” remarked Roy King,a doctor and volunteer from Knoxville,Tennessee,USA who spent the better part of the day administering polio drops at the civil dispensary in Manimajra. Accompanying King was his family – wife Elisa and teenaged daughters Sarah and Nicole. “I have worked in South Africa before and I have seen destitute conditions but I wanted to expose this side of life to my daughters,” spoke Roy as Elisa pitched in,“also this new generation isn’t aware of polio and its damage across the world. This visit is an eye opener.”

The team of volunteers was lead by local Rotarians and health workers as they went around various colonies for administering polio drops. “It was heartening to see that despite the conditions,health workers have been able to penetrate the population and make a difference. Also everyone we came across seemed to be aware of the polio campaign,” informed 63-year-old David D Bullington,fondly referred to as Danny. Hailing from the town of Macon in the state of Georgia,USA,Danny has seen polio more closely. “I am much older than I look,” he quipped before adding on a serious note,“back in the old days,I had two of my friends who had polio and it was horrible. So when I heard of a chance to come to Chandigarh and be a part of such a project I just had to say yes.”

Among those who knew they had to be here and make a difference on ground was 53-year-old Tim Adam who comes in from Cayman Islands tucked away in the Caribbean. “On my first trip we have seen contrasts in the city but what’s remained constant is the friendliness and the joi de vivre,” remarked Adam who has been impressed with the “efficiency” of the polio campaign. “It’s a collective effort that can go a long way in getting rid of this disease and if that means coming back and doing this again,I will,” Adam summed up the spirit of the visiting group.