City of Wolverhampton Rotary steps in and honours Rotarian.

Having somewhere dry and warm to sleep, to prepare meals and be with stricken families is vital for starting the long process of rebuilding lives.

Rotary ShelterBox teams work with disaster-hit families around the world, offering emergency shelter and other essential items to support them in rebuilding their lives.

Every disaster is different and so is every community, so time is spent time with those affected to make sure they can be offered the right support at the right time to help them recover.

The ShelterBox teams can travel by boat, helicopter or tuk-tuk to get to the families who need  support – whatever it takes to get to the people who have lost their homes to disaster.

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti on Saturday, August 14^th.

Buildings have been flattened and hospitals already under strain from COVID-19 are overwhelmed.

Now with Haiti in the predicted path of Tropical Storm Grace, survivors of the earthquake could face strong winds, driving rain, flooding and mudslides.

Rotary ShelterBox is sending a team to the Dominican Republic, which borders Haiti, as soon as possible.

The Rotary ShelterBox team will work with fellow humanitarians to assess damage reports, understand from communities what they need, and work on the challenging logistics of delivering aid to areas where buildings have been reduced to rubble.

Our late Rotarian member Fraser Dukes left a legacy for the Rotary Club of The City of Wolverhampton to use in support of communities at home and abroad, and the club has deployed part of the legacy to fund a ShelterBox in the sum of £590.

President Richard Green says “we are absolutely sure that Fraser would wholeheartedly approve of this use of the funds he left us, to provide desperately needed support in Haiti.”

PolioPlus Leader’s words of encouragement regarding Afghanistan.

TALIBAN HAVE CHILDREN TOO …

Many Rotarians have expressed concern about the future of our Polio Eradication Initiative – when ultimate success is so close.

However, RI Past President and 2021/22 Chair of The Rotary Foundation, John Germ, said yesterday that Rotary’s team has been working with the Taliban for some time and “we need to remember the Taliban have children too – and want them protected against Polio.

We acknowledge the tragedy of the situation in Afghanistan, but there have always been obstacles in the way that have been overcome. 

We have only one wild virus case in Afghanistan and Pakistan for the past eight months – and very little trace is being found in environmental samples. We need to work with all elements of leadership in that country and the anti government element has indicated a willingness to work with us.

Historically, the Taliban have never been against Polio vaccination. They are wary of people involved in delivering the vaccines but they want to target the end of Polio and are very well organised.  

In 2021, despite internal conflicts and a global pandemic, Afghanistan is seeing unprecedently low transmission of wild polio, with just one case reported this year. Not only has the country seen a drastic reduction in cases of wild polio, polio surveillance data confirms this progress and significantly less virus is being detected in the environment.

As conflict in Afghanistan quickly evolves, we must advocate for the children of Afghanistan. The Polio program must work and communicate with all stakeholders involved to ensure that polio immunisation remains a priority to ensure the gains we have made against polio do not diminish.

We look forward to working with our polio eradication partners and the Afghani people to completely eradicate polio.”  concluded John Germ.