[D9640general] [eFlash_Rotary] Digest Number 700

[Garry & Anne Krischock]

1. 1356:  The case for finishing polio eradication 

 Thu Sep 6, 2007 10:50 am (PST) 
The case for finishing polio eradication

Rotary International News 

The global effort to eradicate polio has been a US$5 billion 
initiative. Since 1988 it has reduced the number of polio-endemic 
countries to four and cleared 99 percent of the virus from the world. 
Rotary has led the way, with an investment of $650 million by the 
time the world is certified polio-free.

Yet the goal of polio eradication remains elusive, with four 
countries still polio-endemic. In recent years, some in the 
scientific community have raised a difficult question: Can the world 
eradicate polio, or should we try to contain it?

According to an article by Harvard researchers, controlling the 
disease would be far more costly than eradicating it. The developing 
world can save more than $1 billion a year by eradicating, while 
switching to a control strategy would condemn 10 million children to 
polio over the next 40 years alone. Read more.

Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary


2. 1357: First U.S. ShelterBox Response Team members deliver landmark a 
 Thu Sep 6, 2007 7:37 pm (PST) 
First U.S. ShelterBox Response Team members deliver landmark aid

By Janice Chambers 
Rotary International News 

The Shelterbox that marked 500,000 people helped by the program was 
delivered to Jagadeo Argairiya, who has a family of 10, including 
five young children. 


On her first trip delivering disaster relief for ShelterBox, Trannie 
Lacquey encountered Maoist guerillas, crossed swollen rivers on foot, 
and hiked miles in a remote, tension-filled corner of Nepal. 

But the toughest challenge, says the grandmother of five, was 
clearing customs at the airport for 410 ShelterBox relief kits, which 
would help hundreds of families trapped by the monsoon floods that 
swept Nepal in August. It took 10 days. 

"It was tedious and very frustrating. We knew people were waiting," 
she says.

Fortunately, extensive training at a ShelterBox Response Team 
training camp in Cornwall, England, paid off, she says. Lacquey and 
her husband, John, members of the Rotary Club of Branford, Florida, 
USA, and Gary Boe, a member of the Rotary Club of Lewis River, 
Washington, USA, were the first U.S. ShelterBox Response Team members 
sent on a disaster relief mission. 

They also made history, as they delivered the ShelterBox that marked 
500,000 disaster victims aided by the Rotarian-sponsored nonprofit. 

Shelterbox started as a small project by the Rotary Club of Helston-
Lizard, England, in 2001, but it took off quickly. To date, it has 
delivered aid in 33 countries. Recently, the 
Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Charles's wife, Camilla, agreed to serve 
as president of ShelterBox. She is believed to be the first Royal 
Patron of a Rotary club project in the United Kingdom. 

Each ShelterBox costs about US$900 and is intended to help a family 
of 10 survive for six months. It contains custom supplies that 
typically include a large tent, blankets, water purification and 
cooking equipment, basic tools, and a multi-fuel stove. Rotary clubs 
provide more than half the funding, and private donors contribute the 
rest. 

The effort also depends on energetic volunteers like the Lacqueys, 
who arrived home 1 September after three weeks in Nepal and are now 
repacking for a weekend in Blackwater River State Park in Florida, 
where they'll help train more response team recruits. 

They'll also tell stories from their recent trip. "The rice paddies 
were still flooded," John Trannie recalls. "People lost everything. 
They were living under tarps in the rain. The living conditions were 
just horrible." But through it all, he says, "People would help their 
neighbors. It was a very humbling experience for us." 

Recently, ShelterBox enjoyed another first. It received its first 
Matching Grant from The Rotary Foundation, allowing 24 boxes to be 
delivered to northern Ethiopia in October, providing desperately 
needed shelter for Sudanese refugees. The grant was funded by the 
Rotary clubs of Beaverton, Oregon, USA, and Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. It 
is part of a massive effort by ShelterBox, called A Million in 
Africa, which intends to provide shelter for one million of Africa's 
eight million refugees. 

Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary
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