More on the RI Convention - Mia Farrow Headlines Day 3

Day 2 included one of the highlights for any UK delegate – recognition of the outstanding work of RC Helston & Lizard with their baby, Shelterbox (www.shelterbox.org). Founder Tom Henderson spoke matter-of-factly of the incredible size of the achievements Shelterbox has achieved in the nine short years since it was conceived; Response teams sent to 57 countries; currently more than 1m people who call a Shelterbox tent home; most recent despatches to Sri Lanka to help those displaced by the action in the Tamil areas; in Pakistan and in Gaza. Shelterbox remains one of the few organisations sufficiently trusted to enter Burma following the catastrophic devastation there. Tom focussed though, on the conduit that allows his teams to function effectively – the 32,000 Rotary clubs that can provide real, current information on what is really happening and required. Truly – ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

For me though, the theme that came through loud and clear in Day 2 and 3 was of the intrinsic linkage between the individual themes that Rotary has set – Polio eradication, projects in Water, Health & Hunger and Child Mortality.

Clarissa Brocklehurst from UNICEF, talking on Water, Hygiene and Sanitation, or as she preferred it, Taps, Soap & Toilets, spelled out some simple facts – the vastly prevalent cause of child illness comes from lack of clean water supplies – 88% of infant diarrhoea-related illness (that kill) stem from lack of water & inadequate sanitation. This includes water-borne polio. 2.5 billion people in the world have inadequate sanitation, 1.2 billion have none (Yes, NONE). 1.2 million children die in this way each year. And yet all of this can be solved by simple, traditional technologies.

In most places where water supply is at a distance, water is carried by women and young children. Typically this is at the cost of their education. Yet the children of educated and literate mothers suffer illness less. This seems like a breakable cycle to me!

Many speakers dwelt on the need for us to complete the task of polio eradication, and on the recognition that the work of Rotary has received from world leaders and governments. We have only four countries to go (in terms of endemic polio) but cannot rest – outbreaks in those four countries can infect neighbouring countries as well – diseases do not recognise borders!

This work could not continue without the support of the Rotary Foundation, our own charity. The global economic crisis has meant that we have had to trim our programmes somewhat, but we still have outstanding achievements to recognise – 100,000 in the Dominican Republic who now have access to water, 23 schools, housing 12,000 students in Sri Lanka. Just a couple of the 2,500 matching grants projects funded by Foundation each year. However, we cannot rest – as Foundation Chair Jonathan Majiyagbe commented on the economic crisis – “those who are suffering the most are those who already had the least”.

Jonathan’s words were echoed by Tuesday’s highlight speaker, Mia Farrow. A polio victim at the age of nine, Ms Farrow knows only too well what the eradication of the disease will mean. Adopted parent of a paraplegic Indian polio victim (amongst her 14 children) she has put her own life and heart into helping others. A UNICEF ambassador, she drew us in with her lighthearted tour of her early career and life before silencing us with her heart-rending stories from the atrocity-ridden Darfur region. A compelling speaker with a compelling message – we must move our governments to do more.