Follow Ramesh's Journey

A New Day Has Come, and that means another exciting opportunity to spread the message of the Cycle to Walk polio campaign here in Québec City. The team headed into the old city centre where we met with City Councilors André Demers and Lisette Lapage, who welcomed us warmly, provided the team with words of encouragement, and invited us to sign the Golden Book of the city.

After our meeting, the team had an opportunity to explore this beautiful 400-year-old city. Doug, Bertha and John strolled through Old Quebec, Chris caught up with an old friend for a visit, and I met up with Kawina and Emerald – friends from the Yukon. Kawina Robichaud was the Yukon Artist that generously donated a silk painting, “Selfless Journey,” to Cycle to Walk. People who are interested in purchasing a copy of the poster can purchase it from either the road team or the office. Thank-you so much, Kawina, for your generous donation!
Tonight was a night that was filled with people. Over 250,000 people to be exact! About half of the city congregated on the Plains of Abraham for a concert put on by Céline Dion and various other Québecois stars as part of the city’s birthday celebrations this evening. Doug, Bertha, John, Chris, and I all joined the festivities and watched the concert from different locations throughout the park.

There were rows and rows of portable washroom facilities on the concert grounds. Seeing them got me thinking about polio – and I wish to share my thoughts with you: It’s important to know that without the three doses of the polio vaccination, polio can spread easily from person to person when people come in contact with even the tiniest bit of fecal matter or germs. Polio has not been seen in Canada for over a decade, and most – but not all – Canadians have been vaccinated, but tonight could be viewed as a perfect example of how hundreds of thousands of people could come in contact with the poliovirus in a single evening. All it takes is one carrier of the virus not washing their hands.

I share this with you not to shed a negative light on the evening’s wonderful entertainment, but just to reinforce the importance of receiving the three doses of the polio vaccination and practicing clean hygiene routines. The concert was amazing and everybody had a fantastic time.

After the concert, I took the bus back to where we’re staying at the Eastern Québec Learning Center. It took about three hours to get home because of the sheer number of people who were all in transit at the same time. Québec City really knows how to throw a party! Everything was very well organized, and we all went to bed late after having had an amazing night in this amazing city.