Follow Ramesh's Journey

Today I visited with Dr. Bob Scott and his wife Ann before attending a number of meetings. Dr. Scott is the Chairman of the Rotary International PolioPlus Committee and past Chairman of the Trustees of the Rotary Foundation. We first met in May 2006 at the Rotary District 5010 Conference in Juneau, Alaska. I had attended that conference with Dr. Allon Reddoch from the Rotary Club of Whitehorse. Dr. Scott was very pleased to hear about the success of the Cycle to Walk campaign. Rotarians around the world – all 1.2 million of them – have always been known for their generosity towards both local and global humanitarian service projects.

This morning, I was pleased to learn that Rotarians attending the Zone Institute together raised US$300,000 at a dinner event last night. These monies will be directed to the Rotary Foundation, whose mission is to help Rotarians advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, education, and the alleviation of poverty. The morning provided opportunities for RI Director Ashok Mahajan, Dr. Bob Scott, K.R. Ravindran, Kalyan Banerji, James Robinson, and Vikas Gora to address the Rotarian Delegates about the Rotary Foundation, its future and vision, Rotary International’s Humanitarian Grants Program, and Rotary Peace Fellowships. Later, Rotary Clubs and members who have donated significant amounts of their personal resources in order to demonstrate Rotary’s Motto of service above self were recognized.

I learned much more about what Rotarians are doing to fight polio in India over the course of the afternoon. I spoke with Deepak Kapur, Institute Chairman and Chairman of the RI Indian National PolioPlus Committee, at a meeting with trainers of the incoming district governors. Muslim children were present during the afternoon’s polio eradication session and they declared their commitment to work towards a polio-free world to everyone present, including Rotary International President Dong Kurn Lee. Mr. Lee travelled with his wife Young from South Korea to attend the Zone Institute.

This afternoon I had an opportunity to share my personal experience with polio, thank everyone for their efforts in the fight against polio and remind people why we need to continue working together to rid the world of this horrible disease. As I stood in front of so many young leaders from the Muslim community, I was so happy to see such excitement to work together towards the same common goal.