Follow Ramesh's Journey

The wake up call at my hotel room came at 2:30 am, and I was in a taxi en-route to the Indira Gandhi International Airport an hour later. I boarded a plane for London Heathrow at 6:30 am for a nine-hour flight and then another 13 hours of flying back to Whitehorse, Yukon. The journey back to Canada provided a lot of time to reflect on the past week in India. It was a great opportunity to be able to travel back to my country of birth and witness such caring, compassion and generosity from so many people from so many walks of life.

We have never been as close to eradicating polio then we are today. We have come this far because of the hard work which is being done on every level of what is the largest global public health initiative in world history: the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Rotary International and its partners have truly demonstrated commitment in every way towards polio eradication. With that one goal in mind, there is concentrated program development, partnership building, community rapport building, financial contributions, and an overall belief in not giving up on the world’s children. These people are working so hard to deliver us a polio-free world.

It makes me so proud to be born in a country like India when I witnessed so much corporation by so many people for the common goal of eradicating polio. On the flight to London, I met a woman travelling from Delhi to New York with her 19 month old daughter who she just adopted from India. I explained to her a little about my adoption story and my participation in Rotary International’s PolioPlus Program. I congratulated her on the addition to her family and then asked if her daughter had received the polio vaccination. She said Yes! with a big smile.

The polio eradication effort will only be successful if we vaccinate everyone. We can not afford to become complacent regarding the immunization of our children, and we must continue to raise funds for polio eradication efforts. I can’t thank Rotarians around the world and the partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative enough for allowing me to be a part of this exciting time in world history. We are going to eradicate polio from the world, and it’s because of all the hard work, commitment and belief in this dream that it will happen. 

Take Care,

Ramesh Ferris
Polio Survivor from Coimbatore, India
Adopted and now living in Whitehorse, Yukon Canada
867-335-6920