On 29 September 1979, volunteers administered drops of oral polio vaccine to children at a health center in Guadalupe Viejo, Makati, Philippines. The event in metropolitan Manila was arranged and attended by Rotarians and delegates from the Philippine Ministry of Health.
When James L. Bomar Jr., then RI president, put the first drops of vaccine into a child’s mouth, he ceremonially launched the Philippine poliomyelitis immunization effort. Rotary’s first Health, Hunger and Humanity (3-H) Grant project was underway.
Bomar and Enrique M. Garcia, the country’s minister of health, had earlier signed an agreement committing Rotary International and the government of the Philippines to a joint multiyear effort to immunize about 6 million children against polio, at a cost of about $760,000.
The project’s success led Rotary to make polio eradication a top priority. Rotary launched PolioPlus in 1985 and was a founding member of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988. Through decades of commitment and work by Rotary and our partners, more than 2.5 billion children have received the oral polio vaccine.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on 25 August 2020 announced that transmission of the wild poliovirus has officially been stopped in all 47 countries of its African region. This is a historic and vital step toward global eradication of polio, which is Rotary’s top priority.
An achievement decades in the making
Not detecting any wild poliovirus in Africa is in stark contrast to the situation in 1996, when 75,000 children there were paralyzed by the disease. That year, at a meeting of the Organization of African Unity in Cameroon, African heads of state committed to eradicating the disease from the continent.
To bolster the effort, also in 1996, Rotary, its GPEI partners, and South African President Nelson Mandela launched the Kick Polio Out of Africa campaign. Using soccer matches and celebrity endorsements, the campaign raised awareness of polio and helped more than 30 African countries to hold their first National Immunization Days. Mandela’s call to action helped mobilize leaders across the continent to increase their efforts to reach every child with polio vaccine.
Now wild Polio is only found in Afghanistan and Pakistan http://polioeradication.org/where-we-work/polio-endemic-countries/. The work still continues to eradicate the virus and we, the Rotarians of the Rotary Club of Berwick, support the End Polio Now program through donations from our fundraising.
Wondering how you can help 2019-2020 Bushfire affected people during Covid restrictions?
Try the Bushfire recovery support initiative: “You Matter, I Care”
The recovery phase of the 2019-2020 bushfires is far from over, not only for those directly affected by the fires, but for any bushfire affected person – those personally impacted, volunteers and workers – everyone matters!
A small but meaningful project has been developed by Rhonda Abotomey who lost three family members in the Black Saturday fires in the Latrobe Valley. In the wake of the 2019-2020 fires, Rhonda created and launched packs of 12 postcards to be posted to a chosen recipient once a month for 12 months.
The post card fronts carry an image and a positive message. The card back is blank for your own message if you wish. Each kit contains instructions for the sender and a message card to the recipient to accompany your first postcard.
The Rotary Club of Berwick members and friends can help by simply sending 12 “You Matter” cards – one card a month. Cost? 12 postage stamps! The kits are supplied for free.
How? Once you decide you would like to be involved, contact Jane: jane@cinet.com.au. She has three kits ready to go with access to as many packs as we need. Recipient contact details are with the East Gippsland Rotary Fire Aid Committee. A name and contact details will be forwarded to you with your support kit. This initiative was brought to Rotary by District Emergency Management Chair Janne Speirs during Adrian’s Governor year and was advertised through the District Newsletter. All credit to Janne and her team.
As many of our members would remember, Zimo Zhu, was nominated by the Rotary Club of Berwick to attend the 2021 National Youth Science Forum in January. She was interviewed by our District 9820 panel last week and was successful.
This is a sought after and well regarded training program for students with a strong interest in science. The 10 days of activities include mentoring with senior scientists and their peers. It is held in Canberra and Brisbane, usually in the January holiday break, prior to beginning their Year 12 studies. Zimo is a student at MLC and lives in Upper Beaconsfield. We sponsor our candidate for 50% of the cost of the program.
We wish her all the best, hopeful that the program will still run next year as our borders reopen, and we look forward to her presenting to us about her experience in the future. Well done Zimo!
It is "Shine On Recognition" time again, when the Rotary International “Shine On” Committee invites you to nominate a volunteer with a disability or chronic illness, so that their community spirit and efforts can be celebrated.
The Event is comprised of two levels, Certificates of Commendation and Awards Trophies. In addition, there are awards for two age brackets, 15-25 years and over 25 years, and can be for any field of endeavour.
Anyone can nominate a person, who has either a permanent injury; a mental health disorder; an intellectual and/or physical disability, and yet contributes to their community by doing volunteer work.
Places to start looking for your candidate are Local Disability Support Services, Advocacy Services or place a short advertisement in your local paper.
A Rotarian must then assist the nominee to complete the Nomination Form and sign off on behalf of their club.
The Nomination Form can be accessed through the District website, Facebook or by contacting Lara Barrett - See Lara's details below.
The three-member selection panel is composed of people from medical, paramedical, disability services or prominent persons with a disability. They are given the selection criteria and determine if a nominee stands out sufficiently to receive a trophy, as well as a citation to recognise their community work.
Nominees and their families are invited to the ceremony, where a Guest Speaker/s is invited as well as the local Mayor, state and federal MP’s, media and a professional photographer.
Citations are read and presentations are made by the District Governor. Each nominee receives a certificate and/or trophy and afternoon tea is provided.
On 28th August 2020, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) released Step-by-Step Guides for individuals and families detailing basic cybersecurity instructions for specific software, applications and devices. The guides are available at https://www.cyber.gov.au/acsc/individuals-and-families/step-by-step-guides.
The ACSC provides cybersecurity advice to small businesses and individuals, and during unprecedented times where staff are encouraged to work from home, sometimes on their own devices, it is essential that basic security controls are in place. The “what” and “why” of cybersecurity is usually understood, but the “how” is often accompanied with a fear of opening and blindly navigating through the settings of a program or device.
Using instructions alongside screenshots, the ACSC’s Step-by-Step Guides demonstrate how more than 12 effective security controls – including automatic updates, backing up and restoring files, and multifactor authentication – for various platforms can be turned on in a matter of minutes. The ACSC walks readers through these settings and helps them significantly increase their cyber security.
Rotary launched PolioPlus in 1985 and was a founding member of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988. Through decades of commitment and work by Rotary and our partners, more than 2.5 billion children have received the oral polio vaccine.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) includes Rotary, WHO, US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance
In 2019-2020, our own Adrian Froggatt was District 9820 Governor and his wife, Wendy, took on the Polio EndGame as her DG Partner's project. The GPEI ‘Polio Endgame’ Strategy 2019-2023 aims for a world where no child will ever again be paralysed by any poliovirus anywhere.
On 25 August, the World Health Organisation (WHO) African Region was declared officially certified free of wild poliovirus. This certification comes four years after Nigeria – the last polio-endemic country in Africa – recorded its final case of wild polio.
This milestone is an incredible public health achievement for Rotary members, the African region, and our GPEI partners, and a huge step forward on the road to global polio eradication. It is also a rewarding outcome for the DG Partner's 'Polio EndGame' project.
Rotary members have played an invaluable role in the effort to rid the African region of wild polio. We should be proud of all the hard work that we’ve done to eliminate the wild poliovirus throughout Africa and in nearly every country in the world. Without our polio eradication efforts, more than 17 million people who are currently healthy, would have been paralyzed by the virus.
This leaves Afghanistan and Pakistan as the only countries in the world in which polio is still endemic.
On 29 September 1979, volunteers administered drops of oral polio vaccine to children at a health center in Guadalupe Viejo, Makati, Philippines. The event in metropolitan Manila was arranged and attended by Rotarians and delegates from the Philippine Ministry of Health.
The recovery phase of the 2019-2020 bushfires is far from over, not only for those directly affected by the fires, but for any bushfire affected person – those personally impacted, volunteers and workers – everyone matters!
As many of our members would remember, Zimo Zhu, was nominated by the Rotary Club of Berwick to attend the 2021 National Youth Science Forum in January. She was interviewed by our District 9820 panel last week and was successful. 
It is "Shine On Recognition" time again, when the Rotary International “Shine On” Committee invites you to nominate a volunteer with a disability or chronic illness, so that their community spirit and efforts can be celebrated. 
In 2019-2020, our own Adrian Froggatt was District 9820 Governor and his wife, Wendy, took on the Polio EndGame as her DG Partner's project. The GPEI ‘Polio Endgame’ Strategy 2019-2023 aims for a world where no child will ever again be paralysed by any poliovirus anywhere.
