Exeter Rotarian heads to Africa on mission to eradicate polio

EXETER — Starting Nov. 23, Exeter resident and Rotarian Nancie Griswold will trade the comfort and familiarity of family and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday for 12 days of volunteer work in Nigeria.

Griswold will be one of approximately 20 Rotary volunteers making their way to Nigeria, one of four countries that remain polio-endemic. The others are Afghanistan, India and Pakistan.

During the hands-on trip, volunteers will provide oral vaccine for the disease to everyone under the age of 5. It is also part of a broader 20-year effort by Rotary International to eradicate the disease.

In 1985, the volunteer service organization made a commitment to immunize the world's children and became a leading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative three years later.

Rotary's primary responsibilities include fund raising, advocacy and volunteer recruitment and to date Rotary has contributed more than $800 million to the effort.

Griswold said the impetus for her involvement with the club's polio eradication efforts stem from reading a magazine article detailing Bill and Melinda Gates' donation and the volunteer efforts from groups on inoculation missions to different countries.

The images of those young adults who had not received the vaccine crawling on their hands due to the lack of available crutches or wheelchairs proved too powerful to ignore.

"It was heart wrenching and after I read the article I knew I had to be a part of this and went online to look up polio and everything I pulled up had Rotary on it," she said.

In August of last year Griswold joined the group to become involved with its polio eradication efforts and was soon put in touch with district governor Anne Lee Hussey, herself a polio survivor, who extended an invitation to join the trip to Nigeria.

"I've been eagerly waiting for this trip for over a year," said Griswold. "I think it's going to be very fulfilling and just such an honor for me to get to go over and do this.

"By doing this I could save someone from crawling their whole life or using a wheelchair or crutches, which aren't as accessible as they are here," she said.

Griswold said during the trip she will be trying to enjoy the "beauty of the people that I meet and just help a few people out and do what I can."

Hussey said the areas still affected by the disease are generally in the poorest sections where illiteracy, lack of formal education and limited access to clean water or proper sanitation are contributing factors and challenges to working toward vaccinating the population.

"There is nothing more satisfying than having a child look up at you after receiving the vaccine or the look of gratitude in the mother's eyes knowing her child is safe from the disease," said Hussey. "In this day and age, there's no reason why children should have to live with polio."

The physical presence of Rotarians, including the four days of immunizations, is vital to the ongoing success of such volunteer trips, said Hussey.

"It says we care," she said, "and as Rotarians to other Rotarians it says thank you to those who work on polio eradication efforts 24/7. It's important for us to thank the health workers who are out in the fields every day and important for them to know people overseas are supporting their efforts."

For those who take part in the trip, Hussey said their personal testimony upon returning to the United States has a resounding impact on others.

"There is absolutely nothing like their personal testimony when they come back," she said. "Those who go really have a responsibility to come back and tell the story."