Garrettsville – Delores McCumbers, 2016-2017 president of the Rotary Club of Garrettsville-Hiram, has recently returned from an eye-opening trip to India with a kaleidoscope of impressions.
One of the first of these was that America is so fortunate to have pretty generally clean air, clean water, clean streets, order on public roadways. God Bless America! Another was that of the enormity of India—size of population, ancient heritage, economic growth, their hopes for the future, welcome extended to visitors. Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), the touch-down city for the tour, has a population of over 27 million and all of them seemed to be in the streets celebrating their independence on Republic Day. Quite a welcome! Local Rotary District 3030 pulled out all of the stops receiving the visitors.
Additionally, the Rotary Clubs of India have joined with the WHO (World Health Organization) and UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) to ensure that India remains polio-free. This Rotary-sponsored trip was to call attention to the ongoing war on polio across the subcontinent and across the world. It was also intended as thanks and encouragement to all health care professionals who have been working for over thirty years to achieve eradication of this devastating disease; India has been polio-free for five years now, despite its existence in neighboring countries. The third goal of the trip was to encourage the Rotary Clubs of the United States to continue in their support of the immunization project in India and in other nations. Rotary International is partnering with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; every dollar donated to Polio Plus will be matched by two dollars from the foundation, through 2018. Act now. You can contribute through the Garrettsville-Hiram Rotary Club, any local club, or in person at the Middlefield Bank of Garrettsville (Lisa Muldowney). The fight goes on.
Twenty hours of air time, two stop-overs, ten days in the world’s largest democracy, a glimpse of India’s past and its future left our traveler with vivid memories and tales to tell. Stop in to McCumbers-Brady Realty to ask about them all.
