In November 2016, Milford resident, business owner and Devon Rotary Club Secretary Greyson Schwing travelled to Kaduna, Nigeria for a thirteen day trip to vaccinate 5,500 children as a part of Rotary International’s National Immunization Day Program, a five day event that seeks to end polio in the country.
{{more}}
Polio, a highly infectious disease that invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis had been on the down swing in Africa, with only two new cases discovered on the continent in August 2016 according to the World Health Organization. Nigeria in particular had gone from 122 cases in 2012 to zero, which would have allowed the WHO to declare the country Polio free. The two new cases in Nigeria spurned organizations to act, and Schwing took the opportunity to fulfill a personal mission.
“Rotary’s motto is service above self,” said Schwing of his decision. “I knew that the world of service was bigger than what we do in Milford. I also knew that I wanted to participate in an overseas program of some type at some point in my life and it just so happened that when i mentioned that to our district governor he said that someone was needed for the November trip to Nigeria so the stars aligned and I went.”
After filling out the necessary forms and receiving inoculations (where Schwing remarks that that was when it “got pretty real”), Schwing and his group travelled to Kaduna, where he and fellow travelers learned the ins and outs of how vaccines arrived in the country, were prepped and then delivered to various areas around the area. The group travelled each morning to visit immunization sites such as schools, churches, public facilities and large open air markets, where Schwing vaccinated children under the age of five with low doses of the Polio vaccine. Along with the vaccine, the group also handed out packets of powdered milk, digestive biscuits and sweet drops that contained vitamin boosting agents. The vaccines are a part of a number of doses that will be administered to the children throughout the year.
Traveling to Kaduna was a first time experience to Schwing, who had never left the United States previously. Upon traveling to various sites in Kaduna, Schwing experienced rolling blackouts, hot temperatures and most importantly, the soul and spirit of the men, women and children he visited.
“They have a completely different view on happiness and spirituality and it was really refreshing and up-lifting,” remarked Schwing on his experience. “Their priorities are different then us; they are focused on survival and clean water and just trying to meet the basic necessities. Their fulfillment doesn’t come from status; it comes from family and home and hearth and friendships. I met some of the poorest people in the world literally – you can’t even compare it to here. There are Polio survivors who are penniless and crawl in the dirt all day, but they have their friends and family.”
To learn more and to get involved, visit https://www.rotary.org/en and https://www.endpolio.org.