Local Brookmans Park Rotarian volunteer in polio team to India

Barbara Middleton, a Potters Bar resident is self-funding her trip joining 90 Rotary volunteers from across Great Britain and Ireland who are flying out to India to join local Rotary members and health agencies to immunise millions of tiny vulnerable children in the hardest hit areas. 

Barbara, a past President of Brookmans Park Rotary club, will be working alongside local volunteers in Delhi, Kolkata, Bhiwadi, Amritsar and surrounding high-risk villages, reaching and protecting millions of children. This includes house-to-house visits for impoverished families who cannot travel to the vaccination booths. 

She says the extra help makes a huge difference to protecting India from this crippling and, at times, fatal disease: “Rotarians and other volunteers go out twice a year to help Rotary clubs in the area reach as many children as possible. There are other regular vaccination events but these larger National Immunisation Days (NID) draw huge numbers of children and families. Visiting Rotarians have a curiosity value which attracts children in the slums and remote villages who do not meet many British people.