After many years of celebrating World Polio Day with proclamations, updates from Rotary and health leaders, and flag-raising ceremonies, the 10 Rotary clubs in District 7070 (Ontario, Canada) took a different course in 2018. An in-person event held in a new global classroom and simultaneously streamed live is now serving as a great model as we approach holding our first World Polio Day live event in a COVID-19 world.
Just three years ago, Durham College of Applied Arts and Technology, a post-secondary school in Oshawa, Ontario, constructed a new Centre for Collaborative Education, which included a Global Classroom. The center allows students to learn from, and share with, students and experts from around the world in real-time. The class brings cultures from around the world together to share information about each other’s culture and countries. The clubs of the Durham region all helped provide funds for the creation of the center and global classroom.
The 2018 event was so successful that the clubs mirrored it for World Polio Day in 2019 (watch the 2019 event), with new guest speakers Dr. Tunji Funsho, chair of Rotary’s Nigeria PolioPlus Committee, and past Rotary President Jonathan Majiyagbe.
We encourage our fellow Rotary members around the world to use Rotary’s World Polio Day resources to plan and hold an event to honor the day and join District 7070’s event streamed live on 22 October. It is your partnership in our top priority that makes this day a success and will fuel our eventual eradication of polio.