February 16, 2008

Merrimack Valley Rotarian Carl Good Talks About His Rotary Trip To Bangladesh


Merrimack Valley Rotarian Carl Good, fresh off his Rotary trip to Bangladesh, told the MV Club members that his three week excursion was an experience of a lifetime. He said that all of the 17 Rotarians that were with him all paid, their own way for the trip, which was designed to help rid the area of polio.


Inoculation Day
He told the group that the area had been Polio free since August 2000. But in 2006 there were 18 cases, which they believe were the cause of people coming in the area from India who had polio. While there, Carl took part in an Polio Inoculation Day which involved 700,000 volunteer inoculating 24 million children, all in one day.


Centre For Children
While there Carl took a special interest in a Centre For Children With Special Needs in Madanpur. The Centre, which is a project of the Rotary Club of Banani Dhaka provides rehab services to children in the area who have various disabilities. The objectives of the Center include:


To provide community based rehabilitation

To train parents to take care of their children with disability

To impact a socially compatible living to children with disabilities

To change the attitude of the community toward children with disability

To establish school and vocational institutions

The organization of services for these children depend on both community based and institutional approaches to rehabilitation. The main work is to take the service for these children to their doorsteps so that mothers can avail it more easily. They have 40 children enlisted.

Support Is Needed
The Merrimack Valley Rotary, under Carl's direction and vision will help this organization by raising funds through the Club's own efforts and then to apply for Matching Grants. Anyone interested in helping us with these efforts can contact the Club by either writing to mvrotary@gmail.com or by calling Club President Ken Masson at (978) 446-9366.