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In the past 3 months, circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2) was detected in sewage samples in Barcelona, Spain; Warsaw, Poland; and Cologne, Bonn, Hamburg and Munich, Germany. The detected virus is genetically linked to a strain that emerged in Nigeria. This strain is circulating in several countries outside the Region, most widely in North and West Africa. In all 3 countries in the European Region, the virus was isolated from environmental (sewage) samples only – no associated paralytic cases of polio have been detected.

2024 Wild Polio Case Total 81 - Afghanistan 25, Pakistan 56

Rotarians Stain City Park Gazebo...and Themselves!!

Seven Lander Rotarians spread tarps, set up ladders, stirred large buckets of stain, and ran out loonngg roller poles to tackle the job of staining the ceiling of the gazebo in City Park on Friday, September 6 – and they got it done in about three hours! Our thanks to Lisa Dawson (who organized the work crew and brought yummy peach cobbler and apple pie), and Ron Fossen, Bryan Neely, Jackie Nelson, Bill Alley, Joe Quiroz, and Jerry Venters, all of whom wore the stain afterwards! Check out the photos in the Photo Albums.

General Secretary Warns that Rotary is at a Crossroads, Faces Membership Crisis

Rotary is facing a membership crisis and is at a crossroads in many parts of the world, especially in North America, John Hewko, the General Secretary of Rotary International, warne

d recently.

Globally, Rotary membership has remained flat at 1.2 million for the last 20-25 years. For the first time in Rotary’s history, membership in North America has fallen below 30% of worldwide membership. “Particularly here in North America, we are facing a crisis.” Over the last few years, Hewko said, about 150,000 new members join Rotary each year, but about the same number leave.

Rwandan Nurses Training Project Under Way, Team Overcomes Challenges

The Lander Rotary Club’s largest international service project ever – and its first Global Grant project – is going full strength in Rwanda, in eastern Africa, despite challenges from food poisoning, spider bites, broken toilet seats, and lukewarm (or no) showers, among other things.

Lander Rotarians Maria Kidner and Cassy Venters are leading the Vocational Training Team, which has spent its first four weeks in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, training a “core team” of

nurses to diagnose and treat strep throat in children and help prevent often-fatal rheumatic heart disease in older children and young adults. This “core team” will then teach these same skills to village nurses in several hospital districts in Rwanda in the final two weeks.

The total grant for the project is $123,096 and is being funded through donations from numerous Rotarians and non-Rotarians, Rotary Foundation funds from various Rotary Districts, Lander and other Rotary Clubs, and $30,000 from The Rotary Foundation. Its first week in Africa, the team visited Lusaka, Zambia, at the invitation of Zambian government officials, to discuss replicating the training project throughout Zambia. The Zambian officials were enthusiastic about developing the training program there.

You can follow the team’s work on Maria’s blog, https://www.leapleadership.org/blog, and on Cassy’s Facebook page (Cassy Dierking Venters). Pictured: A school teacher instructing on the use of flip charts (L) and participants engaged in skills practice (R).