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Nation-Wide Polio Vaccination Day...a Really, Really Good Day.

The school was the site of polio vaccinations for the whole neighborhood, part of a nation-wide campaign! Very exciting! Nurses scurring in and out directing our teachers, our teachers administering vaccines, all kinds of craziness. Sunitha, Divya, Neha, and Laxmi went hut to hut and won a 90% success rate for vaccinating the target population (some children were out of town). A total thrill for me was giving a few vaccinations. On the left is NAGA, the fearless! Our little mascot is safe from polio. Here is Aliya, our special needs student, with his beautiful mommy.

An aside here: I have to say, this mommy is amazing. She warms up Aliya's water for his bath, using a bit of the precious little gas allotted to her through a ration card, just to make sure his wee-sized body doesn't get the chills.

But back to the vaccination day: During all this chaos, we may have found a partner for the eggs and milk plans. We just happened to run across a group who exclusively gathers volunteers to hand out cups of milk and eggs directly to children in slum communities. The group organizer is all excited to come to the school. It was a really, really good day.

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