Saturday 20 February 2016

Pre-Nid Activities - the Rally

It seems to be standard practice that on the day before a National Immunisation Day, a Rally is held to raise awareness of what is to happen on the following day. Participating in a rally requires us to be dressed in our yellow uniforms,

The Team

yellow being the accepted colour for Polio workers. 

Local Temple

Then it is off to the local Sikh Temple for a blessing before we start on the rally.

Pat Head Covered

Shoes off and heads covered,

Inside the temple

we can go inside. 

Chanting from Guru Granth Sahib

As is always the case, a priest is chanting from the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh's holy book.

Procession Forming Up

Having been blessed, we join the procession which has already formed up on a nearby road.

Rally Music Player

The procession is led by a loudspeaker - a very loud loudspeaker from which music plays together with various phrases advertising Polio Immunisation tomorrow. Click on the arrow

to hear a sample of the music played. You may not want to listen to it all !

Most of the pupils in the rally are nursing students.

Pupils in Procession

Many of them proudly hold posters with pithy phrases on them such as

Rally posterRally Poster 001

Rally Poster 002

One has to remember that most of the people who need to know that there is a National Immunisation Day tomorrow cannot read and certainly cannot read english. Never-the-less, many people see and hear the rally and do learn that it is happening tomorrow. 

Start of Rally

Having assembled, we set off

Bemusement

to a certain amount of bemusement from some locals.

Bemusement 001

Our destination is some of the slums near this area of town and one of the local primary schools. 

Old Town

The housing around us starts to decline in quality and we move from proper street surfaces to puddles

Puddles

and there is no easy route past them.

Bullock

Having passed a bullock tied up in the street,

Alleyway

we head up an alleyway into the areas of real poverty.

Alleyway 001

where there is more mud than anything else.

Alleyway HutRally Slums 1

Some of the houses are little more than barely furnished shacks.

Rally Slums 2

Many people are simply carrying out their day-to-day lives and just regard us as a curiosity.

Rally Slums 3

Rotary Polio Flags are very popular with children.

Polio Banner

There are not as many polio banners around this year as we have seen in the past. In fact, we are coming to the opinion that less effort is being put into NIDs now than in the past.

Primary School Entrance

We finish the rally in a local primary school

Primary School

which in the typically indian way, is very tidy and organised. Compared to UK schools it is very bare but it seems to do what is required here.

School Motto

Indian Schools are very fond of pithy phrases as mottoes for life

Hello Pat

and it seemed that every pupil wanted to say hello to and shake hands with Pat.

School Photo

or have their photo taken.

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