DAYS OF TIMES PAST: RESURGENCE OF POLIO IN AFRICA

DAYS OF TIMES PAST: RESURGENCE OF POLIO IN AFRICA

            Visual memories left in a child’s mind as a kaleidoscope of images: spinning, exhilarating, fascinating and sometimes frightening, suppressed by the day-to-day realities of existence. As we grow older, often wonder is replaced by fear. Like Rorschach’s test – dark; jumbled shapes leaving adults stupefied by what they cannot understand.

            For me, the kaleidoscope stopped spinning today. Images I’d stowed away in the catacombs of my mind, jumped out and grabbed my attention. A robust, intelligent man and loving father walking with crutches, struggling up hills—the headmaster of a school who befriended our family. A woman of the arts, a fundraiser for a regional philharmonic and a magnet for a wide variety of artists who left lasting impressions on many, including her son who became a movie character actor. How she would climb steps with her companions: metal braces on her legs and arm-supported crutches without noticeable effort. And, another woman, who with her retired army general husband, had raised children including a joyful daughter with Down’s syndrome. The family hosted an annual square dance, laughing and watching with delight as others circled the room in their formations, where I’d glimpse a melancholy moment intuiting her desire to join us, but she had been grounded—by polio.

            Being young, I’d ask my parents why these people had been crippled—acceptable usage then—and my mother or father would explain the horror that was polio. How so many, thousands were struck down, though only a fraction of those infected display severe symptoms when they are debilitated by the infectious disease. And the once-used iron lung for those who couldn’t breathe on their own.

            By the time I reached middle age, I innocently believed Poliomyelitis, from which the word polio derived, or infantile paralysis, had been mainly eradicated. Then I read a recent story in National Geographic Daily News (November 1, 2013, article by Diane Cole) citing many African

countries, such as Nigeria and Syria having escalating cases. What shocked me was a picture of  Syria's children lying in a row on the ground, not dead, but incapable of moving their limbs because of polio. How can this be? Recent hostilities—the war between al-Hassad’s government troops and the rebels had already taken a terrible toll of innocent civilian casualties. According to WHO, of the 500 hospitals, only 40 are still functional in Syria. So, once again, children suffer as “collateral damage” in ways we Westerners and other nations can barely imagine. 
     That image, Syrian children lying in the dust, their faces in shock and without hope from a disease that could easily be eradicated will continue to haunt me. And my kaleidoscope will stay fixed on those whom I’ve seen fight the daily battle from the aftermath of polio and those who now suffer, without hope.

 For more information on how to help polio victims in Syria and across the Globe, please go to the following link, via WHO or the World Health Organization: http://www.polioeradication.org/