Grey Bruce Boomers Fall 2021

THE BUCKET LIST
by Doug Archer
students aged 16 to 18 the opportunity to live and go to
school in countries around the world.
The couple hosted three students at different times, each
of them staying for about a year.
“Hailing from Taiwan, the Czech Republic, and
Indonesia, the exchanges were a chance for these young
ambassadors to gain exposure to our Canadian culture,
and to share their unique cultures with students at our
local high school,” Tony said. “But Sylvia and I gained
as much from the experience as the students. Spending
time with these wonderful young people and learning
about their families and countries and religions was an
eye-opening experience. We are both better and more
enriched because of it.”
They have stayed in touch with each of their exchange
students too.
“Our Indonesian student even invited us to her wedding,”
Tony said, “but because of COVID we had to settle for
seeing her wedding pictures online.”
Then there was the couple’s trip to India to help bring an
end to polio.
A debilitating disease that infects the spinal cord – causing
paralysis and potentially death – polio was once rampant
across the globe. As recently as the 1970s and ’80s, it was
prevalent in 125 countries and affected 350,000 people a
year – mostly children under the age of five. That’s when
Rotary International got involved.
A founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication
Initiative, Rotary members have contributed more than
$2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect
nearly three billion children worldwide. Described as
the finest humanitarian project by a non-governmental
organization the world has ever seen, the effort to wipe
out this disease is close to being won. Polio now remains
endemic in only two countries, and the number of cases
each year has been reduced to less than 100, instead of
hundreds of thousands.
“Being part of a vaccine team in India was one of the
most rewarding experiences of our lives,” Tony said.
“Knowing that we were protecting these children from
this terrible disease… seeing the look of gratitude in the
eyes of their parents… it was very emotional.”
With a smile he added, “And with her blonde hair, Sylvia
was treated like some kind of movie star. After they
received their vaccines, all the kids wanted to have their
picture taken with her!”
20 • GREYBRUCEBOOMERS.COM