Polio Eradication is Rotary’s number one Global Project. Every Rotarian knows this on the first day they come into Rotary. It is on record that Rotary first conceived the idea of eradicating poliomyelitis from the world and raised the initial seed funding for the establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. However, it is not every day that one has the opportunity to meet a Rotarian like Peju Agunbiade. Her passion and dedication to polio eradication is exemplary so PolioStop thought it would be interesting to meet her and find out what motivates her in the hope that she might inspire the same drive in others.
Her responses to our questions are summarized below. We hope you will find it interesting.
I am Olapeju Agunbiade. I am a trained nurse, fertility and midwifery consultant. I am based in UK but I started shuttling UK/Nigeria since 2017 when I inherited and started managing a maternity center at Oke –Ado in Ibadan which my mother established in 1976. Service is my lifestyle. It is my second nature.
In spite of this and the fact that I have always had friends and family member who belong to Rotary, I never really considered joining Rotary until one day in 2019 when I met a Rotarian who persuaded me and insisted that I had to join Rotary and I agreed. That was how I became a member of Rotary Club of Ibadan- Elebu Metro in Rotary International’s District 9125. Even then I wasn’t a spectacular member, mainly because I shuttled between Nigeria and the UK. That was until I decided to attend the District 9125 Conference in Abuja in May 2022. I learnt so much about Rotary and made so many friends in Abuja. I invested so much time online trying to learn as much as I could about Rotary. Rotary is not a child’s play. You must be genuinely passionate about helping the less privileged in all the ways you can.
The MyRotary website became my companion. I started learning so much about Rotary online. And there is no way that you’ll log into MyRotary that you won’t spot END POLIO. I read so much online about how Rotary is committed and passionate about it and other areas of focus including Maternal and Child Health. I made up my mind to do everything within my power to contribute to the effort to eradicate polio.
Fortunately, the World Polio Day 2022 came along and this was an opportunity to help project and promote Polio Eradication within my community in Ibadan. I was planning to just wear my End Polio branded Tee shirt and Cap and join other Rotarians in the celebrations but the problems was I had no cap! That was when the idea to paint my head came to me. I thought to myself, “kids paint their faces during celebrations, why can’t I paint my head?” I began to make phone calls for
people to connect me with face painters in Ibadan. Two artists turned up on that Monday morning but neither of them had ever painted bald head before. One of them was however enthusiastic about it and willing to try so I showed him the End Polio Now Image from the Rotary Brand Center and the rest is now history! I also printed End Polio Now on the pair of earring that I made and on that day as
World Polio Day 2022 was fun. I took more pictures than I did on my wedding day. I became a spectacle and even my fellow Rotarians looked at my head in awe! It was an awesome experience. The pictures went viral which was interesting since this was a last minute idea. I went to bed that day with so much passion and determination to End Polio Now.
This passion has now become another “baby” of mine and I intend to give it my best. I am not waiting for anyone to encourage me. I am going to encourage myself and give it my best shot. I have made two End Polio Now boxes. One of them is always in my car. I intend to use these to raise funds for Rotary Foundation’s Polio Fund at every opportunity that I
have. I am also actively connecting with opportunities offered by Rotary NNPPC to learn more and do more about polio eradication. We have to do more than just talk, we also have to walk the talk. Vive La Rotary!