THE Tower of Refuge will turn purple this weekend as part of a Rotary Club campaign to highlight the eradication of polio.
Purple light will bathe the tower on Saturday night, organised by Douglas Rotary Club as part of a series of fund-raising events on the Island during the coming week.
It is part of Rotary International's Thanks For Life campaign with the colour purple chosen because medical teams stain children's little fingers with a purple dye to show they have been immunised.
The campaign is the final push in the club's campaign to remove polio from the four countries where it is prevalent. Howard Callow, chairman of club service at the Rotary Club of Douglas, said the government’s Department of Infrastructure had made it possible to see the Tower of Refuge turning purple. “It will be quite a sight,” he said.
At the same time Rotary clubs around the world will be carrying out similar projects by lighting up buildings in the colour purple to bring worldwide attention to the polio problem. New York’s Stock Exchange, Rome’s Trevi Fountain and India’s Charminar monument in Hyderabad will all be lit up in purple as part of this week’s campaign.
Using coloured lights as part of a publicity campaign is not new. Famous buildings which have been used in the past include the Houses of Parliament in London, Sydney Opera House, the Egyptian pyramids, Table Mountain in South Africa and the San Francisco ferry building.
Over the last 20 years, polio cases have been cut by 99%, and the condition is close to being eradicated. Rotary International has been campaigning for 20 years to eradicate polio and say they are “on the brink” of success. “However, a strong push is needed now to root it out once and for all. It is a window of opportunity of historic proportions.”
Rotary is planning to raise $200 million to match the $355 million donated by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with all the money going to directly support an immunisation programme in developing countries such as Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan where the disease is still endemic.
Polio paralyses children and compounds the hardship facing their families. It is present in more than 12 countries around the world.
Bill Gates said, “If we all have the fortitude to see this effort through to the end then we will eradicate polio.”
• Other sites scheduled for illumination the week of 23 February include the KPT Government Building in Karachi, Pakistan; Kanazawa Castle, in Kanazawa, Japan; Taipei 101 Building, in Taiwan; the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy; Fort San Cristobel in San Juan, Puerto Rico; the New York Stock Exchange Building in New York City, USA; Byblos Castle in Byblos, Lebanon; and the Dutch Parliament Building in The Hague, The Netherlands.
In addition to the landmark light displays, the general public can join global celebrities online including Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu, violinist Itzhak Perlman, Queen Noor of Jordan, actor Jackie Chan, Grammy Award-winning singers Angelique Kidjo and Ziggy Marley, golfer Jack Nicklaus, and environmentalist Dr. Jane Goodall as part of Rotary’s "This Close" advertising campaign at thisclose.net.
photos: Bill Dale www.isleofmanphotos.com
