Our movie from our Freedom Wings flying day, held 24th August 2010 with guests from Young Inclusive Club, part of the Community Cultural Partnership work.
The Douglas Bader Foundation is a charity organisation, formed in honour of Sir Douglas Bader in 1982 by family and friends, many of whom had flown side by side with Douglas during World War 2. Douglas was honoured in 1976 with a Knighthood for his contribution and work on behalf of the disabled. The mission of the foundation is to continue Douglas’ work in conjunction with and on behalf of individuals with a disability.
FITA spoke to David Bickers, the Chairman of the organisation about Douglas and the work of the foundation.
During my pilot training days, I felt alive and felt a sense of freedom, of being liberated. I started to have new dreams and visualise my future where I wanted to help change peoples lives, if not try and change the world. After reading about Freedom in the Air, Vivian Fiore from Rotary International’s office in Chicago found me and gave me the leadership that I was looking for in polio eradication. Using my skills, contacts and drive instilled from the music industry, I volunteered to support Rotary International’s campaign to eradicate Polio from India.
I was invited to go to India and take part in a National Immunization Day with Rotarians. This was going to be very special for me. Before leaving for India, I did as much research as possible as to what I should expect. For 20 years so many people have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to develop the immunization campaign. I would spend the time I had in India in Moradabad. This was where I took part in the eradication programme in Moradabad in Utter Pradesh, both on the static booth day and the house-to-house day. The following film captures my first experience in the world largest public health campaign.
I met with UNICEF, WHO, and the local government. It was completely overwhelming to understand the amazing work of the partner organizations. UNICEF who Continue reading ‘Thanks for Life : World largest Public health campaign’
Shri Kanti Ganguly, Minister in Charge Department of Sundarban Affairs, Sports and Youth Services Government of West Bengal has set up Prantibhandi Village. It is a small village of education facilities, nursing training, a garment factory – all to support and help young people and their families who have a wide range of disabilities. I was very proud to have been invited to speak at a rally to 15,000 people on 3rd December, the UN day to promote rights for people with disabilities. The event was organised by Shri Kanti Ganguly. It was one of the very few NGO’s in Kolkata that is run mostly by people who have disabilities.
The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation’s oldest and largest public affairs forum, bringing together its more than 18,000 members for over 400 annual events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy.
A very interesting interview with Captain Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger
We are very proud of our Patron, Suzi Duncan
Australian Queen’s Birthday Honours recipient Suzi said that revelation 19 years ago prompted her to want to share the experience with others.
She received this great honour for service to people with a disability, particularly through the Wheelies with Wings
program,and to the community. In 2003 she achieved her dream and founded Wheelies with Wings which has now helped 48 people with disabilities learn to fly in Australia.
In the Australian honours system appointments to the Order of Australia confer recognition for outstanding achievement and service. The Medal of the Order of Australia is awarded for service worthy of particular recognition. Recipients of the Order of Australia are from many fields of endeavour and all walks of life.
read the full article about her award in The Herald, Australia
The global fight to rid the world of polio, the largest public health programme in history, is said to be in its final stages.
Is eradication possible? Is it worth the enormous cost?
Newshour on the BBC World Service brought together public health experts with very different opinions to debate the issue.
Dr Bruce Aylward is director of the polio eradication programme of the World Health Organisation and Dr D.A. Henderson of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center led the WHO’s successful effort to eradicate smallpox.
Newshour also heard from Nigeria, one of the countries where the polio virus still thrives and from Gautam Lewis, a British pilot and a polio campaigner who suffered from polio as a young child in India. Gautam has spent the last few years assisting Rotary International in their vision for a polio free world.
Listen to the debate, courtesy of the BBC (25 mins 29 secs) / first broadcast 21 February 2009 ( we have added a slideshow to go along with the radio debate)
Freedom in the Air Ambassador Tess Burrows has become the first Grandmother in the World to complete and finish the Amundsen Omega 3 race to the south pole.
They arrived on Friday 23rd January 2009, in the afternoon to a ‘warm’ welcome.
The Peace Message Ceremony was held at 9pm GMT on Monday 26th January. Thank you for tuning in wherever you were. You helped make the peace message process as powerful as possible. (You can tune in at 9pm GMT on any of the next few days with your thoughts for peace and harmony for the Earth.)
You can visit their website by clicking here. Tess made a tape the day they arrived at the South Pole, listen below.
Part 1
Part 2
PASSPORT FROM POLIO has been scheduled to TX on Al Jazeera English on February 3rd 2009
With the global repeat pattern, actual times in GMT are:
TUE 03 Feb 10:00, 19:00; WED 04 Feb 06:00, 14:00; THU 05 Feb 03:00
23 years ago British Music manager, photographer, pilot and polio survivor Gautam Lewis was adopted by a young dual national ( British / Irish ) volunteer worker from Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Kolkata and brought back to an affluent life in London.
‘Passport From Polio’ tells his extraordinary story and follows his emotional journey back to Kolkata to take part in India’s epic polio immunisation campaign and find out what his life would’ve been like had he stayed.
“Part of me thinks it’s brilliant that I had polio because the rest of my life wouldn’t have happened.”
Still dependent on crutches from his own battle with polio, Gautam Lewis is now an ambassador on behalf of Rotary International for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The battle to wipe polio from the face of the earth is the largest public health initiative the world has ever seen. If it fails, more than 10 million children will be paralyzed in the next 40 years.
Polio is a devastating disease that still exists in some parts of the world, despite an unprecedented global health campaign to get rid of it.
Children are particularly at risk and Indian-born Gautam Lewis was just one among many millions to contract the virus. Raised by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity orphanage in Kolkata, his life might have remained one of grinding poverty – had he not been adopted at the age of seven and taken to live in privilege and comfort in Britain.
Twenty three years on, Gautam leaves his London home and returns to the country of his birth.
( if the more button below is not working, please click on the post title left of the video )
Continue reading ‘Passport from Polio; Al Jazeera English; Witness with Rageh Omaar’
Freedom in the Airs’ Ambassador Tess Burrows will be taking part in the Amundsen Omega 3 South Pole Race at the end of 2008 to make a difference to the plight of our planet.
Her team is raising money for charitable organisations linked to the environment, education and medical support.
Team Southern Lights members will be the oldest competitors in this phenomenal event.
The team comprises Tess Burrows, aged 60 and Peter Hammond, aged 62. They have raised over £100,000 for charity in 8 years and would like to double that with this event. In addition, they will carry thousands of personal pledges for the environment and messages of peace, sent in from around the world, many from school children.
The South Pole Race (www.thesouthpolerace.com) is a race to the Geographic South Pole in Antarctica, across the world’s largest ice cap. It will commence on the 1st January 2009 and will run until 31st January 2009. The team leaves the U.K. on the 15th December and will spend the time prior to the new year doing further training, etc.
The South Pole Race, to the far end of the earth, will be the first race to the South Pole since Scott and Amundsen’s historic race nearly 100 years ago (Roald Amundsen arrived in December 1911, Robert Scott on January 17th 1912). Teams of 3 race on cross-country skis, pulling pulks containing all of their equipment, food and fuel over 426 miles.
The race has been described as the most extreme endurance race in the world.
“His Holiness directs me to send you His prayers and good wishes for your venture to the South Pole in late 2008.”
Secretary to H.H. THE DALAI LAMA
“This is a truly inspiring initiative, enabling many people to make a real difference to our environment. I’ve been a keen supporter of this work for many years, and I urge everyone to get involved.”
JONATHON PORRITT C.B.E.
“May this journey to the South Pole help highlight the pressures which are stretching to the limit the beautiful Antarctic environment, and that of the whole Earth. We have all unwittingly contributed to the problem. Maybe now each one of us should contribute to the solution for the harmony of our planet.”
SIR RANULPH FIENNES O.B.E.
The fight against polio is told through the photographs of London polio survivor and advocate Gautam Lewis, who recently returned to his birthplace of Kolkata, India, to immunize children against the disease and document his experience. The massive global undertaking of polio eradication led by Rotary and its partners is further illustrated by the images of photographer Jean-Marc Giboux, who has documented the battle against polio in its remaining strongholds of Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan throughout the past decade.
Polio is a highly infectious disease that mostly affects children under the age of five. It invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. There is no cure for polio — it can only be revented through immunization. The polio vaccine can protect a child for life.
Rotary and its spearheading partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative — the World Heath Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — have vowed to end the crippling disease forever and, with your help and support, would like to make both the launch evening and the photographic exhibition into stepping stones along that road.
The photographic exhibition is free and open to the public every day from Tuesday, 14 October, until Saturday, 18 October 2008.
Opening times: Tuesday-Friday, 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.; Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Menier Chocolate Factory, Ground Floor Gallery, 53 Southwark Street, London SE1 1RU
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