Working Title.

After the rains: Pursuing polio to the ends of the Earth

The story.

A Seattle Rotarian commits more than a quarter of his life to Rotary’s heroic polio campaign, only to encounter difficult, unexpected obstacles at the very moment most people hoped the campaign might reach its goal. Prodded by a long-ago promise, he perseveres, journeying far from his family and his business to redouble the inoculation effort, confident he can help the campaign succeed at this, its most crucial hour.

Product.

A professional 20-minute video, suitable for worldwide download and/or DVD distribution, designed specifically for use as the central focus of local Rotary club meetings. A broadcast version can also be available for local public television.

Purpose.

To inspire Rotarians to remain engaged in—and contribute to—the polio eradication campaign by:

• introducing an accessible, compelling fellow Rotarian

• showcasing efforts in an exotic, remote locale

• tackling touchy issues and answering tough questions

“Without Teshome’s dedication, passion and discipline, a locally rooted push to eradicate polio in sub-Saharan Africa would not possess the sturdy legs that it does.” – Seattle Post-Intelligencer

An exceptionally compelling Rotarian.

Ezra Teshome, 56, raised a family and built a modest insurance agency in the heart of his diverse Seattle neighborhood. Self-effacing and articulate, Ezra will soon celebrate his 25th year as a Rotarian.

In October—after the rainy season—Ezra will travel to the furthest reaches of Ethiopia. In sometimes-dangerous settings, he will inoculate children with life-saving vaccine. Ezra’s journey will mark the 14th consecutive year he’s traveled to Africa on behalf of Rotary’s extraordinary effort to eradicate polio from the planet.

On every trip since 1996, Ezra has invited others to join him, including politicians, professionals, businesspeople, health care advocates and even celebrities like Beyoncé (2008). Many who make one trek sign up for more; most report that the journey changed their lives. Nearly all who accompany Ezra return home to help spread the word about—and raise funds for—Rotary’s PolioPlus program.

Ezra’s missions have earned praise, including recognition in 2005 by TIME magazine as one of ten Global Health Heroes.

Even so, Ezra—like all Rotarians—struggles to juggle commitments to family, to customers, to employees and to community. We all know the current recession is deep. Yet, his annual African treks are a powerful testament to his faith that the polio campaign, despite challenges and setbacks, will and must succeed.

An exotic, remote locale.

Ethiopia is home to one of the planet’s oldest and richest cultures, dating to the dawn of humanity. Anchored in the Horn of Africa, its 78 million residents make it the second most populous nation on the continent.

While its capital, Addis Ababa, is a modern African metropolis, most rural Ethiopians live in poverty. In many regions, clean water is scarce; 45% of rural children don’t get enough to eat.

When Rotary’s polio program launched in 1985, Ethiopia was one of 125 countries plagued by wild poliovirus, paralyzing more than 1000 children worldwide every day. Thanks to inoculation efforts funded in large part by Rotarians, Ethiopia was close to being declared polio-free in 2008.

“Eradicating a disease is hard, slow, painstaking work. We can’t circle a year on the calendar and say we’ll end polio by this date or that date. That sets us up for failure.” –Bill Gates

Touchy issues and tough questions.

Despite millions of dollars and billions of doses of polio vaccine, several hopeful deadlines for complete worldwide eradication have come and gone.

• On the one hand, only four nations—Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan—still experience regular endemic outbreaks, a remarkable reduction from 125 countries in 1985.

• On the other, polio can and does spread quickly when allowed to fester anywhere. Although monumental vaccination campaigns have reached hundreds of millions of children—even in areas of extreme poverty, instability or outright war— the long-awaited goal of total eradication has been stubbornly blocked by cultural, religious, political and economic barriers.

Notwithstanding those obstacles, and with the tireless dedication of Rotarians like Ezra, Ethiopia was poised in 2008 to join the list of polio-free nations. Sadly, it did not happen.

Ethiopia’s plight offers valuable insight to the magnitude of accomplishments and challenges. The country is ringed by instability: Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan (including Darfur.) Every year, nomads and refugees cross Ethiopian borders. Millions of devout Muslims (including many from Nigeria) pass on foot through Ethiopia during pilgrimages to and from Mecca.

As Ezra returns in 2009, the virus has reappeared in several border regions. Because only 1 in 200 people infected with polio become paralyzed, health experts consider even one case of paralytic polio as evidence of an epidemic. One paralysis can quickly lead to hundreds. The more cases of paralysis, the more incidents leading to death.

Most alarming: if polio can sneak in by foot in Equatorial Africa, it can infiltrate by jumbo jet anywhere in the world.

The news is discouraging. Some donors wonder whether all the noble efforts thus far might ultimately be in vain. Others have asked whether resources might instead be directed elsewhere, particularly toward other pernicious diseases.

But Ezra tackles those tough questions with optimism fueled by experience.

• He’s seen that money does make a difference. Ezra is confident the current $200 million Rotary International campaign—bolstered by matching pledges totaling $355 million from Seattle’s Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—is providing modern tools to reach the most remote regions and overcome the most difficult obstacles.

• He’s seen Rotary’s campaign jumpstart larger public health efforts. Polio inoculations pave the way for other vaccination drives, including a variety of childhood diseases. Clean water projects—some funded by Rotarians who traveled with Ezra—help slow the spread of other waterborne pathogens (even as those projects underscore the need for polio vaccinations, see below.) Homebuilding programs and sanitation programs have also followed in Rotary’s footsteps.

“The value of this eradication in terms of energizing the global health movement cannot be underestimated. Polio alone is an important goal, but there’s a lot of reasons to stay behind this thing.”—Bill Gates

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The sanitation conundrum.

Deadly diseases flourish where sewage runs free.

No surprise there. Nor is it surprising that afflictions like cholera, typhoid and dysentery are beaten back when we provide clean water and seal off waste.

Except, that is, when the disease is polio.

What’s going on?

In unsanitary environments, infants exposed to wild poliovirus during their first six months or so usually avoid paralysis or death. Thanks to protection provided by mother’s milk or even passed along while still in the womb, affected newborns commonly develop antibodies, providing lifelong immunity to paralytic polio.

When, however, first exposure to polio comes at a later age, the virus is much more likely to spread to the spinal cord and/or brain and cause paralysis or death. Cleaner environments might delay exposure indefinitely, but if polio somehow sneaks in, the results can be catastrophic.

The question is often asked, “Why polio? Why not fight other diseases instead?”

Well, the answer, quite simply, is this: Other diseases are being attacked by providing clean water, but that unavoidable strategy ensures that polio remains a looming threat. The only surefire protection from polio is universal vaccination.

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Program Structure.

Act 1: SEATTLE (4 minutes)

We meet Ezra: at home, at work, at Rotary receiving his 25-year pin. He introduces us to a polio survivor friend, who explains in dramatic fashion how polio—alone among major diseases—can paralyze an otherwise healthy person living in an otherwise healthy environment in literally a matter of hours.

Act 2: ETHIOPIA (12 minutes)

We travel with Ezra and his 2009 volunteers to Ethiopia, where we experience both the grandeur of an ancient culture and the grinding poverty of its urban slums and rural villages. As the rainy season drains away, public health officials launch their annual National Immunization Day (NID), sending volunteers to remote pockets of the Horn of Africa to offer oral polio vaccine to hundreds of thousands of children. Ezra’s team wears internationally-recognized Rotarian vests and caps as they connect with parents and inoculate their children. Later, Ezra sits down with local elders to learn about newly-constructed clean water projects—funded by Rotarians—and interacts with children who are no longer forced to spend hours lugging heavy water jugs each day. That said, Ezra confronts a difficult dilemma: as clean water drastically improves quality of life, it dramatically increases the need to continue the polio vaccination campaign. With trepidation, he waits to learn whether any new polio cases are reported in 2009.

Act 3: SEATTLE (2 minutes)

Ezra’s team returns home, where they gather to share lessons learned. The journey has had a profound impact on each of their lives, and has given them vivid understanding of the importance of Rotary’s campaign. At the conclusion, we learn whether Ethiopia has or has not had any new cases of polio for the season.

Epilogue: TESTIMONIALS (2 minutes)

We see and hear from a variety of Rotarians from around the United States, each of whom offers a brief testimonial about why the polio campaign is important to them, and why they have chosen to make a contribution to PolioPlus. This “ask” segment offers a segue to individual Rotary clubs wishing to end the weekly program by distributing donation forms and/or current information provided by Rotary International and the PolioPlus partners

The final push to get the caseload to zero is the most difficult and costly part of the job. Mr. Gates warned that failure would lead to a lessening of the intense global effort and “a return to the days of tens of thousands of cases per year.”

“That is no alternative at all,” he said. “We don’t let children die because it is fatiguing to save them.” –New York Times

Timing of this film.

The latest Gates Foundation challenge comes during difficult economic times. More than ever, Rotarians appreciate a frank and honest explanation about why and where their donations are going.

Ezra’s next trip to Ethiopia is in October 2009. The film will be ready for distribution in March or April 2010. We plan to have it available for the 2010 premiere of a polio display at Seattle's Museum of History and Industry.

The material will remain topical at least through 2012, the 25th Anniversary of Rotary’s Polio campaign.

Other films.

This is not the first video to deal with the issue of polio eradication. It is, however, the most up-to-date film aimed specifically at Rotarians, offered in a length and format to most effectively help raise funds to match the extraordinary Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grants. Previous notable films:

• The Final Inch is an Academy Award-nominated 38-minute film by Irene Taylor Brodsky, in collaboration with Google, to be broadcast in 2009 on HBO. The film focuses on polio eradication efforts in India and Afghanistan, and features local volunteers struggling to reach orphaned children and to overcome resistance in some communities to American-sponsored medicine.

• Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge was a major 2005 public television initiative. The six-hour series, co-produced by Vulcan with major funding from the Gates Foundation, spanned a wide range of important global health issues. The polio portion centered on volunteers facing resistance to the national immunization campaign in India.

• The Last Child: The Global Race to End Polio was a one-hour public television program produced by Scott Thigpen in 2004. Visiting India, Haiti and Nigeria, the program pointed out many of the difficulties of providing immunizations in developing regions.

• A Paralyzing Fear: The Story of Polio in America was an acclaimed two-hour 1998 PBS presentation. The program explored the long and complicated history of polio research and eradication in the United States.

“If we don’t eradicate polio, we lose all the investment we’ve made in the past; the disease will grow to large numbers again and children throughout the world will suffer.” –Bill Gates

Feb 2009: Proposal and Budget preparation

Mar 2009 - May 2009: Fundraising

Apr 2009 - May 2009: Preliminary Seattle production

Jun 2009: Project green light

Jun 2009 - Aug 2009: Preproduction (archives, animation); Seattle production

Sep 2009: Ethiopia preparation

Oct 2009: Ethiopia production

Nov 2009: Seattle post-trip production; Tape transfer & logging

Dec 2009: Script first draft

Jan 2010: Rough cut

Feb 2010: Final cut & postproduction

Mar 2010: Release

“Jack Hamann is one of the finest broadcast journalists based in Seattle.”— Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Hamann’s lively narrative and incisive commentary raise the standard for investigational writing.”— Library Journal

Jack Hamann proves that a true tale well told can be as gripping as fiction.”—James Bradley, author of FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS and FLYBOYS

Production team.

Jack Hamann is an acclaimed documentary producer and author. His productions for CNN, PBS and Seattle’s KING-TV have spanned the globe, including China, Russia, Brazil, Nepal, Peru, Japan, Northern Ireland, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada and most of the United States. His documentaries include in-depth examinations of international politics, the environment, science, health, history and sports. His work has earned ten regional Emmy Awards, plus medals at film festivals in New York, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco and Columbus.

Jack is the author of On American Soil, the powerful non-fiction account of 43 African-American soldiers accused of lynching an Italian prisoner of war. The book ‘s revelations convinced Congress and the US Army to exonerate 28 unjustly convicted defendants. In 2007, he was honored with the Horace Mann Award, given to individuals who “have won victories for humanity.”

Jack is a 1980 graduate of the University of Oregon School of Law and a member of the California Bar. He is a 1976 graduate of UCLA, with a degree in Economics.

complete bio

“Generation IX delivers a discerning, refreshing program that’s never too rah-rah in its appreciation of female athleticism nor too syrupy in showing us how young women behave ... a smart, finely tuned film, worth viewing by anyone who gives a hoot about young women, athlete or not.” –Seattle Times

Leslie Hamann is an award-winning producer and researcher. She was co-producer of Generation IX, a public television documentary exploring the emerging status of women athletes in American society. The program was a finalist for both an Emmy Award and for a Women’s Sports Foundation Billie Award.

Leslie was the primary researcher for On American Soil, and co-winner of the award for Best Book of the Year by Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), an international organization of journalists.

Leslie has a degree in Forestry from the University of Washington, and worked in silviculture for more than a decade for the U.S. Forest Service. She has a second degree, in Psychology from UCLA. Since 1997, Leslie has coached volleyball at Seattle’s Garfield high school, earning coach of the year honors.

Brett Hamann is an accomplished video editor, sound designer and videographer. His credits include the film Only a Kiss (video editor & audio engineer),the Book-It Theater production of My Ántonia (sound design), Lay of Lanval (videography and video editing), Tapestry Dance (video editing and sound design), and Wall to Wall Productions (production assistant.) He was awarded the Best Technical Effects for Editing prize at the 2008 Up Front Film Festival.

Brett studied Theater and Film at Western Washington University and Texas State University, and was a Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival national merit winner for sound design for the production of Dog Sees God.

Budget.

Summary budget included in PDF version of proposal.

Detailed budget available on request.

Additional resources.

Insurance broker dons cape of global health hero

By Robert L. Jamieson, Jr.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist

To many in Seattle, Ezra Teshome is just an insurance broker, an unassuming man whose Capitol Hill office is reached by climbing 17 wooden steps in a nondescript tan building.

To the rest of the world, Teshome is recognized as something else — a global health hero . [MORE ...]

All for ONE

By Patty Stonesifer and Sandy Stonesifer
for Slate Magazine

Should I give to charities that raise awareness, or only to charities that take direct action?

During the startup phase of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ... we assumed that advocacy wasn’t necessary because proven results would be just as effective. But we were dead wrong—and it didn’t take us long to learn that. [MORE ...]

The Science Behind Our Generosity: How psychology affects what we give charities.

By Peter Singer
for NEWSWEEK magazine

It may seem odd to talk about giving more now, when we all feel so tapped out and worried. But that's not a very good excuse. No matter how hard hit we are by the economic slowdown, we are still vastly better off than those who are so poor that they struggle to meet their basic needs. Yet, though it would take comparatively little effort on our part, few of us choose to help them. Why is that?

People are more willing to help a single individual than many. [MORE ...]