ROTARACT CLUB OF KAMPALA WEST Issue 3 2

Western Times we mean rotaract

August 2013

ROTARACT CLUB OF KAMPALA WEST | ©2013 IN THIS ISSUE

Greetings friends of Kampala West and Partners in Service, I am elated to bring you this second edition of the Western Times! The month of August has been so power packed thus far and yet there’s even more to come. Needless to say it is Membership month and we at Kampala West are living true to the cause having just inducted fresh blood and minds and yes, adding significantly to our club female populace! From Nakasongola to Jazzville to Nairobi to Nakuru, we have travelled far and wide in self-less service. Read on to see what we have been up to.

Finally and by no means least importantly we are gearing up for our annual Masulita project in October. We hope you will join us as we aspire to significantly change the lives of expectant mothers. I introduce to you our Community Service director who will be the project lead this year. Happy reading!

Proudly sponsored by the Rotary Club of Kampala West

Bright Onapito Public Relations Director and Chief Editor Rotaract Club of Kampala West

One on One with Yosam Manafa An interview with the community service director and Masulita project lead

Page 4

Sleepless in Nakuru Tales from one western club to another

Page 5

Editor’s Note

WESTERN TIMESWE MEAN ROTARACT | Issue3 2

To my Club members, fellow Rotaractors, friends, and Partners of the Rotaract Club of Kampala West, the Membership and Membership Extension Month is here, in the second edition of the Western Times we talk membership. In line with the August theme the club will induct four new Rotaractors in whom we place our faith for the future of Kampala west.

As we seek to make acquaintance, develop into professionals and leaders, serve our communities, work with Rotarians and eventually become Rotarians ourselves, we must not forget where the heart and engine of Rotary lays, its membership. I beg to borrow from the words of the speakers I have listened to in my short 45 day stint as a Club President.

“Give your members and guests value for their time through valuable acquaintance, only then shall we recruit and retain the right membership.” -PAG Peters Musoke

“Don’t worry so much about the quantity; let us focus on the quality besides, the

gentlemen who started Rotary were only four but not just four gentlemen, they were a league of extraordinary gentlemen of highest caliber of quality.” -ADRR Reagan Namanya

“Do not place blame for any shortcomings on a party other than you, for there are two kinds of members those who give excuses and those that give results, successful clubs will thrive on the latter. Finally we must be steadfast in our resolute quest of excellence for with the bullet excellence we can shoot through the thickest of steel that encloses a large portion of the human race in negative captivity. “-Coach Phil

So let us all go out there, do our part and bring in that quality membership that will spur Rotary on for centuries to come. Make it a point to invite someone to Rotary, like anything and everything rotary on Facebook and tweet to the world that we are proud to be members of this unique organization that has been here since 1905.

Enjoy the Western Times as we Engage Rotary and change lives.

Yours in service through membership

Emmanuel Wanyama President, Country Projects Coordinator 2013-2014

Rotaract Club of Kampala West

Gloria Karuru President, Rotaract Club of Westlands Nairobi,Kenya

______________________________________

Contributors:

Bright Onapito

Caroline Agaba

Emmanuel Wanyama

Ivan Kalungi

Timothy Bukenya

Rotaractor of the Month

And the winner is…

President’s

Remarks

WESTERN TIMESWE MEAN ROTARACT | Issue3 3

I have always been a believer in being more existent in the brain than in the physical, and yes I have ended up being called names for this by so many such as owa lugezigezi. More so to that, people forget that what makes a man is his stand for his likes and dislikes at all times. Just like Martin Luther King Junior said, the beginning of the end of our lives is when we cannot talk about the things that affect us. Today I took a race with my mind to the direction of the fact that I belong to a club and more so a voluntary service club. A lot transpired: What is a club? Why do we belong to these clubs? I settled for the former, and so quick to answer myself I said “membership”. I know you do have a lot to add to that but let’s keep that for next time. Membership starts from the first group of individuals that took up the initiative to start the club. This is entirely manifested through their goals, objectives and mentality as forces and pillars to build up the club. Through its membership accumulation as years goes by. Of course for the first time visitor they will look at it from the angle of needs and wants. Yes the club members may want members; those that will be certified members who will meet or may not meet their requirements and not take part in club activities as well and

will be members only because the club wants numbers. But on the other side a club will always need members that have the humility and discipline to respect the rights of others, attend club activities, those that will be welcome to the extension of the existence of the club and not just pose around as members of the club by living through the avenue of governance as a satisfaction to their egos as the longest serving members of the club. Much as elephants do not swerve flies, the existence of clubs must not survive on those members that do not add any value to these clubs. However the ball still plays in your courts for you to decide. I remain yours truly.

President Elect, Membership Director,

Rotaract Club of Kampala West

Youth….what exactly is youth? This is a question I have come to ponder over as the years pass.

My Marriam-Webster app defines youth as: the time of life when one is young especially the period between childhood and maturity.

This morning as I peruse through the Tuesday papers, I come across practice questions for students preparing for the Primary Leaving Exams. I read through them with nostalgia and think, “Oh wow, I can actually answer all these math questions!” Yes I am showing off right now. Hehe.

I smile as I read through the Social Studies questions too and I can’t help but think to myself, “Oh how far we’ve come!!” And the questions are still the same as they were all those 10 plus more years ago while I was in primary school…when I was still ‘young’.

So many years have gone by… I’m I still young? Should I still consider myself a youth?

Just the other week the Catholic Church celebrated world youth day and I can’t help but wonder how relevant this day is. The day passed many Ugandans by...Should it mean something to us?

One of the goals of Rotaract is to motivate young people for eventual membership in rotary. And there it is again…’young’. Since the age limit for being in a Rotaract club is 30 I guess Rotary looks at people below 30 as youth. And this I’m sure is a comfort to many us: that we can still be looked at as youth when a decade or more has passed since we hit puberty.

Having pondered on all this my belief is that youth cannot be boxed into biology or years. They say we are only as old as we feel, or even better we are only as young as we feel. Life has a way of making us age. The wear and tear of bad experiences, the way they drain our souls, make us less trusting and open to new people, new possibilities. Our hearts harden and close up, we smile less, we expect less from life, and generally we become bakoowu, like the popular song goes!

We are only as young as we feel…choose to let go, choose to smile more, choose to let the simple things mean much more once again. Like when we were kids and playing in the rain was everything.

So as my years keep adding on, I’ll choose to feel young and stay young.

International Serivce Director Rotaract Club of Kampala West

Ivan Tells Tales By Ivan Kalungi

Random Thoughts on World Youth Day By Caroline Agaba

WESTERN TIMESWE MEAN ROTARACT | Issue3 4

Yosam comes off as calm and collect, and yet very charming, charismatic and inspiring. He currently is the Director, Community Service at Kampala West. He has done online forex trading before, and confesses having lost more money that he earned, despite being able to recover all he put in and much more. Currently Yosam works at Watoto as a Project Manager. He sat down with our correspondent for a chat.

“I really want to be a part of change in Masulita. I want to,” are the last words Yosam says as he gets into his monstrous double cabin, headed to his home at Rodeo Drive in Mperwerwe. Quite an inspiring session it had been for me personally, when we I sat down with him at Café Pap for an interview in preparation for this piece.

“I was born in Kololo flats, before my family moved to Naguru,” He starts when asked about his early life, “So yes, I am city born.

“My dad is a Muslim and my mother, a Christian, who might have converted to Islam at some point because of my dad.”

Yosam speaks quite simply and softly, but yet almost every word he says is very inspiring. His comes off as a very organized, straight forward and principled person. He’s a go getter; someone not willing to be brought down by situations around him, but rather someone willing to take challenges on as they come.

“My family was poor. I was brought up by a single mother. When I was switched to Nakasero Primary School in my P.6, seeing all these rich parents come to pick their children in cool cars while I had to take the shuttle would make me feel bad.”

He went to Namasagali College for high school, thereafter enrolling for a diploma in

IT at Techno Brain, having not passed well enough to make it to University.

Yosam during the last Masulita project

IT at Techno Brain, having not passed well enough to make it to University.

“During my vacation, I volunteered to work at Watoto. I continued to volunteer even after I joined Techno Brain. So one time I read Ben Carson’s “Think Big” and that’s when I realized that I was bright and could do better than what I was doing.”

He says he went back to his mother and told her he wanted to redo his A Levels, and she accepted, enrolling at Ntinda View College, doing HEG/D as a subject combination.

“I aced those chaps, never scoring below 20 points the entire two years there and always being amongst the top two in class,” He says.

Well this paid off and he was able to pass and go to Makerere University for a Bachelor’s Degree in economics, albeit on private sponsorship. But that in itself was a big challenge to Yosam.

“My mom has stopped working and so tuition was stiff. Secondly, I had siblings who also need school fees. So I went to my superior at Watoto and told them I needed to be paid, in order to rise up to the challenge, and they gave me a paying Job.”

But that was not all; Yosam says he registered a dead year, in order to accumulate his tuition while contributing to his siblings fees. And besides that, he thought economics was too heavy on him,

and so requested the university to switch him to a lighter course, ending up at MUBS, doing Human Resource Management.

“And yes, I had to start afresh from first year, since my credits in economics could not be converted.”

I am inspired by Yosam. I think this is an evening well spent, listening to someone who has been faced with a lot of challenges, but maximizing them each time to create opportunities for himself. He says he joined Rotaract because he saw an opportunity to serve community.

“I had been invited a couple of times but had never really taken it up. But when we went to Masulita and built a fence and I saw a group of young people coming together to address the needs of community, I was inspired to be part of this.”

“As community service director, I plan that we shall go back end of October to Masulita, to install a water tank at the health center.

I see Masulita as a community wholly transformed, where I can go back after say 10 years, when I’m rich, and tell my children that I was part of this.”

Currently working as project manager at Watoto Church, Yosam says he brings on board project management experience, which he says is putting together various components of a project to move it as a unit.

Yosam is born again, and says the greatest gift his mother could have given him is introducing him to Christ at a tender age. He’s in a serious stable relationship that he hopes shall lead to marriage sometime next year. He’s also doing a Master’s Degree in Business University from Edinburgh University, and a project management professional certification.

“I am very happy to be part of Kampala West, and happy that we are being part of the change in women’s lives. I cannot imagine someone going to labor carrying a 20 liter Jerry can of water like women do in Masulita. I am happy we can stop that and we are doing just that.”

He says that he fully understands the plight of women and how hard working they are,

I Joined Rotaract Because of Masulita

By Our Correspondent

WESTERN TIMESWE MEAN ROTARACT | Issue3 5

having related with over 2,000 vulnerable women Watoto serves.

Even as we part, after our meal and conversation, my day has been very challenging, and deep within me I know tomorrow shall be even more challenging. But I’m very inspired to take on the challenges, and face them as they come.

“If Yosam could come out against all odds, I can too,” I say to myself, as I doze off listening to a recording of the interview we just had. I’m inspired, very inspired.

This month of August I was honored to serve internationally on behalf Kampala West where I represented the club at the installation of then P.E President Gloria Karuru of our twin club, the Rotaract Club of Westlands in Nairobi, Kenya. Yes, that’s how cool Kampala West is, as you can see we even get to go to outside countries-fully sponsored! The big day was slated for August 3

rd so I packed my bags and set off for

what would be an exhilarating ordeal.

The Journey

I have been to Kenyatta land on countless occasions but never by road. This was definitely going to be a pen-worthy experience; enduring twelve-hours of road as opposed to my usual fifty-five minutes of glory. Time check: 6:00PM. I took my seat on the bus next to driver, a perfect place to capture every moment of the journey but mostly to splash some of the water I had packed on the driver’s face just in case he dare dozed off. A good book to read and my iPod was just what I needed to make the journey more relaxing. Save for a reckless chap who left his Subaru parked in the middle of the road in Kisumu (effectively causing our bus to veer off into a ditch), it was a smooth journey.

10 Degrees Celsius

I was told by my Social Studies teacher that Kabaale was the coldest place in Africa; clearly I need to go back for school fees balance after encountering Nakuru. I should have consulted the rain maker in Bwaise before making this trip because Nakuru was unbearably cold for Africa where the sun scotches mercilessly. At least I was warmly welcomed by my host, IPP Michael Bullut. He introduced me to the rest of the crew at Westlands and sooner than later I forgot about the cold courtesy of my new-found warm friends.

Nyama Choma: Kenyan Style

After a warm welcoming stop-over in Nairobi, I and my crew set off for Nakuru. We were determined to have an epic adventure. We were not going to wait for installation night and so we began our path of destruction onset. We pitched camp at a famous road side nyama choma (roast goat) rendezvous and you can be very certain of one fact: that even the karolis accompanying us had nothing left over of that goat thigh.

Bush Installation at 1:00AM

A deep contrast from the Rotaract installations in Kampala where everyone is both barely breathing in neckties, tuxedos, body hugging dresses and dining away at exotic hotels, at Westlands I was treated to a bush installation far, far away behind the Menengai crater at the Rhino Ventures campsite. Here I met everyone else: Rotaractors from different clubs who had

come to chew life to the full. Forget glamour, it was a free-style, free-spirit occasion with lots of food, drink, dancing, karaoke, more drink and more dancing! A bon fire ensured that we didn’t freeze in the ten below Celsius night.

After having too much fun we nearly forgot the main agenda of the night. Time check: 1:00AM. Rotaractor Oscar presided over the ceremony and ensured that Michael Bullut handed over the presidential regalia to now President Gloria Karuru. I honestly can’t say if any of the three persons just mentioned was in a sober state when the transfer of power happened. For purposes of international diplomatic relations and security, I will not reveal any more details because I swore to keep the ‘missing footage’ safe considering that I was (probably the only) sober (person). Ooops, enough said!

Even Good Things End

If the DJ hadn’t run off in tricks, we probably wouldn’t have taken a break. Time check: 6:00AM. A power nap and cold shower were much needed. By this time, everyone was thoroughly spent and only woke up later for late breakfast/lunch.

Time check: 7:00PM. Up to this time I had hardly slept. After such an epic weekend it was time for me to head back to Kampala. I took my seat my on the bus, this time next to a gorgeous Kikuyu girl with a charming smile. Let’s keep the details of the return journey for later shall we?

Sleepless in Nakuru By Bright Onapito

WESTERN TIMESWE MEAN ROTARACT | Issue3 6

Westlands Installation

Kampala West Induction

WESTERN TIMESWE MEAN ROTARACT | Issue3 7

Hand washing Fundraiser at Jazzvillve: Highlights

>The Affaire De Citron was held on August 3

rd.

>Hon. Mike Sebalu (chief guest) donated US$ 200 to the campaign and launched it.

>Lively performances from Suzan Kerunen, Fusion Illusion and the Lantern Meet of Poets.

>Event sponsors: Air Uganda, Jazzville and Fine Media Ltd.

Pictorial

We would love to hear from you

Email: rotaractkampalawest@gmail.com

#KlaWest

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