“Why I choose to join a Rotary club”
October 31
Wrong impressions were swept away when Badru Walusansa, 25, a Commonwealth Correspondent from Kampala in Uganda, made a guest visit to a Rotary Club visit. He discovered that Rotary embodies four important aspects for building a better society.
Arguably the work done by Rotary Clubs seems not to be tracked as developmental, yet it’s critical if we’re at all to improve human development.
While I was growing up, I erroneously believed Rotary Clubs were a preserve of the rich, well-to-do and privileged. Conversely, as I recently discovered, Rotary Clubs are constituted of those with philanthropist hearts, extrovert minds and highly-spirited-selfless being. Much as many of my friends are Rotarians and had always inspired me to join them, my reservations about Rotary Clubs, as I noted earlier, kept surfacing and hence detouring my efforts.
About a month ago, despite my reservations, I paid a courtesy visit to the Kampala Metropolitan Rotary Club. It was a fellowship during which my friend Becky was presenting a paper on Sustainable Development Goals to fellow Rotarians. It’s from that fellowship that I garnered that there is a lot more than meets the eye about the motive behind Rotary Clubs.
To begin with, Rotary Clubs are society-unification-mechanisms. As individuals, we often possess divergent views on socio-economic, religious and political perspectives. However, membership composition of Rotary clubs is based on the spirit of equal participation for all, both male and female. During fellowship, I witnessed equal participation of all members, and each Rotarian treated each other with due respect, hence providing lee way for consensus building and perhaps unity. The unifying culture of Rotary Clubs actualises an African adage that goes, “If you want to move fast, go alone BUT if you want to move far, go together.
I learned that Rotary Clubs are humanitarian tools. The snail speed of public institutions to respond to shocks or crises in communities has been cushioned by Rotary Clubs. There’s increasing momentum of Rotary Clubs’ intervention, especially during emergencies. In the recent past, Rotary Clubs have acted as spring boards for charting “problem-solution” matrices through identifying where there are problems and thereafter offering sustainable solutions. Notwithstanding, Rotary Clubs’ contribution to communities through organizing fundraising drives, ranging from fighting fistula and cancer to providing safe clean water, among others.
Convincingly, there is a nexus between the activities performed by Rotary Clubs and promotion of human development. I also realised that in advancing the humanitarian approach by Rotarians, they do it with a lot of willingness, passion and service beyond self, which is their primary motto.
I noticed something intriguing about Rotary Clubs – that they are leadership incubators. They have a fully fledged leadership structure that’s almost similar to that of public institutions. The committee constitutes of the president or chairman who presides over sittings. On the same note, the publicist secretary controls both internal and external communications and the treasurer manages all financial systems of the club. More still, the business of Rotary Clubs is informed by a Charter and existing International Rotary standards for prudence purposes. Where else do we find coached leaders or managers than in Rotary Clubs?
Rotary Clubs are networking hubs. Since no man is an island, social networking is pertinent in the competitive world where we live. It is in Rotary Clubs that we find many professionals, to include among others lawyers, engineers, academicians, social scientists and business personnel. Each professional comes with ample knowledge worth tapping into. Rotary Clubs therefore present fertile grounds for synergising because of shared opportunities.
After learning all the above about Rotary Clubs, I have resolved to join one. I have also influenced many of my friends to do so. Besides identifying me as a Rotarian, a few months from now, I pledge to assist Rotary Clubs within my vicinity to design a practical development model that feeds into national, regional and global development models.
Photo credit: Leo Reynolds ROTARY INTERNATIONAL via photopin (license)
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About me: I am a coordinator for Hands Against Poverty-Uganda, an initiative I support as I aspire to influence more youths in Uganda to directly engage in poverty reduction programmes. I am active in human rights advocacy and elections management, after having been a voter educator at the Citizens Election Observers Network-Uganda.
I have a passion for writing and have authored several articles on different topics in the Weekly Observer newspaper, and contribute articles for the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative’s website.
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Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Commonwealth Youth Programme. Articles are published in a spirit of dialogue, respect and understanding. If you disagree, why not submit a response?
To learn more about becoming a Commonwealth Correspondent please visit: http://www.yourcommonwealth.org/submit-articles/
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