Ladies and Gentlemen, it is such a great honor for me to be standing here in front of you once again, this time as the outgoing president of The Rotary Club of Kitengela (RCK)! I am delighted for the trust and faith you bestowed on me as the President of this Club. We have come to the close of the 2019/20 year at RCK. As we prepare to welcome the incoming RCK president for the year 2020/21, I would like to take this opportunity to review the highlights from the last 12 months.
In line with our purpose as Rotary International to “Bring Together Business and Professional Leaders in order to Provide Humanitarian Service and to Advance Goodwill and Peace around the World”, I shared with you at my installation last year, my two-fold vision for our club. My vision was to focus on community service riding on gradual membership growth, thus:
- To uphold the local community service mainly through Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programs and continue to entrench Education and Literacy mainly in schools, and
- Continue building a vibrant club where every member feels part and parcel of the team.
My fellow Rotarians, we have successfully accomplished this vision. This success is attributed to the contribution of all the RCK members, our fellow Rotarians in the District and beyond, and not forgetting our esteemed community development partners. With your support, we have been able to deliver to this community well beyond our own expectations. I hope that this is also the testimony of the community around us – the people we exist to serve.
I beg to briefly highlight our success story of RCK 2019/2020.
Projects Partnerships: RCK completed SEVEN high impact projects during the year and has two more key projects started but not completed. The seven completed projects are;
- Noonkopir WASH – washrooms construction and renovations project championed by our incoming President, Rtn. Dr. Patrisio Njeru
- NHIF Medical Cover for some 130 Kajiado residents, championed by Rtn. Hon. Daniel Kanchori
- Kitengela Town Cleanup & sponsorship of RC Kitengela branded dustbins in partnership with the Kajiado County Government, Championed by Rtn. Shadrack Kirui
- PCEA Thogoto Old Peoples Home benefited from a donation of one automatic washing machine courtesy of our own Rtn. Paul Sillu from DIAGEO Plc.
- Freedom for Girls project where 100 students benefited from a full year’s sanitary pads. Project champion was our Projects Director, Rtn. George Maingi
- Books for Schools project where three primary schools (,i.e. Noonkopir, Utumishi and GK Prisons Primary Schools), were allocated books donated by our sponsors, Longhorn Publishers
- School fees sponsorship for one needy student who topped the class 8 KCPE exams in 2019 at Noonkopir Primary School. Project championed by our PNN Rtn. James Wakaba
Club Membership Retention & Growth:
- Three new members were inducted and a fourth one will be inducted today, but we lost two members, unfortunately. Membership diversity remains at 54.5% being women.
- New Club Sponsorship: Currently sponsoring a new rotary club, RC Athi River In-Formation (IF).
Administration & Finances:
We had a favorable audit report indicating that all dues have been fully paid for all the 33 club members
Media Coverage: The club activities have been featured on various media platforms as follows;
- Three club projects’ media coverage on TV and Newspapers,
- Four articles appeared in the Online D9212 Timeline Magazine
- We had a weekly feature on our Facebook page
The successes outlined above, were set out in our club’s SMART Goals, and have been delivered to a high degree of success over the year 2019/2020:
- Our Community Service Projects surpassed the target 4 projects to deliver 7. We started a total of 8 Projects which is 200% of the target.
- In our target on Training & Speakers, we delivered 7 training sessions to club members against a target of 4.
- In Public Relations, we targeted Partnerships with corporate companies, Non-Rotarians and Non-Linear Content to enhance our club’s visibility. In this we made a landmark by adding 4 stories on the Timeline Magazine and our Social media was kept up to date.
- Finances, always being a do or die factor in a Society like ours, we had a target to properly document and report club’s admin and finance activities & safe custody of club materials. We have successfully completed last year’s audit and got it signed off. All club administration documents are in place.
- On Membership Growth & Retention, we achieved a 3 % growth against an ambitious target of 10%.
With my earlier outlined vision, and our slogan for 2019/2020, ‘Teamwork in Everything We Do’, We manifested this slogan throughout the year to a larger extent, and I am proud to say that I have worked with, or closely interacted with most if not all of you at different levels. Thank you team RCK for according me the opportunity to be your leader and team player.
To our members we want to say that, this journey we cannot make alone as leaders, but it is through your support, constructive criticism, and encouragement that we have had the success. Teamwork is everything, and together we have, and shall continue to make it. I take this opportunity to thank all the members of the club for your ongoing support. Your willingness to share both your time and your talent by volunteering with RCK says a lot about each of you as human beings. When you volunteer, you are making a commitment to share that most precious of resources, your time, to make life better for those who are in need. Your willingness to give selflessly to help others, speaks to both your strength and the quality of your character. I feel proud to be associated with you.
It would not be in order to close without sharing with you some matters that are close to my heart. In a moment, I’ll give you a tip about where I am headed as I bow out. But before I get there, I’d like to share with you, my Top 5 Lessons over the last 12 months as the leader and president of RCK:
- If I ever thought I was MAD, now I am sure I am! My desire to Make A Difference has soared several notches higher, and I have found out that I enjoyed every MAD moment during the year. That is what we are called to do in our society and I endeavour to continually live by it.
- I strive like never before to be my authentic self in leadership. In this world of posturing people and things, I have come to the realisation that my uniqueness is what brings the much needed diversity to a team. Like Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi and many other outstanding leaders before and after them, I’d like to be remembered as a great leader who embraced the unique traits of the team members to build the Club.
- I noticed from the moment I became a Rotarian, that there exists a fair amount of friction in and between us. It is a well-accepted fact that creative abrasion in business brings positive friction that ensures that the right conversations are held to the betterment of an organisation. Rotary is no exception. I have learnt that there must be some degree of friction and the leader should harness that to build the right culture in the team.
- As a leader, you will come across a lot of things that need your attention in the club. But the things that you give attention to, are the ones that will multiply. So, I learnt that it is important to intuitively select what I needed to flourish in the club. I had to make wise decisions to ensure that the club stands and doesn’t fall apart. The same goes to our own individual lives. What you focus on multiplies.
- Finally, Rotary has given us an endless platform and many opportunities to build our personal lives. There is a lot of training, opportunities for networking, experienced mentors and coaches in the Rotary family and many more. Let’s leave our comfort zones that limit us to our local clubs and seize the opportunities that come with the mighty exposure provided by Rotary both within the district and internationally.
In short, I have learnt to learn while being the President of RCK. We all can.
So your final question as I bow out is most probably where is my next stop? Well, feeling humbled in the presence of the incoming DG, who has kindly graced today’s occasion, I can now reveal that I will be taking up more responsibilities at the District level, as the District Attendance Chair, and will be sitting in the District Programs Committee. Among other key objectives, I intend to raise Club Attendance in the district that covers Kenya, Ethiopia, Southern Sudan and Eritrea, from an average of 50% to 80%, a tall order that I believe in and will endeavour to achieve. I believe it is achievable if we all work together to make it happen. I will be reaching out to all Assistant Governors (AGs) and Presidents of the 110 clubs in the district to plan the way forward.
I take this opportunity to thank the incoming District Governor for according me this wonderful opportunity to serve an even wider community. DG Patrick Obath, I thank you for this appointment and look forward to be part of your renowned and well respected district leadership team where I will be working with the District Membership Chair, Rtn. Dr. Joe Kamau who is also here with us this afternoon.
To the incoming RCK President PE Dr. Patrisio Njeru, my congratulations are in order! And to the incoming Board Members, Congratulations to you all! Remember to keep your heads held high as you serve, for our fellow club members have shown their confidence in you by electing you to your respective positions to serve and give back to our community. I am available anytime for consultation and support as I am the de facto club trainer going forward and part of the incoming board.
To my fellow RCK members, I thank you for this opportunity to serve you over the past year. You matter. You make a difference. And to my two pretty daughters, Lisa & Lilly, you are my greatest cheerleaders. Thank you so much.
A round of applause to the entire RCK team, please!! A Round of Applause to the District team!!. A round of applause to Rotary International!
Thank you!! God bless!!