Kelvin Odoobo
30 September 2008
Kigali — On the morning of Friday the August 29th, a feisty group of young Ugandan women and men arrived in Kigali. Full of vigour and ready to fulfill their dream of spreading friendship and fellowship across borders.
Under the auspices of Project Ubucuti (Kinyarwanda for Friendship), a joint international service project between the Rotaract club of Bugolobi in Kampala and the Rotaract club of Kigali Institute of Education (KIE); these rotaractors from various Rotaract Clubs in Uganda had endured the long bus journey by night, to share with their colleagues in Rwanda the message embodied in the Rotaract motto of 'fellowship through service,' including the Rotary mantra of 'service above self.'
The mission kicked off promptly at the KIE canteen where the usual weekly Rotaract fellowship was sacrificed for a historical Joint fellowship between the two clubs. The first ever of this kind at the host club; during which a host of current and past presidents of clubs from as far off as Jinja, Mukono and Kampala in Uganda took the matter of fellowship leadership with their host club.
During the joint fellowship, seven new rotaractors were inducted -- rotary lingo for initiation into full membership, as the various presidents urged the new rotaractors to protect the good name of the rotary through exemplary deeds in their individual communities and the world at large.
Rotaract clubs provide an opportunity for young adults to enhance their knowledge and skills to assist them in personal development, in addressing the physical and social needs of their communities and to promote better relations between all people worldwide. This is done through a framework of friendship and service.
Rotaract is a Rotary-sponsored service club for young women and men aged between 18 to 30. Rotaract clubs are either community or university based, and they're sponsored by a local Rotary club. This makes them true "partners in service" and key members of the family of the Rotary clubs.
As one of Rotary's most significant and fastest-growing service programs, with more than 7,000 clubs in about 163 countries and geographical areas, Rotaract has become a worldwide phenomenon.
Each rotaract club has to at least accomplish one community service project and an international service project each year, the later which is aimed at promoting international understanding and tolerance.
The Rotaract club of KIE, sponsored by the Rotary club of Kigali Virunga, belongs to the Rotary district 9150 which apart from Rwanda also encompasses Cameroon, Burundi, Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Congo Brazzaville, and Gabon.
As Bugolobi's former President Hillary Ainomugisha puts it: "International service projects are a simple way of living a little bit of our lives with other people. This is exactly what we did with our brothers and sisters of Kigali Institute of Education. This is one of the ideals of Rotary through its arm of Rotaract; helping people while enjoying yourselves, fellowship through service."
Along with their colleagues from Bugolobi, which is sponsored by the rotary club of Bugolobi and belongs to district 9200 encompassing Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Eritrea and Ethiopia, they managed through Project Ubucuti to share the different cultures of Uganda and Rwanda, helped to strengthen the rotary bonds between the two countries by highlighting each other activities in their respective countries.
Another important highlight on the trip was the recognition of the Interact club of FAWE Girl's secondary school and a massive induction of over 50 new interactors.
Like Rotaract, the Interact is also a Rotary program for young people aged between 13 and 18 yrs, through which rotary intends to develop leadership skills, personal integrity, helpfulness and respect for others.
Understand the value of individual responsibility and hard work and to advance international understanding and goodwill. The project managed to generate a buzz in the KIE community when they conducted a joint clean up exercise at the school.
Later on Saturday 30th August, the rotaractors visited the Gisozi Genocide memorial complex in an attempt to understand and appreciate better the history of Rwanda and the 1994 genocide after which they laid a wreath in honor of the lost victims.
President Masturah Sengendo of Rotaract club of Bugolobi said: "After listening keenly to the history and seeing for ourselves what really happened, we vowed that we were going to ensure that rotaractors in Uganda and the other countries in the district like Kenya and Ethiopia understand the lessons of 1994 and spearhead messages of tolerance in their respective communities."
The D9200 District Rotaract Representative for 2008-2009, Hudson Mutalya who is the bonafide leader of rotaractors in that district emphasized in his September message to rotaractors that rotaract inculcates interest for community service to the youth, the concept of fun with a purpose and also demonstrates the values of hard-work, and responsibility. It's basically a program that challenges and tests your talents and abilities in your lives.
The KIE President Steve Gantanazi notes that the project had not only been a huge success but had left a strong example for the rest of the community.
"For young people to travel all the way from one country to another for no other purpose other than to extol the virtues of rotary, of service above self, of understanding other people's cultures without being asked by anyone, is one of the major lessons demonstrated by Project Ubucuti."
To cement this relationship into an enduring lasting rotary story of international service, the Rotary club of Bugolobi has lined up a fitting finale to the project, by holding and promoting a Rwanda week in the last week of October.
During the Rwanda week, all rotaract clubs in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Eritrea will be requested to invite an official from the Rwandese embassy an authority on Rwanda's history, a Rotarian or any person of Rwandese origin of good standing to give a talk on the country's history vis-à-vis tolerance between different communities during their weekly fellowship.
This program is aimed at promoting a better understanding of Rwanda among the rotaract family in district 9200 and to promote international understanding and tolerance.
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