Partnering for a better life

It never ceases to amaze when one pauses to ponder upon the heights that humans have been able to scale whenever they have set their sight on accomplishing something. Last month a colleague who works as the Africa marketing manager for a Microinsurance company shared her inspiring community initiative story with me. Julie and her professional colleagues are members of the Rotary Club of Kajjansi, which is based near Uganda's capital, Kampala.

Under the umbrella of the Rotary club,they decided to pool their resources to fund a coffee growing project in a far flung village called Jjongoza, which is based in Masaka District. Julie and her friends are a busy lot of professionals but that has not stopped them from investing time into positively transforming society.

Tough as it might seem, theirs is a genuine poverty eradication campaign with a great chance of bearing fruit. In her own words, here is how Julie told story:

"On Saturday, 24th July 2010, starting at 3.30pm, the President of the Rotary Club of Kajjansi, Rotarian John Mary Luberenga, handed over items to help the farmers at the Jjongoza village fight poverty. The items are all related to the coffee growing project that is jointly implemented by the Rotary Club of Kajjansi in Uganda, District 9200 and the Rotary Club of Bruinswick Coastal, in Maine, USA, District 7780.

The items included 130 litres of herbicides, 30 tarpaulins, pairs of gumboots, 3 signposts, a banner for the Jjongoza Rotary Community Corps (RCC) all well branded with the Clonal Coffee Growing Project, and a substantial administrative refund to the Chairperson of the RCC, who run many errands in the administration and management of the project.

The occasion was witnessed by Rtn Teopista Nakyanzi, President of the Rotary Club of Kalisizo. Before handing over the items, the Rotarians made a tour of the village, and inspected the coffee seedlings in the gardens. The first lot of seedlings, cow-dung manure, gumboots, 10 wheelbarrows, and 10 sprayers was delivered in September 2009. The seedlings that were planted amidst a lot of excitement by the community in a bid to fight poverty have tested the farmers' patience, because the climatic conditions in the months of June and July are quite harsh.

The farmers persevere in keeping the Clonal crop growing to maturity by providing water, and grass for mulching. The President of the Rotary Club of Kajjansi pledged to uphold the good work of the members of the Rotary Community Corp, because their presence in the village helps the Rotarians to implement their motto of 'Service Above Self' and the object of Rotary which revolves around professional and voluntary service.

It is the RCC members who identify the needs of the community; they invite the Rotarians for a joint needs assessment process and then work with the Rotarians to alleviate the problem. On the same day the Rotarians witnessed a moving farewell ceremony for Rotarian Fr. Aloysius Bukenya, who is moving on to a new mission from the Kajjansi area to Langata, in Nairobi, Kenya. Rotarian Bukenya has been Dean of the Faculty of Education at the Kisubi Brothers University College.

The members of the Jjongoza RCC used July 24 as the day to show their love for the son of the village, they sang songs of joy and gave him significant presents to use in his new mission in the Apostles of Jesus Seminary – Philosophicum in Kenya. Rotarian Fr. Bukenya, pledged to keep serving as a Rotarian, to be an active ambassador for the Rotary Clubs of Kajjansi and Kalisizo, and to keep looking out for new partners to join with the people of the Jjongoza Village and its environs to put an end to poverty."