By Hannington Sebuliba
In 2003 when, the Rotary Club of
Kajjansi was given a Charter Certificate, little did the charter members knew
that the club would reach this far. Young as the Club was, started at a higher
note with members reaching out to the
community to clean the township of Kajjansi and to carry out a monthly immunization
exercise at Jjanyi village near Bwebajja. The first year was a year of hard
work and celebration. Now the club has reached this far by installing it’s 13th
president at a colorful function where the 12th President Rev. Grace
Sentongo (PHF) willingly handed over the mantle to his successor the 13th President Juliet Kyokunda (PHF).
The Installation ceremony was a
symposium of the good and the beautiful about Rotary Club of Kajjansi. Driving
from Kampala or Entebbe to the dusty Kigo Road was a nightmare as a very heavy
traffic jam on Entebbe Road made it almost impossible for one to maneuver to
reach Lake Victoria Serena Hotel on the chores of Africa’s largest fresh water
lake.
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Men in suits
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Those who managed to make it in time
were able to dance to the zigzag dance generated by the potholed Kigo Road, but
that aside, when they arrived at the venue, the fresh breeze from Lake Victoria,
made them forget the traffic congestion, dust and potholes. To the first time
visitor to this area, there was a lot to see by the roadside as trucks full of
sand, bricks and stones made the journey very interesting. To the lovers of
nature, they could not miss to see birds of all tribes flying by. To others who
rarely see planes taking off and landing, it was an experience to see aircrafts
at Kajjansi airfield landing and taking off a various intervals. It is such a rich scenery that led to the
former British Prime Minister Sir
Winston Churchhill, to say that Uganda was Indeed the “Pearl-of-Africa.”
By 5:00pm the Kalanagala Hall at Lake
Victoria Serena Hotel, was filled with Rotarians of Kajjansi dressed in black
suits, matched with either a bowtie or a black tie with Ladies dressed in
dinner dresses. It was such a nice ceremony to see people who rarely put on
suits dressed to kill.
The guests and rotarians from other
clubs started coming in one by one and some in pairs while others in groups.
They were ushered in and treated to a very good hospitality . There were the
classy Ugandans who swiped away on iPhones and took pictures using iPads.
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| PP Karoli leading Rotarians in a kiganda dance |
First forward, the function started with
the outgoing President and President Elect, entering Kalangala Hall when the
Master of Ceremonies (MC) Rtn. Ismael Mukasa announced “Ladies and Gentlemen, Introduce to you the
President and President Elect” the guests surged into loud hysteric applaud,
when PP Enid handed a bouquet of flowers
to P.E. Juliet. They matched majestically to the front, taking their seats and
the MC announced the entrance of the Uganda Flag carried by Rtn. Apollo, the
Rotary District Flag by Rtn. Hannington and Rotary Club of Kajjansi Flag
carried by Rtn. Robert Musiitwa. Then the anthems were played starting with the
National Anthem ending with RC Kajjansi anthem.
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| PP Charles Magala |
Immediately after the anthems, PP
Charles Magala read the invocation. He
was dressed smartly in swallowtail coat with a cream shirt and a bowtie.
This made a highlight of Rotary Club of Kajjansi’s
innovations, it was a first class function almost near to a district assembly. When
the guest of honour Rtn. Dr. Alan Shonubi entered the hall, the room was filled
with joy as people now started to see that the function was really turning into
a real Rotary handover function. There was an applause when PAG Charles
Karooli, PP Theresa, PP DamJo, Rtn. Sister Nakato and her fellow nun, Eng.
Tenywa and Rtc. Rita danced to Messach Ssemakula’s Njagala Nyimbire Omutanda. They
danced so well that if Annet Nandujja had watched them, she would have felt something
chocking in her throat. The dance was choreographed by PAG Karooli. He should
start venturing into the arts.
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| Rtn. Were being inducted by Dr. Alan Shonubi |
After the dance
that excited everybody in the room, AG PPPP, the chairman of the installation
function gave an accountability speech with very powerful images on power point
projected at the northern side of the hall. By the end of the chairman’s
speech, it was clear that the money paid for the function, had been used wisely
with some money used to buy windows and doors for Katwe Bweya Primary School.
The function could not be more fruitful, if two new Rotarians
had not been added to our numbers. The Director Membership Rtn. Flavia called both
Mr. Were and Mrs. Mugabe to come to the
front , there was silence in the hall as their CVs were read and eventually
they were inducted as full Rotarians.
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| Rtn. Sylvia being inducted by Dr. Alan Shonubi |
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Rotarian of the year Dr. Roger Sendijja gets
a shield from President Grace Sentongo |
After the induction,
the outgoing president gave his speech and made a brief account of what had
been achieved in the past rotary year. He also looked at the challenges. He
ended by announcing the Rotarian of the year in the names of Dr. Roger
Sendijja. He also mentioned Rtn. Loy for
her dedication to Jjanyi immunization and Rtn. Alex for his enthusiasm and
service at Katwe Bweya. It was then a time for him to handover the chain to his
successor, President Juliet Kyokunda. He handed over the chain to the guest of
honour who eventually installed President Juliet. The handover took about three
minutes, as she was given a number of instruments of power.
Did I say that
this was an Installation Dinner? After the handover, it was time for guests to
feast and dine and jazz music slowly blared through the speakers. This took an
hour and later on the function resumed. The interactors from Kisubi Mapeera
S.S. led by their Patron PP Ddamulira Joseph (Mahogany) entertained guests to
dingi dingi dance from northern Uganda.
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| President Grace hands over the presidential chain to Dr. Alan Shonubi |
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| President Juliet being installed |
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| She gets a presidential pin |
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| She gets a presidential pin |
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| She recieves the charter certificate |
President Juliet
then gave her acceptance speech and lay down her plans for the rotary year
2015/16. She started by thanking the companies that advertised with us in our
Installation Magazine. They were given certificates of appreciation which the
representatives of those companies took. At the end of her speech, she
introduced her cabinet of the Board of Directors and specific officers who posed
for a photo on backdrop of a larger than life portrait of the 13th
President of Kajjansi.
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| President Grace before handing over |
Immediately
after her speech, Rtn. Don, Rtn. Adrine, PP Enid and a number of Rotarians entertained
us to a heavy kikiga dance that shook the hall with a vibration that can be
matched with earthquake. They danced so well that Stephen Rwangyezi of Ndere
Troupe would have envied them for the job well done.
You thought that
surprises were done, the MC called Rtn. Hannington with Piano to do a solo on
this year’s theme “Be a gift to the world” The solo ended up being a duet where
Rtn. Hannington played the keyboard in a reggae style with Rtn. Loy being the
lead vocalist. This showed that Kajjansi really has talent.
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| President Juliet gives her acceptance speech |
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| President Juliet gives her acceptance speech |
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| Rtn. Dr. Alan Shonubi delivering his speech |
The guest of
honour was all praises to Kajjansi for organizing such a wonderful function. He
said that he did not expect the function to be that very organized. He promised
that in future when RC Kajjansi
carries out a water related project, Uganda
Breweries Ltd will help to join hands with them.
The function ended with a dance where
members shook their bodies after cutting a cake till midnight.
