PR Directors and bulletin officers given tips on good PR practices for Rotary Clubs

By Hannington Sebuliba

The Country PR Desk two weeks ago organised a one day seminar for all Club Presidents, PR Directors, and Bulletin Officers at Hotel Africana. It was attended by over 80 partcipants.

The purpose of the trainning was to impart skills and knowledge to Rotarians in line with Rotary International’s focus on the image of Rotary.

Dr. Peter Mwesige a media consultant gave participants the essentials of media which included what he termed as the “Ws”. These he said included What’s your message?

- Who are you communicating to? [Mass or specialised/class e.g. Rotarians]

- What are the best channels to reach your audience? Radio, TV, newspapers, digital, online, or multiple platforms?

- What tools are most effective? Press releases, news conferences, talk shows, media

interviews, or supplements? – For ex. Do you have the convening power to call a Press Conference?

He advised Rotarians to use media mileage to deal with larger issues in the country/society instead of myopically focusing on just getting your club visibility. He went on to give them advise in that  when they are dealing with the media, they need to know the sight media contacts? Reporters, editors [Newsroom structures]

He said that it was very vital for Rotarians to have facts on their fingertips when they are dealing with journalists as this would build confidence in them. He said that they need to Focus on the most important aspects, Keep it simple [KISS!].

 He reminded them that  journalists work under tight deadlines which means that they have to submit their work early. He further told them to always maintain  a professional relationship and never to bribe journalist. They will have much more respect for you even when they don’t run your story. He also  advised them to respond to media inquiries, and promptly too

 Rtn. Niyetegeka made a presentation on  the use of social media within the clubs to enhance public awareness on Rotary activities and to encourage participation and support of Rotary programmes.

 He informed Rotarians that there was really no need to dwell too much on the technicalities since Social Media is really about Communication;

He informed Rotarians that there were  too many tools and one just needed to know what  he/she wanted, his/her target audience and how to reach out to them – pick tools that are going to work for you and not a “Me 2” Strategy where you copy what everyone else is doing. “You do not need to have a website or a facebook if they will not be regularly updated”.  He noted

He pointed the most  common mistake is that we spend a lot of time on tactics and not the strategy.

He said that Social Media Strategy has to have a two-way communication: “You need to keep it active, communicate regularly, engage the followers: More and more people ignore one-way communication – websites need to be interactive” he said

He also advised Rotarians to  listen directly rather than ask a lot of questions – listen to what people are saying about Rotary; Learn how to share videos through You-tube, twitter, Facebook, Flicker; Do not just do an ok job: Check your impact ; Do not rely on “social media gurus” – You can do it on your own and to  Be transparent and don’t pretend to be something we are not.

The other topics presented included  Club Communication Organiser by  Fred Masadde, Country PR Chair, Managing your stakeholders- A plan for engagement and Partnership by Rtn. Henry Rugamba; Internal communications Basics by Jimmy Kiberu, Corporate Affairs Manager Tullow Oil and SMS media.

The training was opened by the Country Chair Rtn. Robert Wagwa Nsibirwa who said that the RI Board selected Enhancing Public Image and Awareness of Rotary as the 3rd focus area in order to make Rotary the organization of choice for those who want to serve community and support Rotary. If we are more coherent in our communications, we should be able to build membership; build partnerships with Corporate partners and donors.

Closing the training, District Governor Elect, Rtn. Emmanuel Katongole thanked all participants for making it to the Seminar. He stressed the importance of the Public Image focus area to Rotary International and requested the Country PR Chair to continue these sessions regularly to ensure that Rotary in Uganda spreads far and wide.

President Enid takes DG Manek to Prison for two hours

By Hannington Sebuliba

It is unusual for a president of a Rotary Club to take a District Governor to Prison, but this time President Enid Asingwire of the Rotary Club of Kajjansi had to take District Governor Geeta Manek to Kigo Prison.

The reason for taking her to prison was not for criminal charges to but to visit the Kigo Prison inmates who are part of the Rotary Club of Kajjansi’s  Women Inmate’s Craft Project and to launch the  Functional Adult Literacy Project. 

The day was Wednesday August 8, 2012, the gates of the Prison were opened to usher in the members of the Rotary Club of Kajjansi. The Prisoners clad in their yellow Uniforms (men) and Pink for women wera ll happy to see Rotarians coming to their facility.  We were welcomed to ululations and drum beats. You could note that these people were really happy to receive the visitors.

They sang songs welcoming us to the prison and danced the traditional kiganda bakisimba dance which led to the District Governor to shake a bit to the beat. It was an evening to remember.

President  Enid told the District Governor that  the Club  had decided to start a Functional Adult Literacy Project in the Prison to enable Prisoners leave the facility with skills.

One of the female inmates who had benefitted from the Craft project told the District Governor that  the project had equipped them with skills and now they have something to do behind the walls of the Prisohn. “ When we go back to our homes we shall not be the same because we shall come out with skills in making mats” she narrated.  “Whatever we do, is sold and the money is deposited on our accounts and we use for our own benefit, as you see all these ladies look great” she said amidst applause from fellow inmates. She was also happy that the Functional Adult Literacy programme was going to be launched to enable them learn how to read and write.

As the fellow prisoners narrated how they came to prison in a song, many of the Rotarians including the DG Geeta Manek and AG Ann Munywevu could not  hold their tears back since the story was very emotional.  In a part they were saying that we are the mothers of Uganda, please treat us like human beings.

As if that wasn’t enough, another prisoner, this time a male one  sang while playing  a guitar narrating how a thieve called Kapere lost his  life because of being un-repentant. He was advocated for parents to give parental guidance to their children.

On her part, the District Governor Geeta Manek, was happy to be in Prison for the first time, she told prisoners that she knows that is was not their fault that they were in prison but it is society that had failed them and that they shouldn’t be in prison “ You should all be in gainful employment, the ladies should be at home looking for your children and the men should be out looking after your families.” She counseled them. She appealed to them to follow what the prison warders tell them so that they go back to society when they are reformed people.

DG Geeta  told the Rotarians of Kajjansi that they had moved her to tears “ I cannot thank you enough because you’ve moved me to tears, you are truly,  truly serving above self” she confessed . She added that they would have chosen another project  “ You could have chosen a million projects but you chose to come to this place where you are needed most. This is a place where you are needed because these are our brothers and sisters that we have failed as a society” she said.  She went on to say that the fact that Kajjansi had recognized that there was need here, there was need to give them more support, more skills and to do better so that it becomes an exemplary poject. She said that this was the most touching humanitarian experience she had ever had.

The Officer in charge of Kigo Prison a lady thanked the Rotary Club of Kajjansi for choosing to take such a project to the facility. She said that she was short of words.  “This a miracle to Uganda Prisons, I want to appreciate Commissioner General Dr. Johnson Byabashaija who open the doors for  Inmates to receive visitors from outside” she said adding that “ We are saying bring more.” She said that 52% of them are young men. “ Rotary has played a big role in this place, we appreciate. They have gone ahead to bring here a new project Functional Adult Literacy which you are launching today” she said. She went to request that  Rotary gives them computers so that inmates learn how to use them and also requested the DG to arrange Prisoners from Kigo to go and visit their fellow in-mates in Kenya see that things are done.

After launching the project and buying some of the products done by the inmates, the Board members went to Rtn. Apollo’s Kigo Beach for a meeting with the District Governor. She was happy to see that Kajjansi had done the meeting in  fashionable way which made it a club that is very innovative.

At the end they  had a photo shoot by the lake showers showing how “we are this close” to eradicating Polio

Rotary Uganda Country Office has organised a one day Public Relations Seminar for PR Directors of all Rotary Clubs in the Country. 

The Seminar looked at among other topics, Internal communications, Media and Public Communication, Sms Communication and Social Media. 

http://www.facebook.com/rotarykajjansi.kajjansi

The Rotary Club of Kajjansi Installation Magazine 2012

RAW PICTORIAL AT JJANYI

Organising the registration table at Jjanyi

PP Theresa Organising the registration table at Jjanyi

A mother recieves a mosquito net after testing for HIV/AIDS

P.E Rotary Club of Kampala South  gives  a mosquito to a mother  after testing for HIV/AIDS

P.E Rotary Club of Kampala South at Jjanyi during the Free HIV/AIDS testing and counselling during the Rotarians at Work 2012

How the Rotary Club of Kajjansi carried out Rotarians at Work 2012

By Rtn. Hannington Sebuliba

 Last Friday I got an opportunity to pick Lab technicians from the AIDS Information Centre in Mengo Kisenyi.   My station happened to be Kajjansi Health Centre III at Kawotto Hill commonly referred to as ‘ku  Dispensary’.

 I happened to work with the overall co-ordinator  of RAW activities in Kajjansi Rtn. Apollo. It was such an experience. I found a number of young men who were seated on forms waiting for a surgeon to undergo safe male Circumcision. They were about twenty young men most of them school children from the neighbouring  villages. They talked at length but you could see fear in theor eyes. As we were busy organising our station for free HIV/AIDS Testing and Counselling, they all looked to see what was going on.

President Peace second left introduces the guests to Rotarians of Kajjansi

When the nurse who was in charge of the men who were waiting to undergo circumcision arrived, they all waited to hear the good news from her. She told them that before they went in the theatre for that minor operation, it was advisable to first test for HIV/AIDS. This made our work easy. They started registering one by one, getting counselling, testing and finnaly getting their results. One young man (names withheld) told me after he received the results “am happy the results are negative, after circumcision, I will spend a year without engaging in sex” he said.

Rotarians at Work (RAW) is an initiative organised by Rotarians for Fighting AIDS Inc and sponsored among other organisations, the Coca Cola Africa Foundation. Rotary Clubs in the District 9200 target young people to test for HIV/AIDS and also get free counselling.

President Peace (Left) and Marion Bunch second left talk to Rotarians, Rotaractors and Interactors at Kajjansi Health Centre

I looked on for a while seeing young people getting counselling from AIDS counsellors and nurses. I saw how these professionals laboured to take these people through sensitive conversations that preceded the tests and the final one when they announced the results to them in camera. You would see the tension but all of them kept their cool.  Those who tested and wanted condoms were given some.

Rtn. Isma and Rtn. Rose try to convince a lady to go for HIV Testing at Kajjansi

I later on stood by the roadside and strated convincing whoever passed by to get tested and know his/her status. Many of them accepted to go for testing while some hestated. One young lady  from a nearby school who had innitially refused to gor for testing could not hold her joy on seeing her results. “Am going to show these results to my mum” she said on top of her voice as she left the health centre.

The exercise went on until the end of the day.

On the last day which was Saturday May 26, 2012. I was the first to arrive at the health centre and waited for Rtn. Moses Ssessanga to bring the Kits and Laboratory technicians. Later on Rtn. Rev. Grace brought the tent we used for the exercise.

The place was a bee hive of activities that day, as there was a national Mass Immunization Programme for Polio and Measles and at the other end of the Dispensary, there was a security meeting.

Most of the parents who brought their children for immunization took the opportunity to visit our tent for free HIV/AIDS testing and counselling. We decided to stand in strategic locations to encourage parents and the youth to test for HIV.

Rotarians pose for a photo with Marion Bunch during her visit to Kajjansi Health Centre last Saturday

One of our very own Rtn. Rev. Grace  who is an AIDS counsellor did a wonderful job of counselling the many people who came in for testing.

President Peace, PE Enid, Rtn. Frank, Rtn. Juliet, Rtn. Isma, Rtn. Rose, Rtn. Fr. Vianney and Rtn. SSS partcipated fully in this exercise.

When RFFA’s CEO, Marion Bunch arrived with her entourage led by Country RAW Chair Rt. Rev. Sam, there was excitement from the people. We were lucky to have hosted the team as they were shooting a documentary which is to be aired worldwide.

                                         At St. Magdalene Health Centre Lweza 

Marion was happy with the way Kajjansi had organised the exercise.

PJK SHARES WITH KAJJANSI ABOUT THE SPIRIT OF VOLUNTEERING

During the Fellowship yesterday Past President  Peter Jjemba  Kaggwa a.k.a PJK shared with the Rotary Club of Kajjansi about the issue of Volunteering in Rotary. Below is what he said  as transcribed by Rtn. Hannington Sebuliba

Definition of a volunteer

Rtn.  Annet Nannyonjo ‘Anyone does something at his/her own will without payment’.

I will give you three definitions in addition to hers.

1.       A person who offers to do something without being forced. 

2.       A person who works for an organization, but he/she is not paid for that work

3.       A person who joins the armed forces at his/her own free will.

4.       Offer to  do something without being forced or to suggest something without being asked.

The suggestion we get is that every volunteer has to do something.   Therefore, if you volunteer and say yes am a Rotarian and am a volunteer but doing nothing you are not even a volunteer. You can voluntarily join a Rotary Club but ask yourself what have I done for the club? What have you ever volunteered to do? Have you ever volunteered to help the president? Have you ever volunteered to go in a project? If you answer all questions relevant to volunteering then you are in the right place. Mr. President I would like to suggest that we take the issue of our volunteering as very serious. Many times we have taken it too lightly well what am I supposed to have done?  Am a volunteer.  He gave an example of someone who volunteers to get someone from a pit by pulling a rope but midway he/she decides to loosen the rope, that’s not a good heart of volunteering. “ Why did you to pretend to say that you are coming to volunteer to helping me? This is exactly what is happening in Rotary. We put on our Lapel Badges which tell the world that we are volunteers.  We belong to this biggest voluntary organization in the whole world. Very prestigious and you never bother to ask yourself whether you have ever volunteered.

If you put yourself in the category of the Rotarian you want to be you might be shocked to see that many of us fall short of the definition of a volunteer. We have different categories of Rotarians

·         The Balloons:  In Rotary we are supposed to have fun and fellowship together, but there are those who just burst at any slightest joke. Those are the balloons. If you are becoming a balloon please check yourself. 

·         The Trailers.  These are Rotarians who want to be pulled all the time. The good thing is that,  when you are slopping they will quicken. But when you come to a hill and there’s some problem  you know what happens and am telling you this  because most presidents these days are suffering a lot  they pull and pull but some Rotarians are not coming.

·         A canoe: This is another category of Rotarians who want to be guided all the way like a canoe. You have to row, row the canoe. A canoe on the lake has to be guided please come this way, please come this way.

·         The Sub-marine: We also have Rotarians who are sub-marines. The sub-marine is always underground  but at certain occasions they come out. There are Rotarians who can come out when there’s a function. All along they have not been there but when there’s a function, you’ll see the Rotarians coming and they want to be given front seats. They want to be seen.

·         Kites:  There are Rotarians who behave like kites. They fly and fly endlessly. These don’t send apologies when they do not attend fellowship. These don’t care about others.

In  clubs and meetings there are these categories of people:

a)      Mr. & Mrs. Negative:  President says let’s do this or that and these will say “ it doesn’t work” when they ask them to give their opinions, then they will have no idea.

b)      Mr. and Mrs. Apathy:  They keep quiet in the meeting you ask them about their opinions and they keep quiet. You keep asking and they keep quiet. When the fellowship ends, they will start backbiting.  They start saying “how can so and so say like this?” They start telling outsiders yet when they were in the meeting they were keeping quiet.

c)       Mr. and Mrs. Opinionated: These think that in a meeting when their idea hasn’t been taken, then there was no meeting. They think that they know it all.  If the president doesn’t take their idea, then they will not participate. They are full of themselves.  All these make our leadership very burdened. I pity the presidents.

d)      Mr. & Mrs. I know it all: Their hands are always up even if they don’t know anything about the topic.  You ask for a report for an activity, they will be the first to raise their hands even when they never participated. They speak and speak and speak.

e)      Mr. & Mrs. Pragmatic: They listen, contribute and when someone brings an idea, they agree with that one and when another person comes with a contrary idea they will also agree with him/her.

He concluded by asking a rhetorical question “Ask not what the club has done for you, ask what you can do together for the good of the club”

Car Boot sale

The Rotary Club of Kajjansi over the weekend held a two day Car Boot sale at the Uganda Clays Grounds Kajjansi. The Car boot sale started on Saturday 28th and ended on Sunday 29th April. It was well attended by Rotarians and members of the community who thronged the grounds in big numbers and bought used but usable items in aid of the destitute abandoned children we are looking after at Buikwe.

It all started with a fellowship on Wednesday at Dreams Guest House, where the Rotarians who had attended the District Conference in Nairobi reported to the club how the conference faired. Later on Rotarians were told of the preparations of the Car Boot sale.

The following day they cleaned the clothes and on Friday, they all went to Rt. Apollo Kakunda’s place in Kigo to do the ironing, sorting and labeling the items for sale. It was such a marvel to see Rotarians working with one heart during the whole exercise.

Come d-day, the members enjoyed selling the items the way people in down town St. Balikuddembe market do their trade.  It was very interesting to see AG Kimera and Rtn. Monica selling the items and enticing buyers in Luganda. President Peace was everywhere like the MTN network. At one point in time you’d find him at the molokony stall, then at the tent for crafts and in blink of an eye you’d find him selling shoes.

P.E Enid spiced here trade by singing and dancing thus attracting clients at her stall of jeans. You couldn’t miss Rtn. Isma and Rtn. Flavia who were very busy counting every coin that came in, their eyes were widely open, in that the times they blinked their eyes was not more than four. Thanks guys for that enthusiasm.

PAG Charles Byanyima spent his time enticing policemen to buy skirts and blouses for their spouses. Rtn. Mahogany who came in at 4:00pm on Sunday amused buyers when he started selling belts saying that they were good for bend over dance. He actually attracted a number for his antics.

Pp Karooli and PP Theresa made sure that whoever came in went back with something they would sweet talk them telling them how the items were going to make them better family people, which enticed people to buy at least one item.

Rtn. Juliet was wearing the widest simile ever, when she saw people coming in one by one to buy items in aid of the destitute children. You could read it from the way she walked with a swag across the grounds.

When AG Ann came she couldn’t believe that the Rotary Club of Kajjansi could do such a wonderful car boot sale. She went away satisfied that ekintu kyabadde kya nnyo.

Rotarian Annet tried as much as possible to woo police women to buy clothes for their children telling them how such children would become inspectors of Police. This enticed the female police officers to buy for their children so that they don’t miss the chances in future “anti ebirungi biri mu maaso”.

The others who made the car boot sale worth noting included Rtns Andrew and Rose who danced paka chini to the amusement of the buyers who wondered why the two couldn’t join Amarula family.

Rtn. Adrine and her Andy made sure people had something to eat and drink. Others included Rtn. Mukalazi, Rtn. Rose and our new Rtn. Frank.

Yes Rtn. Hajati Safina was busy selling anti-aging creams to every lady who visted her stall and by the look of things she left the show grounds a satisfied lady.

Rotaractors from Kisubi did a wonderful job with their little ones the interactors from New Hitech. They did almost all the work you can think of from singing songs calling customers to packing customers’ goods in buvera.

IPP John  Mary came in walking in a swagarific way nodding his head as a sign of satisfaction that RC Kajjansi had not ashamed him.

And of course yours truly was busy taking both motion and still pictures to tell the story afterwards.

Thanks everybody who made this car boot sale a worthwhile event. We also that thse Rotary Clubs that visted and participated, Kampala central, Entebbe, Kampala South, Kyengera, and our Rotaract club of Kisubi Brothers University, and Interact Club of New Hitech SS