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”
