AS WE RING OUT THE OLD YEAR: 2021

Rotary family (of Rotarians and Rotaractors worldwide) make up 1.4 million among 7.9 billion people globally; barely 0.018%. We Rotarians are deeply privilege to be part of this unique family which comprises of all races, religions, and professions, who share values and goals in life who have come together to serve to change lives. We are as strongly committed to grow our Rotary family to do more good in the world. That has been RI President Shekhar’s challenge – Each One Bring One. 

While growing Rotary, our Rotarians have been made mindful not to sacrifice quality for quantity, which is self-defeating in the longer run. We anticipate clubs to achieve exceptionally large numbers of new inductees (membership expansion) and a good number of new clubs (membership extension) this year.

Lastly, we remember with great sadness late PDES(D9211)/DGN(D9213) Aggrey Kankunda and all other Rotarians who passed on this year. They left their imprints in the communities they served and in our hearts. We were privileged to have had them walk with us, side by side on our Rotary journey.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES AS WE RING IN THE NEW YEAR: 2022

New culture does not happen because it has been declared. It takes times to be practiced enough to be internalized. With constant reminders we will deepen our culture of  Putting Clubs at the centre with the District providing support and encouragement, Partnering with youth in project design, leading interact clubs, and promoting internships in Rotarian run organizations, and Teamwork in everything we do from project design and implementation to running club and district committees, and collaboration across clubs.

In addition, new frontiers are opening up.

Government of Tanzania has reached out to Rotary to join in its effort to eradicate malaria by 2030. 

Rotary has been invited to sit on the Council of Eliminating Malaria. This opens opportunity for Rotary to engage in a dialogue with the Government for collaboration on other fronts where Rotary is effective in changing lives. The most urgent need of yesterday is to support the COVID-19 vaccination rollout. To prepare for it, Rotarians in Tanzania can learn from the experience of their counterparts who have supported the same in Uganda.

Promote “Mindset change” in projects. Sustainable development does not happen automatically because we have provided improved facility, built structures, provided books, desks and chairs, delivered computers, trained staff, and provided seedlings. Very often, the outcomes aspired for from such interventions need mindset changes for the impact to be felt and to be long lasting. 

Often these interventions require a number of minimal costs which can be incorporated at any point in the project cycle. They can even be introduced as a stand-alone “zero-cost” projects. Some mindset changes involve: 

  • Talking to parents to bring about mindset change to make parents willing to give deserving girls fair opportunity to advance to higher levels of schooling. 
  • Introducing a system at schools which will help eliminate water wastage. 
  • Providing strong incentive to encourage ownership by children of the seedlings they planted, making them eager to keep caring for them. 
  • Sharing with mothers what they can cook the night before and set aside so that children can eat before going to school and improve their school performance. Other creative and exciting possibilities are rearing their heads on the horizon, but too early to mention them here. May your New Year Rotary journey be exciting, stimulating and rewarding. May your pursuit of creative solutions add to the Mindset change menu of our District to make our projects more vibrant and impactful.

Each year, continue To give more, for the District to do more to grow more to Change Lives!