I was told to share my Rotaract story and I didn't
quite know what to share because of two reasons. One I feel it isn't as
intriguing as all those Rotaract stories that have been shared in the past
(mind you I have read all of them, hehe I can actually attach a face to every
story, and they just inspire me and renew my energy every time so kudos RAC MMU
on this) and two, I'm used to inviting Rotaractors to my club, the Rotaract
Club of Kitengela, to share their journeys so I never imagined I would be on
the other side.
My Rotaract journey began in 2016. I was in my
final year of study in JKUAT. I had heard about Rotaract on an amateur level
but I didn't enquire more about it because I assumed it would be like any other
community-based organization and also I wasn't a 'people' person. It was around
that time in my final year when I wanted to be part of a club, mind you any
club. Something that I could include in my CV.
How did I hear about Rotaract? There are two friends of mine who kept sharing Rotaract posters,
one is a past president of the Rotaract Club of Kenyatta University
@dan_muthoka and the other was my classmate, past president of the Rotaract
Club of JKUAT and now currently ADRR @meltreen_sikele. It took some bit of time
before I could attend any Rotaract meeting because I was one shy lady and I
just had to convince one of my close friends to accompany me 😂 So when she
was convinced, we attended the first meeting and we immediately wanted to join.
Guess why? Okay this is rhetorical haha. For myself, I heard the SAA talk about
happy dollar, sad dollar and airtime. That just wowed me. This was my first
'buying' point. I think what caught my attention was the uniqueness in the
meeting, the vibrancy and creativeness during that particular first meeting.
Yeah first impressions count!
After a couple of weeks to joining Rotaract, which
at that particular point I didn't quite understand what I had gotten myself
into, I got involved in the club service committee and I was placed into a
professional development group as well (every member was supposed to be part of
a professional development group apart from the committee itself). So we
identified schools to mentor and also got to engage with a Rotarian from the
mother club who was assigned to mentor a specific Prof Dev group. This was my
second 'buying' point.
Let me take a trip down Memory Lane... my first school to go on mentorship. It was one afternoon and I don't know where I got the guts to go for mentorship given how shy I was imagine how that went. Okay don't, haha you're all completely wrong. It turned out to be awesomely awesome haha. So we went to Thika Primary to mentor the kids as a group of around eight. Every friend of mine knows I love to make lots of notes and keep journals even if I won't read from them. Haha that's exactly what I did and turns out I inspired some kids especially those of my height haha.
What motivates me to keep going in Rotaract? Every time I engage in my club's activities, every time I attend other
clubs meetings, every time I attend other clubs events, every time I attend the
country events just ignites my passion and inspires me to impact more.
The one
question that I get from anyone who has no idea what Rotaract is all about or
anyone who doesn't understand the basics is 'you make all those posters, I mean
sometimes I think you are an event planner and then there's the numerous phone
calls, do you get paid?' It's justified to ask that question but I believe that
is always a bogus question (no offense). You don't have to be paid for you to
do something impactful. There is more value to something than physical monetary
value. We rise by lifting others. We make a living by what we get, but we
make a life by what we give.
To Rotaractors out there, keep impacting the world
positively. To Rotaractors in waiting or prospective members or anybody who has
no idea what Rotaract is all about, I was there and every time I bash myself
out for not learning about the organization sooner. Take initiative, attend
club fellowships and find the right people to mentor you into what we do. As
Albert Einstein said, "only a life lived for others is worth living."
To sum it up, I have learnt so many things as a
Rotaractor but the most important lesson has been to always take up every
challenge no matter how crazy, uncertain, or vague it is. People will tell you
"girl, you're crazy to think that you can pull it off" but such
people should be your motivation to face the challenge with all your strength.
Cheers to Rotary and Rotaract world over.
Bless!
#serviceaboveself
#betheinspiration
#racmmucares
#TFTwithRacMMU
#TransformationalTuesdayswithracmmu
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