The Interact club of KISU (2013-2014)
The Interact club of KISU was founded by the director of public relations at the Rotary Club of Kasangati, Mrs Sophie Bamoweraki, in September 2013. Since then the club has prospered from having only two Interactors to over twenty active members. Initially the Interact club collaborated with a teenager named Josephine, a sickle cell anemia patient in rural Kampala. Her father passed away from the disease when Josephine was younger, and her mother had recently lost her job. Through organization and conduction of several fundraisers, the club was able to raise over 1 million Ugandan Shillings which was used to purchase a crutch, medication, shoes (specially designed for her as her right leg was four centimeters shorter due to her medical condition), and enabled Josephine to get a general check up as well as an X-ray scan of her hip. Although this was a small-scale project, there was nothing small about Josephine and her mother’s smiles of gratitude.
In October, the Interact club of KISU had their very first opportunity to work as an arm of the mother club, The Rotary Club of Kasangati. The Interactors had the chance to aid the community by assisting in the public sales and healthcare sectors. It was a touching experience especially because the Interact club of KISU encompassed several future doctors and they were able to get a glimpse of their potential career. Another prestigious event the members of the Interact club of KISU were able to attend was the Rotary International Presidential New Generations Africa Conference 2013. The Interactors were blessed enough to be able to exchange a few words with the Rotary International President Mr. Ron Burton and his wife, Mrs. Burton. The conference gravitated around the theme of empowerment and it was a poignant event which deeply touched many Interactor’s hearts.
The Interact club of KISU, evidently, was gaining momentum and developing more courage and knowledge to tackle down larger projects, which led the club’s collaboration with Sir Apollo Kaggwa Memorial Primary School Manyagwa Gayaza- a local primary school with a deficit in fundamental resources such as notebooks and pencils. The president of the Interact club of KISU then bowed to provide them with the equipment needed to allow the pupils to soar. Interactors worked together to conceive completely revolutionized fundraisers such as “movie night”, as well as selling roses on Valentine’s Day. Ultimately the club was blessed with over 1million Ugandan Shillings (again!), in addition to the 100USD the district chair of Uganda and Tanzania donated to aid the club’s success.
On March 17th, the club members were finally able to hand over the resources which had been purchased for the occasion, which included 2 netballs, 2 footballs, 1 world map, 1 pump, 2 javelins, 100 boxes of crayons & coloured pencils, 2 shot-puts, a tape measure and 315 custom-designed notebooks.
They say that what you give is what you get, I, as the president of the Interact Club of KISU can only hope that the tremendous effort that the Interactors of KISU have put into the projects will fulfil their lives with nothing but blessings and pride to be an excellent ambassador of the International Action Club.
Ingrid Saito
