In the absence of President Paul Russell, President Elect Mark Butcher welcomed our guests, Sue Heath-Caldwell, wife of JJ Heath-Caldwell, Linda Watson, guest of JJ, Thomas Bwambale, club guest, and Yuki Panyapinid, our next prospective GRSP student, guest of our Youth team.
This was scheduled to be the evening when Mike Court, our Club Secretary, was to give his Life Talk. Sadly, Mike was unwell.
There were many club notices regarding club upcoming events, including fundraising, social and international. Tony Catesby gave us a very uplifting update on one of our international projects – ‘Lend With Care’.
Nick Bell gave us an excellent visual presentation, expertly created by our Winchester Rotary/Winchester University scholar, Thomas Bwambale.
Recently, Nick was invited to the Great Lakes Peace Centre in Kasese as their guest of honour to take part in the celebrations to mark the installation of Afan Abdullah as 5th President of Kasese Snow Peaks Rotary Club. The presentation photos showed us what an incredible occasion this was – full of colour and ceremony, together with much dancing, singing and eating – especially of celebration cakes!
Nick brought us up up to date with all the events taking place at the Great Lakes Peace Centre, (GLPC), since its inception in 2017 by three young Rotaractors. The far reaching benefits of the many projects Winchester Rotary has enabled at GLPC are heart warming and a great example of what Rotary achieves overseas. We have 35 children whose education is supported by 21 Winchester Rotarians. We have raised funds to enable, at different schools, the building of a library, a classroom, and a toilet block, including our latest project – funding a mobile library.
We support ongoing health education and development, including a Hepatitis Education project and ambulance transport for expectant mothers.
The latest GLPC initiative is the setting up of a coffee roasting business for the sale of coffee locally and overseas.
In January 2023 a group of Winchester Rotarians visited Kasese to see for themselves the ongoing work at GLPC where they met and made so many new friends.
The evening presentation concluded with Thomas Bwambale updating us on his progress at Winchester University. His Foundation year has been a huge success. He has gained 120 credits, with average marks of 87% and full marks in Academic Skills. We wish Thomas every success and happiness in his forthcoming academic year.
We wish Mike Court a speedy recovery.
Diana Brooks
