Rotaractors attend the Pillars of Peace Conference in Uganda.

By Joan Nairuba, Rotaract Club of Kololo

The day I was inducted into Rotaract, 19 June 2015, is an unforgettable one for me. Euphoria and celebration rolled around inside me like a tidal wave. I knew I had made a decision that would affect the rest of my life; to dedicate the most energetic years of my youth to Rotary.

Knowing life is finite, I had a heightened resolve to be a part of everything Rotaract has to offer. My career as a lawyer is just getting started, and at first, all I had in mind was what I could offer my club as a lawyer. Little did I know that Rotaract would have an immense effect on my career.

To separate life in Rotaract from your personal life is an absolute impracticality because one feeds the other. The weekly interactions shape your perspective and expand your knowledge, and it’s from these meetings that you either grow or remain stagnant.

Rotaractors conduct a needs assessment at a refugee settlement for the club’s next project on peace and conflict resolution.

Rotaract gives you an opportunity to practice and master qualities that make us better people. It is an avenue to learn, relearn, and unlearn some things that would otherwise impede us, through working with volunteers. If you can lead a group of volunteers and organize them to carry out good works in Rotaract, then managing people in your professional life becomes that much easier.

Rotaract presents a wealth of opportunities and minimum expectations. It is a safe place to learn and grow. And if we live by the values of Rotaract, we have opportunity for immense personal transformation.

Learning about Rotary’s work in Peace and Conflict Resolution has affected my career in so many ways, particularly in mediation. Mediation law refers to a form of alternative dispute resolution in which parties to a lawsuit meet with a neutral third party in an effort to settle the case. The third party is called a mediator. It is this person’s job to listen to the evidence, help litigants come to understand each other, and facilitate a voluntary resolution to the case. The purpose of mediation is to avoid the time and expense of further litigation. Mediation is a compulsory aspect in civil cases in my country.

To whom much is given, much is expected. The Rotaract family immensely blesses us on a daily basis. And we have the opportunity, through Rotaract, to give back. What we put forth, we receive a thousand times over. It’s more than karma, it’s a simple truth and a not so hidden secret to happiness. In a world filled with so much pain, we must do our best to lessen it. With love. With caring. Together.

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