SERVING AS CLUB MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR
Having been a member of this amazing 34-year-old Rotary Club, full of happy people for the past 11 years, and having served as a Past President and different capacities in District 9212, it only deemed fit that I support my Immediate Past President Veronica Ndumbi and current President Hilda Gikera in managing the Membership Committee of the Club.
I vividly remember the first day I set foot at the Rotary Club of Hurlingham’s fellowship at Jacaranda Hotel in Westlands Nairobi, the reception was warm and very welcoming, I felt I belonged from day one and joining Rotary was one of the best decisions I have made in my life.
I always tell people I love my club because it is a warm and happy club, an all-inclusive club with no drama which is bound to happen whenever you have a group of people in any organization. We have a good balance in terms of gender and age and that makes the mix quite interesting. We love to serve, we do things genuinely within the Club and at District level and a lot of our Past Presidents are still active. Our Club members are dedicated volunteers who share a passion for both Community Service and Friendship.
Over the years, we have had members joining and leaving the Club for various reasons but IPP Veronica and I agreed to work largely on Membership Retention besides increasing our numbers with new good quality members. We take our time to induct new members. I keep telling prospective members to not be in a hurry to join, and instead encourage them to check out and visit other clubs just to ensure that they fit within the group dynamics. Each of our prospective member is assigned a mentor (normally different from the person who introduced them to the Club) who then guides them for at least three or more months until they become a member.
We equally have introduced many members to other clubs after all we are all one big Rotary family but they still come back to fellowship with us once in a while because of the warmth. Last Rotary year we inducted six new very vibrant members even though we had so many prospective members on the pipeline but we needed them to feel comfortable and ready before inducting them and we managed to retain 100% Membership at the end of the year.
Beyond our Club level, we have actively been working together with our Rotaractors from Rotaract Club of Technical University of Kenya (TUK) and Rotaract Club of Hurlingham. We have many joint activities with them and we always have at least five or more Rotaractors in our weekly fellowships. We attend their fellowships too, give talks in their respective clubs, support their projects and we are currently having an ongoing mentorship program with them led by our New Generations Director Coach Jaki Wasike-Sihanya.
This first quarter of the Rotary year, we added five new members to the RCH family, some who have been guests for years. The induction ceremony was presided over by IPDG Alex Nyaga, who challenged us, that being an old and active club, we should increase our efforts and double our membership number. We accepted the challenge and look forward to inducting our next set of four or more prospective members in October and hopefully by the end of this Rotary year, we will have increased our Club Membership by at least 50% if not more.
We plan to continue engaging and connecting with our existing as well as prospective members through interesting & fun weekly fellowships, service projects and socials. We are keen on growing leadership beyond the Club Level and have encouraged our Club members to join the various District Committees, give talks in other Clubs on both Rotary and professional matters and more so, participate in the various District Trainings. I wish to thank everyone who has supported my Membership Committee in retaining and growing the Rotary Club of Hurlingham membership and also to remind every Rotarian that the responsibility to grow Rotary belongs with every member, every single day. I believe we grow Rotary because it expands our capacity to do good in the world.
~PCC Saum Siraj, Membership Director