A Note from the President
August reminded us that Rotary is about people: the friendships we build, the moments we celebrate together and the ways we continue to learn from one another.
This month, we saw that spirit come alive through our club meetings, buddy groups, fellowship and the achievements of our members. We also saw RCS represented at District level and had members deepen their understanding of grants management through District training.
I am particularly pleased to see our buddy group system taking root. When members feel connected, welcomed and involved, our ability to serve together becomes even stronger.
As you read this edition of MAUVOO, I hope you see our people, our friendships and the spirit of service that makes Rotary Club of Syokimau special.
Keep connecting. Keep serving. Keep showing up. 😉
Rtn. Taddeo Mwaura
President, Rotary Club of Syokimau | 2026/27
The Rotary Club of Syokimau: The Human Side of Service
People describe Rotary through its visible work: the projects, the fundraisers, the meetings, the committees. For me the Rotary Club of Syokimau is defined just as much by what happens quietly, in the everyday moments where members show up for one another.
As a charter member, I have served in leadership and helped shape the club’s journey. Even though I have lived outside Kenya since 2017, the connections I built in RCS have never faded. I still serve, I still participate, and I still feel part of the heartbeat of the club because of the people behind it, both old and new faces. I have remained an active member of the PR and Membership Committees all this time.
The experiences that stay with me are the moments that reveal the heart of the members I continue to call family.
When my mother passed, members didn’t just send messages. They came. They stood with me, prayed with me, and offered comfort that felt genuine and deeply personal. Their presence reminded me that Rotary is a community.
When I “inaugurated my hacienda” in the village, some members travelled to be part of that milestone. They sat with my family, shared meals, and turned a simple house opening into a celebration of friendship and belonging.
When I had car troubles, members offered rides without hesitation. They adjusted their schedules, made room in their cars, and ensured I got to where I needed to go. A small gesture, and it says a great deal about the culture of care within the club.
When my spouse was away and I was juggling work and parenting and club responsibilities, members showed up with food. They checked on my children, visited us, and made sure the house felt supported. They filled the gaps without being asked.
And in the quieter moments, members invited me into their homes. We shared meals, conversations, and laughter. None of it had anything to do with Rotary projects.
This is the side of Rotary that people rarely talk about, where friendships deepen, families feel supported, and life’s burdens become lighter because someone chooses to walk with you.
Rotary serves communities and builds impact. It also builds people, creating a circle of support that follows you beyond the meeting room and into your real life.
For anyone wondering whether Rotary is worth joining: the projects may draw you in, and the people will make you stay. And if you are as fortunate as I have been, those people will stand with you through milestones, challenges, and everyday life in ways that define what true fellowship means.
Club Meetings
August was a month of membership, fellowship and celebrating our members.
We started the month with a Club Assembly, where the Membership Director shared her passion and journey as a Rotarian.
The Membership Committee also conducted a live membership survey, creating space for members to share their experiences and perspectives.
We concluded the month with a special home-hosted fellowship at the SAA’s home, fellowship at its most straightforward.
Member Spotlight
This month we shine the light on members whose stories and contributions enrich our club.
Rtn. Prof. Margaret Awuor Owuor
A journey of purpose. A world of impact. We celebrate Rtn. Prof. Margaret Awuor Owuor on her promotion to Tenured Associate Professor at the University of Bern, Switzerland.
A distinguished National Geographic Explorer and Conservation Ecologist, Prof. Margaret leads pioneering research in biodiversity conservation and nature-based solutions. Her dedication to knowledge, nature and people continues to inspire us, in Rotary and beyond.
Rtn. Irene Waeni
Keeping the spark alive. This month we celebrate Rtn. Irene Waeni, our Buddy Group Champion, turning fellowship into connection and keeping members engaged, laughing and learning together.
Her philosophy is simple: when everyone is laughing, participating, learning and checking the scoreboard, we know we're doing something right. That spirit is exactly what the buddy group system is designed to nurture.
Rtn. Lucy Njambi Wainaina
Welcome to the RCS family, Rtn. Lucy Njambi Wainaina!
Advocate of High Court of Kenya
W Gichuhi & Company Advocates
The newest member of the club, Lucy is already serving on the Public Relations Committee and is an active member of the Mwecheche buddy group 💪🏾. Committees are not reserved for veterans. There is room to step up from the beginning.
Serving at District Level
Rotary Club of Syokimau members continue to serve beyond the club, taking on roles that strengthen Rotary across District 9216.
This service lets our members share their experience, learn from Rotarians across the district and bring new ideas back to the club.
Learning Beyond the Club
Sometimes service starts with learning.
District Grants Management Training
Lincence and Vye represented Rotary Club of Syokimau at the District Grants Management Training.
The training offered informative sessions on finance and how grants are managed within the Rotary network. Knowledge that strengthens the club’s ability to plan for and manage grant-supported work.
The training also showed how other Rotary clubs are working, an opening to exchange ideas and see what is possible across the wider Rotary network.
Celebrating Our Members
August gave us plenty of reasons to celebrate our people, from personal milestones and special occasions to the simple joy of spending time together. We showed up, cheered one another on, shared a few laughs and made memories along the way.
Fellowship is the birthdays, achievements, invitations, catch-ups and unexpected moments that remind us that behind every Rotary role is a person, and a community that celebrates them.
Celebrating our members is part of celebrating the community we are building together.
Buddy Groups
Your Buddy: Why Rotary Club of Syokimau Runs on Friendship
When most people hear "Rotary," they picture a room full of serious adults in blazers, nodding solemnly over chicken and rice while someone reads minutes from the last meeting in a voice reserved for church readings. Important work happens there. If that were all Rotary Club of Syokimau was, half of us would have quietly slipped out the back door after our first induction and never been seen again.
The secret nobody puts on the recruitment poster: Rotary works because of buddy groups. Not the committees, not the constitution. The buddies.
The Induction Problem Nobody Talks About
Picture it. You've just been inducted. Someone pins something on your lapel, claps you on the back, hands you a member badge that spells your name wrong, and then... you're on your own. You're standing in a room of confident, established Rotarians who all seem to share seventeen inside jokes and a group chat you're not on. You smile. You nod. You wonder if it's too late to develop a sudden, unexplainable allergy to Thursday evenings.
This is the exact moment where Rotary either wins a member for life, or loses one quietly, politely, and forever.
Buddy groups exist to close that gap before it opens.
What a Buddy Group Actually Does
A buddy group is Rotary's version of being handed a friend at the door instead of a form. It's the difference between:
- "Please review section 4.2 of the club bylaws,"
- "Eh, sit here, the samosas run out fast, trust me."
Your buddy is the person who texts you before the meeting to ask if you're coming, saves you a seat, laughs at your jokes even when they're only mildly funny, and quietly explains who's who without making you feel like you should already know. Your buddy is the reason you come back a second time, and a fifth time, and eventually the reason you can't imagine your week without a Syokimau Rotary gathering in it.
Because people don't stay in clubs. They stay in relationships that happen to meet inside a club.
Friendship and Fun Are the Recipe
Rotary International has always insisted that fellowship and fun sit right alongside service as founding pillars, because they understood something we forget in our eagerness to look serious and impactful: tired, disconnected people don't sustain service. Joyful, connected people do.
You cannot build boreholes, feed vulnerable families, run health camps, or mentor young people on empty relational tanks. Burnout does not announce itself with a memo. It shows up as members who quietly stop coming. Buddy groups are Rotary Syokimau's insurance policy against that. They make sure nobody does life, or service, alone.
It is far easier to show up at 6:30am for a tree-planting exercise in the cold when your buddy already texted "I'll pick you up, don't be that person who's late again." It's far easier to stay committed to a fundraiser when the person beside you is someone who knows your birthday, has met your children, and once helped you push your car out of a ditch on Syokimau Road.
Doing Life Together, One Awkward WhatsApp Group at a Time
Every great buddy group starts the same way: a slightly chaotic WhatsApp group with a name nobody agreed on, at least one voice note that's four minutes too long, and a running joke that outsiders will never understand. And somehow, from that chaos, something beautiful grows, people who check in on each other beyond the meeting hall. People who celebrate promotions, mourn losses, attend each other's weddings, and show up not because a schedule says so, but because friendship insists on it.
That's the Rotary Club of Syokimau difference. We are building a village, one buddy pairing at a time, where "service above self" is lived out by people who genuinely like each other, laugh with each other, and would drop everything to help each other, project or no project.
An Invitation, Not a Recruitment Pitch
If you're a new member wondering whether you fit in, you do. Find your buddy. Answer their texts. Show up to the thing even when you're tired. The fellowship is part of the real work.
And if you're an existing member, check on your buddy this week. Not about attendance numbers or dues. Ask how they are doing. That is the whole point.
Rotary Club of Syokimau is a group of friends who happen to be changing the world together, one buddy, one laugh, and one slightly-too-long voice note at a time.
Rotary Club of Syokimau - Service Above Self, Friendship Above Formality.
August Recap
Membership. Fellowship. Celebration. Connection.
A month of connection and participation. The buddy group system is showing that friendship strengthens the way we serve together.
September 2026 | Calendar of Events
September is Basic Education and Literacy Month: fellowship, wellbeing, education and connection.
Thursday 3 September
Joint Cluster Fellowship
The Rotary Foundation: understanding the Foundation and our role in it. Speaker: DREC Patrick Muchemi.
67 Airport Hotel · 7:00 PM
Thursday 10 September
World Suicide Prevention Day
A conversation on mental health and suicide prevention, led by President Elect Dr. Mercy Karanja.
67 Airport Hotel · 7:00 PM
Thursday 17 September
Basic Education and Literacy Month
Guest speaker: Mrs. Radina, or a representative from St. Augustine Mlolongo Secondary School.
67 Airport Hotel · 7:00 PM
20 to 22 September
Kinangop Project Inauguration
Inauguration of the Kinangop Project at North Kinangop Catholic Hospital.
Venue and time to be announced
Thursday 24 September
Buddy Group Fellowship
A bonding activity led by one of the buddy groups.
67 Airport Hotel · 7:00 PM