July 2026 Edition · District 9216
Sharing Our Stories
President Taddeo with his sponsor PP Eric Ombok and Immediate Past President Barrack leading the toast to a new Rotary year.
On 1 July the map changed. New district, new board, new buddy groups. This is the story of our first month, told in our own words.
From the President
President Taddeo Mwaura, installed for the 2026-27 Rotary year, the club’s first president in District 9216.
Dear Rotarians, Rotaractors and Friends,
July marked the beginning of a new chapter for the Rotary Club of Syokimau as we ushered in a new Board and Presidency. It was a moment to celebrate the progress made under the previous leadership, while renewing our commitment to the work ahead. I am grateful to the members who have accepted the responsibility of serving on the Board and to the entire club for the confidence placed in us.
Our theme for the year, Create Lasting Impact, calls us to look beyond being busy. It challenges us to focus our energy on the things that matter most, to serve with purpose and to ensure that what we begin leaves a meaningful difference in our club and in the communities around us. My hope is that we will do fewer things, do them better and do them together.
July’s focus on Sharing Our Stories was therefore timely. Our stories help others understand who we are, why we serve and the impact Rotary can have. They are stories about projects and events, and about friendships formed, lessons shared, leaders developed and members inspired to take action.
Throughout the month, we had many stories worth telling. IPP Barrack Odero and Rtn. Victoria Ojoo brought the Taipei Convention to life through their experiences. We welcomed District Governor Esayas Yeyesuswork and Assistant Governor Sylvia Njambi, who encouraged us to continue sharing the work and spirit of our club.
We strengthened our fellowship through Membership Director PP Isabella Olwenyo’s fitness session, visits to installations and fellowships across other clubs, and the commissioning of our buddy groups. These groups will help us build stronger relationships, improve member engagement and ensure that every member feels connected to the life of the club. We also proudly celebrated Rtn. Prof. Margaret Awuor Owuor on her confirmation as a Full Professor. Congratulations once again on this wonderful achievement.
As this new year unfolds, let us continue telling our stories, strengthening our fellowship and working together to create lasting impact.
Yours in Service,
President Taddeo Mwaura
Create Lasting Impact
“My hope is that we will do fewer things, do them better and do them together.”
The 2026-27 Board
In July a new board took up the work of running this club: the diaries, the budgets, the quiet arrangements that make a Thursday evening happen at all.
Most of what they do, you will never see.
President
President-Elect
Secretary
Finance Director
Sergeant-at-Arms
Immediate Past President
Membership Director
Projects Director
The Rotary Foundation Director
New Generations Director
Public Relations Director
District
On 1 July the map changed. Here is what it means.
District 9216 covers Eritrea, Ethiopia and the Kenyan Central Highlands, Eastern and Coast regions, including Eastern Nairobi. Kenya is striped because the district takes part of the country, not all of it. Boundaries are indicative.
For over a decade this club wrote District 9212 on every banner, certificate and newsletter. From this issue we write District 9216.
Effective 1 July 2026, the former District 9212 divided in two. District 9216 covers Eritrea, Ethiopia, and the Kenyan Central Highlands, Eastern and Coast regions, including Eastern Nairobi. That is where we sit. District 9215 takes Western Kenya, the Rift Valley, Western Nairobi and South Sudan.
Our District Governor is Esayas Yeyesuswork. His four priorities for the year are membership and engagement, giving to The Rotary Foundation, telling the Rotary story, and mentorship for Rotaractors.
Most of what changes is administrative. The club itself carries on: Thursdays at 7.00pm at 67 Airport Hotel, the Village Caravan every year, and a membership that turns up. Districts divide because they grow. Ours grew.
Global Rotary
Our first fellowship of the Rotary year began with a story from the other side of the world.
IPP Barrack Odero and Rtn. Victoria Ojoo in Taipei. They brought the convention home to the club’s first fellowship of the Rotary year. The sharing session was held on 2 July 2026.
Two of our members went to Taipei in June and came back with work for the rest of us.
IPP Barrack Odero and Rtn. Victoria Ojoo, our Projects Director, returned from the Rotary International Convention in Taipei and opened the Rotary year by unpacking what they had seen. They came back with a standard to meet. The room was electric.
We closed the evening toasting a new Rotary year with our President. It was the right way to begin. Look outward first, then turn to one another.
“They came back with a standard to meet.”
District Governor
District 9216 welcomed Governor Esayas Yeyesuswork to Kenya, and he arrived exactly as advertised.
9 July 2026, Luke Hotel, Roasters, Nairobi.
Rotarians from across District 9216 gathered to welcome our District Governor on his first visit to Kenya. The evening had the warmth of a family meeting someone it had heard a great deal about. His catchphrase, “I feel good!”, is simply how he moves through a room, and it is infectious.
Behind the energy sits a clear agenda. DG Esayas has set four priorities for the district year, and each one lands somewhere specific in our club:
Here’s to an impactful year under his watch.
“You meet some leaders and remember their title. You meet Esayas Yeyesuswork and remember his energy.”
Monthly Spotlight
July gave this club a new district, a new board and five new buddy groups. The character of the place stayed exactly where it was.
The club together at the start of the new Rotary year.
On 1 July, District 9212 became two, and the Rotary Club of Syokimau found itself in District 9216, a district only days old, alongside clubs in Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Central Highlands, the Coast and Eastern Nairobi.
Around all of that, the Thursdays stayed the same, the faces stayed the same and the work stayed the same. That continuity is the story.
A great deal did change. A new board took office under President Taddeo Mwaura, inheriting a club that IPP Barrack Odero handed over in good order. Five Buddy Groups were commissioned: The Alchemists, Dontire, Mwecheche Squad, Confluence and Sublime. Each one is a smaller circle inside the bigger one, with a standing brief to notice who has gone quiet.
The month gave us two more things worth recording.
Member Wellbeing
PP Isabella Olwenyo, our Membership Director, put the club through its paces and made a point while doing it.
The Switch Fitness Centre monthly family walk, 11 July 2026.
Membership Director PP Isabella Olwenyo led members through the Switch Fitness Centre monthly family walk, with Rotarians and Rotaractors turning out together. The morning follows a settled pattern. A 12 km walk, then a dance session, and finally a healthy breakfast.
Looking after our physical and mental health is what makes sustained service possible.
“We serve better when we are well.”
Buddy Groups
The club commissioned its Buddy Groups for 2026-27. Five small circles inside one big club.
The five buddy groups for 2026/2027.
The friendships are what bring people back week after week. That is what the Buddy Groups are for.
Members of the Rotary Club of Syokimau are organised this year into five family units. Each group is small enough that people notice when you are missing, and in a club of forty-seven that counts for a great deal.
Members who feel connected come more often and take on more. They stand by one another through life’s joys and sorrows. There is friendly competition between the groups and it keeps things lively. Nobody should feel like a stranger at their own club.
Fellowship. Friendship. Service Above Self.
Buddy Group Champion
“A club is only as strong as the bonds between its members.”
Recognitions
Rtn. Prof. Margaret Awuor Owuor has been confirmed as a Full Professor.
Celebrating Rtn. Prof. Margaret Awuor Owuor in Siaya.
The Rotary Club of Syokimau family proudly joined family, friends and the Siaya community in celebrating the confirmation of our very own Rtn. Prof. Margaret Awuor Owuor as a Full Professor.
A distinguished National Geographic Explorer and Conservation Ecologist, Prof. Margaret serves as Professor of Integrative Biodiversity Conservation Science at the University of Bern, Switzerland, where she leads pioneering research in biodiversity conservation and nature-based solutions.
We are immensely proud to celebrate this remarkable milestone and congratulate Prof. Margaret on this well-deserved achievement. Your Rotary Club of Syokimau family celebrates you and wishes you continued success in your journey of service and excellence.
Here’s to whatever you take on next.
Assistant Governor’s Visit
Assistant Governor Sylvia Njambi visited the club with a message that landed close to home.
Assistant Governor Sylvia Njambi’s visit, 23 July 2026.
Every act of service has a second life, and most clubs never give it one.
Assistant Governor Sylvia Njambi visited the Rotary Club of Syokimau on 23 July and made an argument worth repeating. Documenting our work, she told members, is part of the work. A project that is recorded and shared can move somebody who was not there: a future member, a partner, a donor, a club in another district looking for a model.
A project that goes unrecorded helps only the people in the room on the day.
Her message maps directly onto one of the four priorities District Governor Esayas Yeyesuswork has set for District 9216, telling the Rotary story. That priority sits squarely with this club.
The ask is that all of us do it. Take the photograph. Write down the number of beneficiaries. Send it in.
Thank you, AG Sylvia, for the reminder and for the visit.
“A project that goes unrecorded helps only the people in the room on the day.”
Sharing Our Stories
IPP Barrack Odero presented a hand-made banner to PP Jackline Muia, and with it a piece of the club’s history.
From left: IPP Barrack Odero, AG Sylvia Njambi and PP Jackline Muia.
The photographs on the banner are older than the evening it was given.
They come from the Village Caravan to Siaya in April 2024, when the club donated a tent and seats and planted trees along the River Yala with the Jokinda Moyie Self Help Group. IPP Barrack Odero made the banner himself and gave it to PP Jackline Muia in appreciation.
“Now this photo has an old history. This was village caravan in Siaya in April 2024. We donated a tent and seats and planted hundreds of trees next to River Yala in support of Jokinda Moyie Self Help Group, under Economic Empowerment and Environmental Conservation pillars. I made this banner for PP Jackie as my appreciation.”
IPP BARRACK ODERO
The Month
Everything else July gave us. Fellowships, visits, sessions and the moments in between.
What’s next
Every Thursday · 7.00pm
67 Airport Hotel, Syokimau
Guests are always welcome. Come once and see.
Sharing our stories. Creating lasting impact.
MAUVOO is published by the Rotary Club of Syokimau, Rotary International District 9216.
Edited by Rtn. Miriam Murage, Public Relations Director.
Digital edition, July 2026.