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Touching a
Nation
75 years of the
Rotary Club of Nairobi
A Chronicle researched, compiled and
written by
Friedel Liebe-Savage
Honorary Member of the Rotary Club of
Nairobi
( - All proceeds are for the benefit of
the Club’s Charitable Trust -)
As the first outpost between South Africa
and Egypt the Rotary Club of Nairobi and its rich history has
turned into a legacy. The achievements and, even more so, the
means to triumph in the face of insurmountable problems are
inspirational for future Rotarians. Much of the evidence
vanished when the Club archives were irretrievably lost. Amazing
stories of accomplishments often based on human sacrifice and
true Service above Self would have faded away, if the
merits of great men – and now women – remained unrecorded.
The interest in this Club’s history from
overseas and local visiting Rotarians has only increased over
the years. By now the fascination generated by the oldest and
most vibrant Club in this part of the world is impressive
indeed.
And as the RCN never really stood alone
during the past 75 years, the involvement of other clubs from
around the world inevitably plays a part in this history
affecting an even wider readership, which spans from Sweden to
Singapore, from Jamaica to Japan, and from America to Australia.
On Wednesday, 12th March 1930, the
local newspaper reported, ‘Rotary Movement comes to Kenya.’ But
this history starts well before that date as every founder
member had already left his mark on the colony by the time he
joined the movement. Some had become legendary before they
became Rotarians, such as Tommy Wood, the town’s Mayor, and the
first European to open a shop when Nairobi was still called
Nyarobe, featuring no more than a few rows of tin huts erected
by railway workers. There was the Eton-educated grocer Rotarian
Sir Derek Erskine, who wrote to UN Secretary General Dag
Hammarskjöld in New York, offering Nairobi as the paradise the
UN was seeking to build its second headquarters. History showed
that he had sown the seed which changed Nairobi’s place from a
mere capital city to a platform for
world peace. Rotarian Major
Sir Cavendish Bentinck, later to become the eighth Duke of
Portland, left his mark on Kenya by fiercely guarding its
natural recourses, while Rotarian Sir Ernest Vasey held the
distinction of serving as Minister for Finance – and as Rotarian
– not just in one but in two East African countries. One of the
most prominent ministers in today’s government was once
sponsored by the Club. He went overseas for a post-graduate
scholarship only to return and become a Rotarian himself by
joining the RCN. When the colony’s new optician Vic Browse
joined the Club, it was barely two years old. When this Golden
Rotarian died at the age of 94, his Club was 66 years old.
The list of dignitaries and ordinary mortals,
who have touched this nation as members of this Club, seems
inexhaustible. Researching their biographies was often rewarded
by the revelation of the most fascinating details. The
multifaceted life of every Rotarian in this book has helped turn
a mere account of achievements into an absorbing tale of trials
and tribulations, tragedies and triumphs.
Among the abundance of unique events
surrounding their efforts they did not know that theirs is the
only Rotary Club in the world ever to have influenced the
planning of a Capital City. Over the past 75 years, the
achievements of Rotarians have touched the lives of millions,
including those seven thousand who, over the past twenty years,
arrived at the Club’s Eye-Camps blind and helpless, only to
leave the next day with their eyesight restored. There are the
tens of thousands, who received medical care, thanks to
Rotarians from overseas partner clubs. And in the skies over
East Africa there flies an aeroplane called: ‘The Helping
Rotary’, ferrying volunteer doctors to the most inaccessible
places in the country. The future of whole village communities
has been altered with the help of the Rotary Club of Nairobi.
Several doctors from Sweden, who volunteer their time and
services regularly, have marked their home away from home by
building a sauna in the desert, emphasising that for them Rotary
really does embrace the world.
There is no Rotary Club in all of East
Africa, including the islands in the Indian Ocean, which cannot
trace its roots back to the mother of all Clubs in Nairobi. And
although the borders of the district have changed several times,
the links between members and clubs have only strengthened.
This book is an account of the lives of more
than one hundred Rotarians, who have shaped and improved the
future of the less fortunate in their community. As this history
grew with the Club, it was inevitable that the activities and
projects of other clubs were woven into the colourful tapestry
that covers Rotary in East Africa. And since clubs from around
the world have influenced the work of the RCN, some of their
histories naturally play a part as well.
This Club’s chronicle would be incomplete
were it not entwined with the historic events of this nation and
indeed, the progress of Rotary International, often highlighted
in the most amazing twist of fate, well beyond the reach of any
fiction author’s grasp. Many shocking events overshadowed but
never hampered the work of Rotarians. And this year-by-year
account shows that, despite the dazzling variety of background
and creed, education and colour, career and prosperity one aim
united this fascinating group of people throughout the past 75
years; it was the ability of joining hands to make a difference.
The recipe for their success, captured on the
pages of this chronicle, will no doubt encourage future
generations to live up to their predecessors’ triumphs. Rotary
has just celebrated its 100th anniversary and there
are now more than one and a quarter million Rotarians around the
world. Yet it seems that, despite the countless Club histories
that are produced regularly, none has ever embraced a peoples’
bleakest and proudest moments to record for posterity the way
Rotarians have touched their nation
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