DISTRICT GOVERNORS REPORT PRESENTED DURING 2ND CABINET MEETING, ARUSHA

Fellow Lions and Leos,

It is a great pleasure for me to meet you here in Arusha for the second Cabinet meeting .May I on the onset take this opportunity to wish you all a healthy and prosperous new year and also thank you for your support since I took the mantle of Leadership in District 411B seven months ago. The first Cabinet meeting was held in Kampala on 14^th September 2012 and was successful and well attended as per attendance sheet in the minutes.

We are now in the second half of our Lionistic year so it is time to review our goals and objectives in this year of ‘COMMITMENT TO SERVE - IN A WORLD OF SERVICE.’

The journey started with you electing me and subsequently going to the installation in Busan, Korea where I learnt a lot and have been passing on this message as I visited the various clubs.

We have been to almost all the 39 Lions and respective Leo clubs in the DISTRICT, and I want to thank them personally on behalf of Edith and myself, from the bottom of our hearts for having warmly and affectionately received us by all clubs. Thank you for the gifts and courtesy accorded to us.  At this juncture I would like to welcome to our fold all the clubs and new members that joined us this Lionistic year (Busia, Kumi etc and all members inducted). I have talked to some members of cancelled clubs in the hope of reviving them and we are going to talk more since I have concluded the official club visits. The following discussion is about our achievements and corresponding challenges for some during this first half of the Lionistic year. There is at least two clubs in the pipe line i.e Bwera and Kabarole in zone five.

1. MEMBERSHIP:

District 411B has been struggling to keep afloat for the last past few years. Membership at the beginning was only 1047. Before we took office we set a target of 235 members by the end of the Lionistic year 135 of which would be members added to the old clubs and the rest from new charter clubs. I am proud to announce to you that so far two clubs have been chartered in Uganda, that is, the Lions clubs of Busia and Kumi and in total to date 176 members have been added. A key to finishing strong is to have a strong start whenever possible and this is exactly what we have done in the first quarter. For this the International President recognized your District Governor with the FAST START AWARD, cruising speed level, which I received during the 40^th ISAAME forum. The following is how we are fairing as a District;

District Membership

	This Month	This Year
Opening Balance	1,139	1,047
Added Members	17	176
Dropped Members	1	82
Closing Balance	1,139	1,139
Net Gain/Loss	0	92

Worldwide

1,370,460

MMR Reporting History

Club Name	Month/Year
BUSIA GREATER (116940)	05/2012
YUMBE (89531)	05/2012
SHINYANGA DIAMOND FIELD (59500)	06/2012
DAR ES SALAAM AZANIA (77332)	07/2012
KYENJOJO (108105)	07/2012
KAMPALA CITY (61853)	08/2012
KABALE (51867)	09/2012
MOROGORO (105838)	09/2012
ARUA (65008)	10/2012

Clubs Status Changes

Status Quo

Canceled

Club Name	Charter Date
KUMI CENTRAL (118304)	11/15/2012

Club Name	Reason	Date
KILIMANJARO L C (27839)	Financial Suspension	12/07/2012
MUSOMA (27842)	Financial Suspension	11/09/2012

Service Activities

	This Month	This Year
Clubs with Activities	0	23
Clubs without Activities	38	15

The table shows the state we are in, the reporting history, the clubs on status quo and the activities reported at INTERNATIONAL. I would like to thank all the clubs that have brought in new members some have already hit the target of more than 5 e.g. Lions clubs of Mount Meru-New Century, Dar es salaam Amani, Kampala Cosmopolitan, Kampala Central, and Kasese just to mention a few. All is not glossy in membership we have not been closing our back door tightly because clubs have dropped about 80 members so net increase is only 92 how I wish there would be zero drop in every club.

2. RETENTION:

Members must be retained at all cost. When good people stop coming to our meetings it is the responsibility of CLUB members to bring them back because we should not only serve the community but our members first. That is why there should be total commitment amongst ourselves.

3. LEADERSHIP PROGAMMES:

Leadership development is a key to growth in Lionism without which it would be crippled. This year Leadership training has been carried out in both countries and it is being done by clubs in form of orientations. Many Lions from Uganda and one from Arusha attended the Emerging Lions Regional Institute held at Kasarani sports view hotel in Nairobi in October 2012. Some Lions have applied for Leadership courses in Faculty Development and Faculty Training INSTITUTES (FDI) to take place in Oran, Algeria next month.

4. PEACE POSTER CONTEST:

Every Year a theme is chosen to guide our young ones illustrate themselves on how they perceive peace. This year’s theme was ‘IMAGINE PEACE’. We received posters from the following clubs; Lions club of Kampala Central, Dar es Salaam Pwani, Dar es Salaam Mzizima, Mwanza Valentine, and the best one sent to our Multiple District in Mombasa. The winner from our sub district was Johvan Opiira sponsored by Lions Club of Kampala Central.

5. LCIF GRANTS:

Our District received L.C.I.F emergency disaster relief grant of US $5000. This was donated to 147people from 26 households of the Landslide victims in Bududa in the Eastern part of Uganda. The items included blankets, mosquito nets, tarpaulins and water purifying tablets. The Ugandan clubs added $ 1000.

6. LIONS QUEST:

This is doing well in both countries and both convenors have applied for the extension of these programs and we are awaiting the few queries that were raised by the INTERNATIONAL once they are ironed out we hope to get the funding.

7. EDUCATION PROJECT:

As you are well aware our International President is stressing the READING ACTION PROGRAM (RAP) I have been stressing this myself as I visited each club. That helping here and there in contributing scholastic materials would go a long way in uplifting the standard of education. Our International President took on this project because it affects the whole World both developed and under developed. Many clubs have taken the initiative and are involved in extending facilities within schools, building new classrooms, equipping schools with computers and other educational materials.  

8. WOMEN MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT:

We desire to have more women members in our fold as this would boost our organization. We have so far sent one lady Lion to a women symposium in Bangalore and more were nominated for the one to take place in Oran Algeria in February.

9. LONG TERM PROJECTS:

A number of clubs are involved in various long term projects and some clubs have succeeded in procuring the LCIF grants. Such projects are that of Kabale-Rugarama Hospital, Orphanage Centre in Kasese, etc.

10. ENVIRONMENT:

This is one of the major activities for our International President and Am glad all clubs are carrying out tree planting activities. During the club visits, I made it clear how these trees are important to our health. For example how they utilize the carbon dioxide which we breathe out and produce the oxygen we breathe in.

11. CONCLUSION:

I whole heartedly thank the senior Lions in our Leadership of District 411B for their continued support during the first half of this Lionistic year, and the entire Lions fraternity at large for relentlessly serving the less fortunate of our communities. Am proud and grateful to the following dedicated Lions; Ln. Abdul M Khan, Hon. Shem Bageine, Manish Chavda, Burhan Mohammed, Mary Polly Attan, David Mutayisa, Salim Sulemanji, Dr. Hussein Hassan, Rizwan Qadri, Ghazi Dar Naeemullar, Dr. Martin Engullu, Timothy Batuwa, Dr. Kanabar, Ln.Bakari ,Godfrey,Sawe, Sedrace Rwekikiga, Valeria Mwesigwa and lastly Lion Edith who has tirelessly accompanied me in all visits.

We hope that in the spirit of COMMITMENT TO SERVE by each and every LION individually, and each and every Club, Zone, and Region in District 411B will continuously uphold our International Motto of ‘We Serve’.

We look forward to the remaining half of the year ahead in the slogans of ‘In a World of Service, with Commitment to Serve’.

LION  JOSEPH . W. KIWANUKA

DISTRICT GOVERNOR 2012/2013