A Look Back at Rotary Youth Leadership Awards 2020
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, also known as RYLA, is an event organized by Rotary and Rotaract Clubs that encapsulates the essence of Rotary–fun, fellowship and service to the community while motivating young people to network and strive for greatness.
Introduced in 1971, RYLA was envisioned to bring together participants aged 14-30 to engage in a few days’ retreat filled with activities such as presentations, workshops, community service and team-building.
Almost half a century of existence is an indicator that RYLA must be doing something right. Right? Right.
This year the RYLA team set out to have a destination event on the white sandy shores of Diani, complete with a day trip to the Island of Wasini.
Guys, nothing and I mean, nothing, could have prepared us for the events of the year 2020. When Covid-19 hit Kenya in March, we were back on the drawing board to restrategize on how we were going to deliver a value-based virtual webinar and bring members together to spread good cheer and remain in touch, without touching!
The journey to delivering the first-ever Virtual RYLA was incredibly new! Half of the time, you are in panic mode because the truth of the matter is that RYLA sells as a destination event.
There was uncertainty on whether people would still have the same level of interest in a virtual event as clubs had been holding online fellowships for months. There simply was no novelty!
I think the turning point from anxiety to “it can be done” mindset was when I connected to very helpful Rotarians, who not only gave me some incredible ideas on how to make RYLA 2020 an amazing experience, but also a value-based event. Shout out to Dolly Sagwe of Rotary Club of XX and Dixon Karani of Rotary Club of Langata!
Under the leadership of District Rotaract Representative Kennedy Gaya, among other District officials, we pulled it off!
The sessions featured professional development training for the future of work by Natalia Polishchouk from JstWork, financial literacy coaching by Dolly Sagwe from Oracle in Africa, and managing relationships despite going through childhood trauma by Nancy Kabiru from Hisia Psychology Consultants. They were nothing short of electric! The feedback from Rotaractors has been positive, which is all I could ever ask for.
Being part of RYLA 2020 has encouraged me to forge on with work, and with life, even if it scares me shitless. In the end, it’s always worth it! There can be only two outcomes: thrive, or learn and those options look good to me.
June Wangechi-Rotaract Club of Parklands.
