UGANDA: Bobi Wine Receives Rotaract Entebbe Airport Vocational Service Award

The Vocational award is rooted in the second object of Rotary; High ethical standards in business and professions … the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations and the dignifying of each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society. It also eludes the essence of the 5th Rotary Code of conduct; Promote recognition and respect for all occupations which are useful to society.

After a series of consultations with the board, the vocational service directorate went onto a hunt for this year’s vocational service award recipient. Basing on the findings, the directorate nominated Bobi Wine (Robert Kyagulanyi) as this year’s Vocational awardee and consequently barked by the club assembly.

WHO IS BOBI WINE
He was born on 12th February 1982 in Mpingi district, southwest of Kampala. He was baptised Robert Kyagulanyi in the Roman Catholic Church. He went to Makere University.

He started making music in the early 2000s. His first singles were Akagoma, Funtula, and Sunda (featuring Ziggy Dee), which brought Wine into the limelight. He was previously part of the group Fire Base Crew. Later he formed a new group, Ghetto Republic of Uganja, which he leads.
The Uganda Professional Boxing Commission (UPBC) gave him a professional boxing license making him a professional boxer.

Personal life
Bobi married his long-time partner Barbie Itungo, whom he met at Makerere University, in August 2011. Together they have so far five children. Bobi Wine is known as a family man and good father. In 2013, after having shown a good example caring for his children on his Ghetto President Reality TV Show, he was appointed parenting ambassador by Twaweza a NGO that focuses on education and citizen engagement in East Africa.

What makes him legible for the Vocational award?

Humanitarian work

Bobi Wine’s music often advocate for ghetto-residents in Uganda. He has supported several practical projects to improve conditions for the poor.
In July 2012, he started a campaign to promote more regular cleaning in hospitals and more attention to sanitization, garbage management, and hand washing to prevent disease. A YouTube Video from September 2012 shows Bobi joining Kampala mayor Elias Lukwago in cleaning up Kamwokya, the slum neighborhood where he grew up.

Also in 2012, Bobi donated funds to build pit latrines and construct a drainage channel in Kisenyi II, a Kampala slum.

He has also campaigned for malaria prevention, with donations to the Nakasongola Health Ecenter and reference to the disease in his songs. "Malaria is more dangerous than Al-shabab" became a popular refrain in one of his 2010 songs.

He visited the Bundibujo Refugee camp in Rwenzori region in August 2013, along with representatives from Save the Children, UHCR and the Red Cross to deliver funds and supplies.

In November 2013, he held what local media reported to be Uganda's first large-scale free entry album launch concert, at the Lugogo Cricket Oval, a very large venue, where donations were collected by the Red Cross for victims of landslides in Bududa in Eastern Uganda.

In 2014, Wine was appointed as Save the Children Ambassador for their EVERY ONE Campaign, and joined a team of 14 Ugandan Artists who recorded a special song and video about maternal and child health. Save the Children also took Bobi to other regions with the EVERY ONE Campaign, including a refugee camp for South Sudanese. (Source; WIKIPEDIA)

Bobi credits his father who he lost on on 11 February 2015 for influencing him to be a good parent.

Bobi is a Musician, Entrepreneur, an Entertainer and a philanthropist and
Very importantly, Bobi wine has covered all the Rotary’s 6 areas of focus thus; Promoting peace, Fighting disease, Providing clean water, Saving mothers and children, Supporting education and Growing local economies.

Ladies and gentlemen I give you Robert Kyangulanyi aka Bobi Wine our Rotaract Entebbe airport 2016 Vocational award recipient.