Rotary Club awards man, 99, for contribution to education
Mr George Willington Kiberu, the founder of Light College Katikamu (2nd left) receives an award from the Rotary Club of Rubaga at Pope Paul VI Memorial Hotel in Kampala on Tuesday. Photo | Joseph Kiggundu
What you need to know:
- Mr Daniel Kasozi, the president of the Rotary Club of Rubaga, said the award is given to personalities who carried out distinguished services that brought outstanding change to communities.
The Rotary Club of Rubaga has awarded Mr George Willington Kiberu, the proprietor of Light College Katikamu, for his outstanding work in promoting education in the country.
Kiberu was given the Vocational Award at a function held at Pope Paul VI Memorial Hotel in Kampala on Tuesday.
Mr Daniel Kasozi, the president of the Rotary Club of Rubaga, said the award is given to personalities who carried out distinguished services that brought outstanding change to communities.
“We are very privileged as Rubaga Rotary Club to have given this award to Mr Kiberu for having been pivotal in the education sector. He has educated so many individuals,” he said.
“He has touched the lives of many, both those who are well off and those who are not, those in high offices and those who are in personal offices,” he added.
Mr Kasozi said through Kiberu, “we have seen tremendous changes in our communities.”
Kiberu, who is turning 100 in March, was one of the pioneers of private education when he founded Light College Katikamu.
His legacy has led to the establishment of about 20 other private schools across the country.
While accepting the award, Kiberu thanked the club for recognising his efforts to transform society.
“I want to thank God for three things. An award by the elders of the Adventist Church, a medal by the President that I received last year for contribution to the education sector, and this award by the Rotary Club of Rubaga. I am so grateful to God,” he said.
Ms Ruth Birungi Muwonge, one of Mr Kiberu’s children, thanked the club for recognising her father’s efforts.
“We are so grateful that they thought about him and identified him for the things that he has done to the many in the country and across the borders,” Ms Muwonge, who is also the principal and director of WINSA Nursery Day and Boarding Primary School Buloba, said.
“To fellow educationists out there I would like to say that in whatever we do, we should do it whole-heartedly. What we don’t have to forget is that teaching is a calling and we should not do teaching as a last resort,” she added.
