Rotary Cancer Run – Prime Time Communications

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch What if 40,000 runners owned a cancer treatment centre

#OutToLunch What if 40,000 runners owned a cancer treatment centre By Denis Jjuuko At the end of this year’s Rotary Cancer Run, I sat down to wind down. I started reflecting on the run. This was the 11th time we have been running with 40,000 people participating this year in more than 30 towns across the country and 11 cities all over the world. It is remarkable the work that Rotary does, volunteering to address challenges of our time. This year, Jennifer Jones, the first woman in Rotary’s 117-year history to be elected Rotary International President, was in the country and duly participated in the run. The money raised during the run will go towards the ongoing construction of bunkers for linear accelerator treatment machines at Nsambya Hospital. The run came at the time when cancer is in the news for lack of facilities at the Uganda Cancer Institute in Mulago. For the majority of Ugandans, once they have been suspected of having cancer, they would have to come to Mulago as there are no facilities in local health centres. With Mulago full to the brims, one can understand the frustrations of most Ugandans in need for this treatment. We have run for 11 years now and the journey is still long to get where we need to be. The entire project is about US$4 million or approximately Shs15 billion. Rotary has less than US$1m which is being used to build the bunkers so it will take many runs to get the project completed. But even if Rotary raised all the money needed today and completed the construction of the bunkers and installation of the linear accelerators, there would still be need for more cancer centres, at least one at every regional hospital or major town. And indeed that is Rotary’s long term plan. However, there is need for more training of oncologists and nurses and all the medical people that a cancer centre must have so it is a very long journey ahead. Rotary is a volunteer organization and has no public mandate to build or equip hospitals. The idea of the organization’s involvement is to help everyone in need of treatment to get it here at home affordably. The government people and the rich class already have their cancer centres in Nairobi, India or any other country of their fancy. For us, to speak like a Uganda, we are on our own! We must run and run to get any glimmer of hope. Or pray that the Lubowa specialized hospital construction can go beyond the plinth wall! But imagine if 40,000 people who managed to run on Sunday each contributed just US$100 over 12 months, we would be able to raise US$4m in one year and have the centre completed. The following year using the same model, we would be able to buy the land and even build another centre which could be private but providing an affordable service. After the construction, we would be able to do the same and raise another US$4m which would be used to train medical workers and pay their salaries for at least a year. The 40,000 people would all be shareholders in this cancer treatment centre and their dividend would be affordable treatment here at home. The numbers could even be more because the average number of people who can participate is higher than 40,000. But to ensure that all the 40,000 committed shareholders get treated affordably, they would be encouraged to start an insurance scheme through which those who become sick can get treated without affecting the operations of the hospital. Because not all the 40,000 people will use the scheme or even need cancer treatment, other Ugandans who aren’t shareholders would be able to benefit because treatment would be very affordable. Is this even remotely possible to pull off? It is hard but not impossible. The money held by investment clubs and firms is much more than the numbers being proposed here. Some of this money is actually idle and not bringing much regular returns. If you drive around greater Kampala, you will see signposts indicating which employee benefits scheme owns which land. Yet once people retire from their jobs, what they need isn’t necessarily land harboring squirrels. They need affordable treatment. There aren’t many families today in Uganda where people aren’t struggling with medical bills of their retired aging parents and relatives. With technology such as payment apps, people can be mobilized to contribute money for a cancer hospital in which they own shares. I know this may never be possible under Rotary but entrepreneurs wishing to change the world could do it. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

October 24, 2022

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#OutToLunch Lessons from the first virtual Rotary Cancer Run for entrepreneurs

By Denis Jjuuko In March this year, with COVID-19 creating disruptions the world had never seen, I thought about an event that was five months away. For a while, I felt that by the end of August, the world would be normal again. Like many people, I trawled the trustable news websites to check how far the scientists were moving to find a combination of drugs that could cure people of this unwanted disease. The more I read, the more realized that it would take a very long time to find a cure or vaccine. At the back of my mind was the Rotary Cancer Run that was due Sunday, August 30 of which I was the chair of the organizing committee for this year. When we started preparing for it in September last year, I had created an executive committee which was mainly made up of people who had been in my position before for the previous few years. I know them personally, and they are friends. However, I knew that they would never tell me what I want to hear instead of what I needed to hear. So in late April, I called them and said we need a crisis meeting. This COVID-19 pandemic isn’t going away but even if it does, do we have time to organize an event that attracts more than 50,000 people in 50 towns across the country and a few other cities outside Uganda? The consensus was that this isn’t possible. We didn’t even think it would be possible to get the funding we needed to pull off this event. However, since everything was now being done at home, we could try uncharted waters by organizing a virtual Rotary Cancer Run. I then called the organizing committee to hear their views. Every year, a group of volunteers is identified to organize the event. I asked them what I had asked the executive committee and everyone said we can’t organize the event the way we have previously done. We agreed to do a virtual event. A small committee was then tasked to come up with ideas and what we needed to do to organize the virtual Rotary Cancer Run. We sent letters to the key partners and sponsors informing them of our decision, and they too agreed with us. Monthly, then bi-weekly and eventually weekly meetings were held were each subcommittee would present their plans for the virtual Rotary Cancer Run. All our energies were to do this event where people would run from wherever they are across the world. Plans were made and we went ahead to implement them. Some of the key sponsors like Centenary Bank, LycaMobile, and Uganda Breweries among others and all media houses said the times were tough but they won’t let us down. Along the way, I received a phone call from a PR executive with an agency that does work for Centenary Bank. The agency was proposing that we sell face masks this year. I didn’t like the idea at first. Everyone had a face mask and the hustle of making them. But I didn’t veto the idea either. I said we would think about it. An hour or so after the phone call, I realized it was a wonderful idea and I presented it to the organizing committee. They loved the idea too and we incorporated it into our plans. Many people who participate in the run contribute by buying a vest for the day. We had decided not to sell vests this year due to logistical challenges as a result of the lockdown. The face masks, although presented their own challenges, they were not at the scale of vests. One Saturday afternoon, a friend on the executive committee called. He had found contact with world athletes. They had agreed to do videos to encourage people to participate. Bryan Habana (famous Springbok), sprinters Tayson Gay and Yohanne Blake indeed sent the videos. Ugandans and Rotarians from all over the world started sending videos and photos that they will participate and they indeed participated. We had become global. We turned a crisis into a first for us and pulled off a run of that scale across the country and in many parts of the world. We set up a command centre at the Uganda Rotary Cancer Programme office in Muyenga from where we streamed the event live to millions of people on TV and online. People were able to send their videos in via Zoom. As an entrepreneur, I learnt that we could turn whatever crisis we face into opportunities. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

September 17, 2020

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#OutToLunch Money for 22 Landcruisers is enough to set up a high tech cancer treatment centre

By Denis Jjuuko Since the last Sunday of August 2012, Ugandans have become accustomed to doing one thing annually – waking up to participate in the Rotary Cancer Run. Every last Sunday of August, cancer has been the talk of the town. From a few participants in 2012 to approximately 50,000 people in 2019. From a parking lot of a shopping mall in Lugogo to the more spacious Kololo Independence Grounds and then to 50 towns across the country. The Rotary Cancer Run was the first and only event in Uganda that was carried out simultaneously in every major town of Uganda. Last year, the run even moved to outside Uganda. Working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Rotary Cancer Run was held in Mombasa in Kenya, Kigali in Rwanda, Pretoria in South Africa, Berlin in Germany, and Moscow in Russia becoming the first Ugandan event to have a global presence. A few Rotarians ran in Florida and Pennsylvania in the United States. Over the years, the Rotary Cancer Run has raised awareness about cancer and built a 36-bed cancer treatment centre at Nsambya Hospital and donated funds that led to the construction of the Rotary Blood Bank at Mengo Hospital — the only second such bank in Uganda. All this was achieved in the first four years of the run. Over the years we have raised approximately Shs3 billion net, but with our network, we have managed to do stuff worth much more than the money we have raised. The building alone at Nsambya is worth more than Shs1.5 billion but was completed when we had raised less than Shs300 million. Our network as Rotary enables us to achieve a lot. Nevertheless, this wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of Centenary Bank and the Parliament of Uganda among many other key partners. From 2016, the Rotary Cancer Run has been raising money to build bunkers at Nsambya Hospital, which will be used to house modern cancer treatment machines. Construction will soon commence following approvals from the Atomic Energy Council. I have been privileged to work as one of the organisers of the Rotary Cancer Run since 2015 as a Rotarian and volunteer. This year, I am serving as Chair for the organising committee. I was appointed to this position about a year ago and last September, we started working on the 2020 edition of the run. We wanted to maintain or even increase the number of towns in Uganda to participate and also have the run in more cities across the world than we managed last year. This year we were planning to become the first Ugandan run to have at least 55,000 people participating. Then COVID-19 happened! We were all frustrated, and our spirits dampened. How can we just cancel the run that people have become to note on their calendar, for now, nine years? As we deliberated on how to inform people that the run won’t be possible given the COVID-19 pandemic, we realised we could do it and break new ground for virtual events. We announced that we will have a virtual Rotary Cancer Run 2020. This has given us opportunities to hold the biggest run ever in Uganda and we expect that more than 60,000 people will be able to participate in Uganda and many others elsewhere. As I was writing this, I received news that many global superstars have agreed to participate in this year’s Rotary Cancer Run. You will see their videos soon and we hope that the messaging will create more awareness about cancer. Since around February 2020, as a country, we have focused a lot on COVID-19 and it is perfectly understandable given the rate of its infectiousness, but we shouldn’t forget that cancer is still here as well. We need to do all we can to inform people about this scourge and what we need to do to avoid it and go for regular medical check-ups. We also need to ensure that we have the facilities in place for people to get treatment at an affordable cost. Flying to India or even Nairobi that is usually the case isn’t sustainable and COVID-19 has even made the case better that cancer treatment must be carried out within the country at an affordable rate. Many companies donated a lot of money to COVID-19 as well as brand new pick ups. The cost of a modern cancer treatment centre costs less than 100 brand new ordinary pick up trucks or just 22 Landcruiser V8s. The writer is a Communication and Visibility Consultant and Chair Rotary Cancer Run 2020. djjuuko@gmail.com

August 19, 2020