Editor’s note – August 2017 The ‘Sam smile’ will be missed
July has been a tragic month for Rotarians, as they lost an irreplaceable senior leader who had been elected as the incoming RI President for 2018–19. As Indian Rotarians prepared to go to bed on July 13 there flashed on their mobile screens, through facebook, whatsapp or other social media, the heavy hearted announcement from RI President Ian Riseley that Owori had developed complications after a surgery on his leg in Texas and was no more.
This was all the more shocking for the Rotarians who had seen him at the Atlanta Convention and clicked picture with him and wife Norah. Warm and teary tributes flowed in from all over the world, but for me, the one tribute that captured the essence of this leader came from Hilda Tadria, from RC Gaba, Uganda, a close friend of Sam and Norah. She told rotary.org that with an “engaging smile and a calming voice”, Owori put everyone he talked to at ease. “I call it the ‘Sam Smile’, it made him very approachable and easy to talk to. I think his smile is one of the things Rotary and his friends will miss the most.”
Known and respected in Uganda for his integrity and high ethical standards, he was a man everyone could trust. And, the most defining line from her interview: “He preferred listening to speaking. It’s one reason he was so well-liked.” PRIP Rajendra Saboo sums up the erudition of the man and the respect he commanded when he says in his homage to Owori: “He always spoke softly, but what he spoke thundered and people listened.”
A member of RC Kampala, he joined Rotary in 1978, and reiterated at the meetings I heard him address… alas, too few… that Africa, a continent of one billion had so far thrown up only one RI President and he was going to be the second! That the Ugandan government has announced that his funeral will be conducted with full State honours speaks for the calibre of senior leaders who rise to the numero uno position in the organisation. May the powers above give Norah and the rest of the Owori family the fortitude to deal with this huge personal loss.
Distressing times continue even at home, where those who toil around the year to ensure enough food for 1.3 billion Indians, are devastated by a clutch of major problems. Two weak monsoons in successive years, long years of apathy and insensitivity by the authorities, rising cost of inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, etc without a corresponding increase in the MSP (Minimum Support Price), continuing curbs on exports even duirng periods of sufficiency, and sometimes even glut, in the local markets, and above all, overdependence on rainwater for their irrigation needs. Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have been on the boil for many years now with grim statistics on farmers’ suicides, now Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh farmers are also protesting. Quick-fix solutions such as loan waivers will no longer do. Our farmers are crying out for long-term solutions; the situation is so bad today that farmers’ children do not even want to touch with a barge pole agriculture as a profession. That brings us to a question that has troubled me for years — do we, at least the more privileged, pay enough for the food that is put on our table by the hardworking Indian farmer who is in such dire straits today? Blaming government policies is one thing; but have we ever thought how we can extend a helping hand to them during these tough times? Food for thought…
Rasheeda Bhagat
