Olufolake Ajayi Steps Out As Inner Wheel District 911’s 39th President
Sahara Weekly Reports That Service is a lifestyle and no one understands this better than members of the Inner Wheel Society.
On Saturday, July 16, District 911 Inner Wheel members gathered at the Ayo ROsiji Hall Cathedral to usher in the 39th district chairman and her executives for the 2022/2023 year.
Well attended by members of the society alongside Rotarians and friends, the event saw the successful installation of IWM Olufolake Morohunranti Ajayi as the district chairman.
From right: Deputy National Rep., Zainab Ikheloa, IPDC Dupe Oyeduntan, District Chairman Olufolake Ajayi, her husband PP Kehinde Ajayi, International Inner Wheel Past President Yemisi Alatise and guest lecturer Dr. Tamramat Iyabo Runsewe-Abiodun
In an exclusive interview with INDEPENDENT, IWM Ajayi shared her thoughts on Inner Wheel’s journey so far.
“We started as wives of Rotarians about 98 years ago and they used to call us Rotary Hands. When they formed the International Inner Wheel, we carried on with our work. Now, even though they admit women to Rotary, we are unique in our ways and we stand beside all Rotarians to make the world a better place. We help to support and carry on more projects in support of humanity.”
Speaking on her charge as the new district chairman, she said, “My charge is to empower women and we’ve started it but I’m going to continue and raise the bar. Train a woman and you train the whole world. We want women to be confident, competent, and to be able to stand by themselves and look after the children. We’re not talking about girl children now, we’re talking about children because if you concentrate on one gender, the other will suffer. Our focus is on children. A woman will have girls and boys, so you cannot concentrate on one and leave the other.
“We also intend to imbibe this attitude into the younger ones now in schools for them to know the ideals of personal service.”
As part of her goal for the year, she plans to empower clubs and mentor members for greater tasks ahead. She revealed that she intends to work in line with the 2022-2023 International Inner Wheel year theme ‘Work Wonders’ in the service of humanity.
When asked about her background and how she came to be a dedicated Inner Wheel member, she explained that “I was born to serve, and I have a passion to care. As a result, from youth, I made up my mind that I was going to go for Nursing and the Nursing profession is a caring profession. I’ve worked in Nursing since 1971 and I’m empowering because empowerment is my passion. I’m empowering nurses, empowering students, empowering mothers. The empowerment process is key in my life because I empowered myself to move forward. I put in as president in 1996, and that was when we completed Ikota Health Centre in my year, and we handed it over to Munira Marwa and they are using it till today as Eti-Osa Local Government Headquarters For Public Health. So it’s been in me and when I was called on to come and chair, I said ‘well, why not?’ I’ll be 70 this year believe it or not and I said, ‘Father Lord I want to serve, here I am.’ Service is my passion, it is an innate ability in me.”
While speaking about the incoming district chairman, the outgoing chairman, Modupe Oyeduntan revealed that the incoming chairman is a woman worthy of honour based on her life of service.
