18/06/2026
𝗥𝗜 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗢𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗮 𝗛𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗺 𝗕𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗹𝗮’𝘀 𝗔𝗱𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 #𝗥𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆𝟮𝟲 (𝗧𝗘𝗫𝗧)
My dear friends and family of Rotary, it is my privilege to introduce you to my family:
• My wife, Precy Babalola, a lawyer and an accomplished Rotarian
• My mother, Rianat Ikeola Babalola, who immunized 108 children on World Polio Day two years ago
• My daughter, Aminat Oluwabunmi Babalola, a past Rotaract club president
• My daughter, Atinuke Zainab Babalola, who joined Rotaract at university and later Rotary in Winnipeg
• My son, Malik Olalekan Babalola, who completed a degree in international relations from the University of Benin
• My sister, Ganiyat Mojisola Tijani, who became a Rotaractor in 1998 and is now a Rotarian and past club president
• My sister-in-law, Gloria Ada Wopara-Ordu, a teacher with a degree in food science and technology
• And Bryn’s partner, Randy! Bryn, she’s not just your Randy anymore. She’s our Randy.
Please give my family a warm Rotary welcome!
My family has not only supported my Rotary journey. They are my Rotary journey. When I first met Precy, I saw her across a room at a Rotary event in Port Harcourt, leaned over to a friend, and said quietly, “That’s the one.” Since then, our whole family has chosen service as a way of life.
And as I honor my family, I want to honor someone whose presence is with us here despite their absence, my dear friend and brother, SangKoo Yun.
SangKoo once said, “I do not see myself as a lone leader, but as one link in a strong, unbroken chain.” He was and remains a strong link in that chain, a chain of Rotary members who gave more, reached further, and served with greater purpose, generation after generation.
Like SangKoo — like all of us, really — Rotary has changed me deeply. I have been part of the Rotary family for more than 40 years. And I can tell you exactly when Rotary changed me.
My club took on a literacy project when I was a young Rotaractor. We were helping adults in my community learn to read and write. During that project, I watched a woman hold a piece of paper and read her own name for the first time.
That moment redi