Dr Gus Kigotho was our guest speaker. Gus is Director of Emergency Services for Albury Hospital. He took time out of his very busy day to speak to our club. Gus was very complimentary about how Rotarians give their time for service to the community. He was born in Kenya a few years before independence and started primary school in 1964. He walked 10kms to and from school every day and was one of only a few students lucky enough to own shoes. After 7 years, he was accepted into an excellent high school, which was a great opportunity for him to get on in life. Early on, Gus was appointed school timekeeper and this helped him to develop superior time management skills. He was always a highly competitive person and sport was something he was naturally drawn to. It was here that he learnt the importance of being well prepared, although he also learnt that even the most well prepared person can be beaten by a better person and that there is no shame in this. Eventually, Gus was made Captain of the School Athletics team, leading to him recognising the importance of leadership. Practice, more practice and endurance are important elements of competition and if you want something, you have to search for it and be prepared to take risks
After 6th form, he was accepted into Medical School. This was the start of the journey which ultimately led to him moving to Australia. After completing Medical School, he worked in a regional hospital for 2 years before starting his own general practice, which he continued in for 7 years. He decided to apply for a job in Australia, for which there were over 1,600 applicants. He got the job, although needed to do more training, which took a total of 9 years. His underlying mantra is never complain – never explain – just do. As part of his leadership journey, Gus realised that failure is a form of feedback, which needs to be embraced in order to experience self-improvement.