The month of December signifies the beginning of a season of celebration to anyone irrespective of their religion. The cold breeze and the weather sets out the perfect ambiance to spread more love and joy with Christmas around the corner. Christmas is a Christian holiday honouring the birth of Jesus, but has now evolved into a worldwide religious and secular celebration.

Jesus Christ gave world the lesson of love!! He taught us that we all have the same source and are related to each other in some way. So if you think about it, you’ll understand that Christmas is not only about finding your own gift under a Christmas tree but a deeper concept. Moreover, it makes us question, why the most of us actually just exist rather doing some good to our existence.

In this season of giving, the Rotaract Clubs of Panadura and the University of Sri Jayewardenepura celebrated the true spirit of Christmas by spreading love and comfort towards our own kind with special needs at the Divisarana Friendship Foundation under the initiative,” For Christmas, with love”.The project was planned under difficult circumstances and within a brief period of time. But the dedication and the urge to do something different for Christmas this time, kept members of both the clubs going. We were able to raise more than Rs. 50 000 in cash and many other donations as well. The funds were utilized to purchase dry rations, clothes, two beds with mattresses and other necessities for these special people who had to live a difficult life away from their families.

The date chosen to visit these special people at the Divisarana Friendship Foundation located in Kurunegala was the 30th of December 2018. After a long ride, members of both the clubs didn’t expect that the destination was worth the journey. The people there brought us to realization how fortunate we were. The foundation consisted of more than 20 differently abled individuals of different age groups. But these people were happier with what they had and greeted all of us with a smile.

Most of them were suffering Down syndrome and other diseases that killed their brain cells day by day making them ignorant regarding their living habits or environment. But their smiles signified true innocence and happiness. After handing over the donations, our own members prepared tea for everyone present. This was followed by a musical session conducted by rotaractors creating a platform for everyone to sing and dance. We enjoyed seeing the way these people with special needs enjoyed this whole session. They don’t often have visitors and so they considered and treated us as their own kin.

After the entertainment session the monk in charge of the foundation made a small speech which brought all of us to tears including the monk himself. The foundation ran under very low facilities even after the monk utilized his entire salary earned by teaching at the village school for this cause. The families of the patients’ rarely visited them nor contributed for their medications.

The monk emphasized on the fact that it was people like us who kept the place functioning, kept the place alive, kept the fire burning and made these innocent people smile and their lives more colorful. That’s the moment when we realized that the true meaning of Christmas was to spread love and joy, in whatever way we could.

It was almost saddening to leave the place and those beautiful people, but our time was up. The journey back home was not tiring because we were happy on our own terms for making someone else happy and feel special this Christmas and also because that’s when all members of both the clubs properly bonded.

We returned home with a whole lot of memories while making a bunch of new friends and also a very valuable life lesson which is that we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. Making one-person smile can change the world. Maybe not the whole world, but their world. Start small. Start now.

Feliz Navidad and Viva la Rotaract!

by Rtr. Keashan Wijayasinghe.