She battles her own darkness by giving hope to everyone around her with a smile bright enough to reach the darkest of souls!

“SHE” was an initiative undertaken by the Professional Development Avenue of the Rotaract Club of University of Sri Jayewardenepura which successfully concluded on the 27th of October 2019 at the NFC 5 hall of the Faculty of Applied Sciences. The event comprised of an interactive workshop along with the award ceremony of the creative writing competition.

SHE – was a creative writeup competition organized with the objective of developing the lives of the youth by connecting them with female role models in rural areas.

An individual / group of rotaractors, non-rotaractors or interactors (maximum 3 members) had to conduct a research and gather details about an inspirational female role model in a rural area (i.e. teacher, doctor,entrepreneur or person from any other profession) and submit their report before the deadline.

SHE was a brand new project concept which was conducted as a creative writing competition with the prospective participation of rotaractors, interactors and non-rotaractors all over Sri Lanka. This was mainly aimed to develop the professional skills of young adults via the inspiration they get from rural women role models. The main objective was to celebrate the International Rural Women’s Day that falls on the 15th of October by show casing the courage of these women to the mass Sri Lankan community.

The event started with an interactive session by the Psychologist, Dr. Samitha Ethuldoraarachchi who was undoubtedly the best person to start off the proceedings. Dr. Ethuldoraarachchi inspired the audience with her words while helping the participants to bring out the inborn woman within by developing and enhancing themselves as female leaders for a greater tomorrow.

The next session was conducted by Dr. Sulochana Segera, Founder/ Chairman of “Women In Management” in which she brought out her views on the topic “Professional Development for Future Generation”. The session was focused on the day-to-day issues that women face in their professional lives in the corporate world and solutions to overcome such obstacles effectively.

Afterwards the female rural role model Mrs. Premachandralatha, a primary school teacher with experiences over 20 years, shared her life story on how she overcomes her life obstacles effectively.

The highlight of the agenda was the official launch of the stamp in commemoration of the International Rural Women’s Day which was officially handed over to Dr. Samitha Ethuldoraarachchi by the President of RACUSJ Rtr. Vidushith Jayasundara.

After a thorough process of evaluating, 5 finalists were shortlisted out of 20 plus submissions. First place was secured by Team Hale from the Rotaract Club of University of Colombo, Faculty of Management and Finance while the second and third places were secured by the A team from the Rotaract Club of University of Moratuwa and Team Thunder from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura respectively. Certificates of appreciation were awarded to the participants at the award ceremony which took place following the interactive workshop. We wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Dushan Jayawickrama (Senior Lecturer, Department of Marketing Management) who took time off his busy schedule to evaluate the creative write-ups and helped the young writers to discover their true potential.

The project was powered by the organizing committee with nearly 20 members from the Professional Development Avenue. A huge thank you goes out to each and every individual who contributed to make this event a success.

She believed she could,

So she did!

– Rtr. Kavindya Prathibhani –