The Rotaract Club of University of Sri Jayewardenepura is passing its 10th milestone as one of the proudest Rotaract Clubs in Sri Lanka. RACUSJ blog is ready to go through the memory lanes of ten remarkable individuals who were gifted as leaders to society by our club. Buckle up to witness their amazing stories full of fun, work, and unforgettable experiences!

The Official Blog of RACUSJ proudly presents you,

THE LEGACY OF 10 YEARS IN RACUSJ!!!!

The journey of a thousand miles begins with just one step. RACUSJ’s journey began ten years ago with a hope to serve the community while creating fellowship. And from our first episode, we interviewed two spectacular characters who made RACUSJ journey so beautiful;

PLEASE welcome Rtr. PP. Asiri Weliwatte and Rtr. PP. Devin Jayasundera.

When you first see him, you won’t believe that he would be so friendly because Rtr. Asiri looked a bit serious at the first sight. Our blog is honoured to have a chit-chat with this amazing but silent personality, the very first president of the club for the year 2011-12, Rtr.PP. Asiri Weliwatte.

So the other personality we met was a fun kinda guy who gave out a fun vibe at the very first glance. It’s our 2nd President of the club for the year 2012-13, Rtr. PP Devin Jayasundera. And the special thing we noted in him was, He could be talking full serious for a while and get into a whole another mood of fun within a matter of time.

Hope they weren’t nervous about the coming 45 minutes!!!!

And our first question was to Asiri aiya,

What it means to him to be the first-ever president of RACUSJ and the challenges he faced? And this humble soul raised his voice saying that though he was the charter president, the idea of Rotaract was brought up by the past secretary for the year 2011-12, Rtr. Anupama. He gratefully mentioned that Rtr. Anupama deserves a huge credit for this initiative.

As the very first members of the club, the key challenge they had was to figure the true need of a Rotaract Club in the university. The exact words he used to describe this task was, very challenging, interesting, and a very rewarding experience, these words gave the correct idea for all of us on what they have gone through to initiate the club and how honoured and proud they are today.

The 1st question that we asked Rtr.Devin was how was his journey in Rotaract. He started off by saying that his Rotaract journey started when he met Rtr. Asiri (What a bond!).

And for a person whose life in Rotaract started 9 years or so ago, he has a vivid memory including the fact that they met on a RAINY DAY in September!!! He further mentioned that Rotaract being the only activity club that caught his interest 10 years ago, and with Asiri ayya’s guidance he couldn’t help but join Rotaract. Well, it still has this mesmerizing effect that makes anyone want to join and take part in, so we weren’t much surprised.

Then we wanted to know the amazing projects Asiri ayya’s year did since RACUSJ was recognized as one of the best Charter Clubs in the Rotaract District 3220 and unforgettable memories he had during his year.

“We had a kind of few but very interesting and rewarding projects” Asiri ayya answered. (Quality over Quantity!) Then he mentioned that he can’t exactly pinpoint one project as he had very fun memories with several projects. They had several interesting fund-raising projects, a toy drive, and a clothes drive which added some greatest experiences to his life. With a smile, he mentioned that he enjoyed very simple things such as ice cream stalls which covered their admin expenses. IT WAS BUILDING FELLOWSHIP.

He proudly mentioned that some projects were substantial in scale such as the clothes drive, where they donated clothes for 1000+ families. And this humble soul mentioned again that even though he was the president, all the success they achieved as a club was due to the group effort of all the members.

He said that he never felt like a president but as a part of a team. “I was just one of many” our charter president mentioned this proudly which defines the bond the Exco, BOD, and general members had in his (he called it THEIR) year.

No one would have expected a club to reach a 100+ member base in its second year. Believe it or not, during Devin ayya’s year they were able to achieve this milestone. So, we asked him about this experience and how he managed to execute projects and get the engagement of such a large number of members.

His vision as the President for his year was to get publicity for our Club. With his brilliant idea to increase the member base by creating what he calls ‘a snowball effect’, he managed to enhance the club into a family of 100. RACUSJ got more exposure this way and caught the interest of more individuals seeking opportunities to serve the community expanding the Rotaract family more and more.

And then we shot our next question to Asiri ayya asking the support and the backup he had from their amazing group of people, during his years. He started answering by saying, Rotaract is an extra-curricular work where the club members have to balance it with studies by giving an extra effort. As he mentioned before, his club members were always there with him which was admirable.

“From the first project itself, it was the members who brought up the ideas. They gave their hearts and souls” he said, appreciatively.

This particular project, by the name itself, makes everyone curious when heard. “Bach to Beatles”. Such a unique name, it surely went viral during Devin ayya’s year! So, there’s no surprise that this project won the award for the “Most Outstanding Fund Raising & Finance Project of the Year”. This must have left Devin ayya with happy memories, and we wanted to ask how close this memorable project was for him.

Apparently, this was a continued project from Asiri ayya’s year, and they managed to put in their best efforts to bring it to a higher level and do justice to this wonderful project in its 2nd consecutive year. But these two humble persons always made sure to give the credit to the ones who deserved it. “It would have been quite difficult if we had to do it right from the start,” he said giving the credit to the members from Asiri ayya’s year without hesitation.

Moving into our next question, we asked Asiri ayya the biggest learning from his year as the President. “Looking back, I feel the most important thing was that I was able to make a lot of mistakes at minimal cost and learn a lot. That was a major experience,” he said.

Working in a team, working with a team, going towards a common target, how to take a failure and how to overcome an obstacle were some of the important lessons he had from Rotaract.

Influencing without a hierarchical power was also a unique experience he had from Rotaract. He specially mentioned that Rotaract became the newest experience where he learned to influence Rotaractors, Non-Rotaractors to work towards a common objective, based purely on the ability to influence, without compensating or giving bonuses.

The next question went out to Devin ayya again and this time it was about his backup and support from the members he got to be successful enough to receive the Rotary International Citation for the first time in our club history. So yeah after 9 years he still remembers the ones who backed him up to make justice to their initial vision for RACUSJ and check out the video to see if your name pop-ups there!

Finally, we asked Asiri ayya to give one piece of advice for our current president of the club as the charter president.

“Okay, that is a tough one,” he said while laughing.

“I’ll touch on the basics, as you guys are doing bigger projects,” he said modestly. He asked everyone to always remember the fundamentals of what the club is about. “As long as the club keeps delivering strong values to the members, and as long as the club makes the university life better and make them more content individuals, then the club will be always successful.” He concluded by answering the five questions about his Rotaract journey while giving a piece of remarkable advice.

The last question was directed to Devin ayya, what was his biggest learning from Rotaract as the President? In his words, he said “My biggest learning, especially for a President you have to look beyond your year” What a piece of advice that comes with his learning! And this surely comes in handy for anyone to be a great leader.

Not just to look out for themselves and their followers, but also to look out to ensure and nurture the second stream or the ones who are going to take this movement forward. And with what he says it is obvious that his experiences throughout his journey in Rotaract were very insightful for him to become the amazing personality whom he is now.

AND NOW IT’S THE RAPID FIRE SESSION!!!

We firstly moved to Asiri ayya

• Explain your Rotaract journey in one word.

Can y’all guess the word he used? What word would you use, if we ask that question from you? If you are planning to say your Rotaract journey is FANTASTIC Asiri ayya will definitely agree with you!

• What is the Rotaract project which you always wanted to be a part of but didn’t get a chance?

“RYLA”– The Rotaract Youth Leadership Awards, he said with a bit of regret.

• What is one thing that annoys you the most?

Are you curious as same as we are to know the thing which annoys this innocent looking but outstanding personality?  I’m afraid to say that you want to be able to find it out! Yeah! He laughed and said A LOT OF THINGS, IN GENERAL!

• Name five friends you made from Rotaract.

Are you a Rota buddy of Asiri ayya’s? Then you should go and check our video to find out whether he mentioned your name or not!! Sorry Not Sorry ayya for the consequences!

• Tell us the most unforgettable memory you had during an installation.

Forgetting …………

• How many members did you have in your BOD?

Eight! He said without hesitating. Rotaractors from the 2011-12, this is the chance to check how good is your memory! Can y’all recollect the eight names of your directors?

• What is your best Rotaract memory?

Clothes drive and the toy drive! Our charter president had no doubt.

• What is your bigger fear and addiction?

Can this amazing personality have a fear or an addiction? Why not go through our video to check the surprising answer he is giving.

• What is the latest time you stayed at university premises for a Rotaract work?

Yes, yes. You got it right. He stayed overnight many times for different occasions.

• What is RACUSJ for you?

A superb experience, fond memory, and a great learning experience. His words explaining RACUSJ are enough for all the Rotaractors to know that they have made one of the best decisions in life. And the Non-Rotaractors out there in the University, better late than never!

MEMORIES BRING BACK MEMORIES……..

And then we fired it to Devin ayya

• What is your best Rotaract memory?

And he laughed while saying that his best memories were the fights they had, but you know fights created friendships also LAUGHING!!!! (Smile in pain?)

• How many members did you have in your EXCO

10? OR 14? Which ones right?

• Who is your Rotaract role model and why?

Definitely Asiri ayya Well, he was one, but there were more who brought the edge to the club that he adored.

• What is one thing that annoys you the most?

Unlike some people, Devin ayya hates silence.

• What is your favourite club project?

He racked through his memories and came up with the project he loved the most “Bach to Beatles”

• Tell us a most unforgettable memory you had during an installation

Embarrassed, he said that he, who was supposed to be at the head table was sitting in the audience the whole time of the installation! He excused himself for going out of the track of the rapid-fire as he had to take us along his memory.

• Describe yourself in 3 words.

Ever heard of 3E? Take a guess.

• Name one thing you always wanted to change in RACUSJ?

To make RACUSJ an entire community with proper communications among the whole family of ten years.

• Advice to our fellow club members

No advice but he was hugely impressed with the work our members execute to take this club to greater heights

• And finally, what’s RACUSJ for you?

A challenging experience with its own place in his heart! 

With that, we ended the session for these two wonderful personalities whom we expected to be burly big men with scary faces but broke our expectations in every way possible.

A humble gratitude goes out to Rtr. PP. Asiri Weliwatte and Rtr. PP. Devin Jayasundera for sharing their Rotaract memory lane with us. It was a pleasure to have you both, and thank you for being the massive support system behind RACUSJ.

Finally, we could say that Rotaract creates everlasting memories, it was 10 years ago BUT they remembered!!! 

AND We’re hoping to see you with another two amazing personalities, who took RACUSJ to the next level. (Any Guesses?? For the 2nd session)

Stay Tuned with THE LEGACY OF 10 YEARS IN RACUSJ!!!!

Written by Rtr. Oshani Samarakkody & Rtr. Nethmi Wimalasena

Moderator – Rtr. Hasini Wijesekara 

Videography & Video Editing – Rtr. Dinuka Lakshan & Rtr. Ushan Kavindu