The Rotaract club of University of Sri Jayewardenepura, a place where many successful Rotaractors were made, kept hoisting its flag for 10 years with excellence. We are more than sure that most of the Rotaractors have gathered memories and lessons that worth a lifetime.

Who else would be better to share the thoughts about their Rotaract journey than the backbone of the club, The Executive Committee itself. We had a quite wonderful time interviewing the Exco 20/21, listening to what they had to say about the impact RACUSJ had made in their lives.

We reached Rtr. Amasha Sirimanna, the President of the Rotaract club of University of Sri Jayewardenepura, and she willingly joined us in her usual amiable and vivacious manner.

When we asked her how she joined and what was it like when she first joined the club, here’s how she responded to the question, “I saw a status on Instagram wishing Dulani akki for her new appointment as the secretary of the club back then.

So I dropped her a message asking how to enrol and of course she told me the procedure of joining the club. Me and my friend Harumi, first joined the transition meeting in 2019, we were pretty dressed for a party, and we sat in the very last bench to observe the whole meeting.

That’s where everything got started, and when we were leaving we had a common question, SHOULD WE CONTINUE THIS? Fortunately or unfortunately both of us had the same ANSWER.

My very first project was AYUBOWAN SRI LANKA where I worked as a marketing team member and my avenue was Community Service. I got inspired from the directors I had to work with; Danushi Akki and Deshadhee akki, and because of those two individuals I continued Rotaract. My role model in the club is actually Dulani akki. Every time I saw a Google form calling for OCs I filled them. (මට ඒ උණ තිබ්බා, to quote her exact same words).”

When we wanted to know her favorite Rotaract memory so far, without any doubt she mentioned that it was the Badulla visit, which had been a 2-day trip. Also, she didn’t fail to mention the WDSD celebrations last year (World Down Syndrome Day) which is renamed this year as project Yaaluwa.

As the president of the club she gave some valuable advices and tips for the fellow Rotaractors. To name a few; Have Passion in whatever you do, Don’t ever feel reluctant to reach out to Amasha whenever you need help, Enjoy Rotaract to the maximum and respect everybody.

Looking back at 2020/21, although it hasn’t been the best year for any of us, Amasha looked at the bright side and said that she was happy about the pretty good sponsorships the projects got within the year. Amasha humbly mentioned that she was named as the President of the month of October, and the credit goes to our hard work which was done as a club.

Also, she added that we as a team sought for quality projects to maintain the standard of the club. And also she revealed that she has a hidden goal to find the next set of leaders in the club that will carry on the good name of it.

Next we had the privilege of contacting the Immediate Past President Rtr. Vidushith Jayasundara. We were kind of nervous as well as excited to interview him as the other Exco members used to address him as “Aiya”,

“I joined the club in February 2018 while my first project to join was RFS (Rotaract Fellowship Summit). I met a quite a lot of people including Oshani akki (Rtr. PP Oshani Singapuliarachchi, Saranga akki (Rtr. Saranga Madurasinghe) and many more. That was also the first time I met Dulani, the secretary in my board. The first project I organized was Paduru Partiya in 2018”

We were quite moved when we got to know one of Vidushith Ayya’s favourite Rotaract experiences. As he couldn’t pinpoint just one, he named a few. The first experience he mentioned was the project WDSD where they spent a day with kids and actually one kid had hugged him unexpectedly, and it was very heart touching even for us to hear it in his words.  

He also made it an opportunity to mention their group “The Corrupted Brigade”, the Exco in his Rotaract year, who became more like family with time. Organizing projects and working together with people had surely been some good experience for him as he said.

As for tips and advices he gave for the fellow Rotaractors were very insightful. “When doing projects, work with the true spirit and don’t ever work just to get a position,” he said, “Enjoy every second and don’t regret giving your time to help someone else because at the end of the day we don’t take any material things to our graves.” Like that he made us think for a moment what it takes to become a good human.

He mentioned that although the year was a bit challenging because of the pandemic, the Rotaractors didn’t stop carrying out the projects even amidst the difficulties as everybody had to shift to the virtual world. He proudly mentioned that our club was one of the best in the district even in the pandemic period.

Furthermore, he told that the current Exco under Rtr. Amasha’s guidance was going beyond his expectations and what we got from his talk was that he was really proud about the current Exco. As this will be his last year as a Rotaractor in RACUSJ. We wish him all the happiness and good luck for his future endeavours.

Moving on to the next personality we happily interviewed, was Rtr. Dumidu Dayarathna, the Vice President of the Club and he was able to run his mind way back and tell the exact date he joined the club as 8^th March during Oshani akki’s time.

He said he was nervous and scared at first before joining the 1^st monthly gathering. But eventually he had only got excited after seeing the proceedings of the meeting. He had participated in a Dengue awareness project back then, but his first official project as the chairperson had been the project “She”.

As the best Rotaract experience, he first mentioned the project “Rotaract Future Leaders” which was a district project, and it had been a 3-day workshop, and they have had to come up with their own project which had been pretty challenging. Just like Amasha and Vidushith aiya, Dumidu too acknowledged the WDSD celebrations, and he was glad that kids were appreciated at least in such a way.

Looking back Rtr. Dumidu expressed that in the beginning of the year he didn’t know anybody that much but with time their bond grew, and now they are just one big family. He also said that the installation ceremony held in 2020 was a memorable experience for him. We thanked Rtr. Dumidu for sharing his experiences and opinions, short and sweetly and also in a very friendly manner, making it easy for us.

Next, we reached the mother figure of the Exco, Rtr. Zaina Sallay, the Secretary of RACUSJ, who takes care of her following Exco fam and the Rotaract family as well.

She shared her experiences from the day she joined Rotaract. As she told us, she joined Rotaract in March 2019, the time of the president Rtr. Oshani Singapuliarachchi. Zaina had checked out all the clubs and was interested in Rotaract as she always wanted to become a part of an Interact Club when she was schooling. But unfortunately, during school they didn’t have an Interact Club.

Then she said that she got to know Rotaract is the next movement after Interact, so she thought that she would join Rotaract at university. And here she is, becoming the Secretary of the RACUSJ! She first attended the Dengue Prevention Week program at Thalangama Base Hospital, where she contributed to raise awareness on Dengue Prevention through wall painting. She fondly reminded that she made quite a number of new friends that day.

Then she talked about her favourite Rotaract experience so far. “My most favourite Rotaract experience is project Soar, chaired by myself in year 2019 itself.” She also mentioned that she was a part of Community Service Avenue, where Rtr Maneeshi and Rtr. Hiruki were the directors at that time. “Project Soar was a kite festival which was organized to celebrate Children’s Day and that was my most favourite experience because I was the chairperson and the project was successfully completed even with so much of difficulties such as Easter Sunday attack.

Everything worked in our favour, and we were able to spend the Children’s Day with more than 110 kids from three different children’s homes.” She also mentioned that the entire work process and even the OC was new to her, but at the end they were able to make those kids happy completing the project on a high note, as one family.

As the Secretary she shared some valuable tips and advices with us. As an experienced Rotaractor she told us to be open to all the possibilities that Rotaract can give to us. Grab all the opportunities because it’s Now or Never, as she said. “Take maximum advantage of this movement by making friends, building networks since you will never lose anything by joining Rotaract, except for gaining something new every day.”

Zaina mentioned that our year quite eventful with Covid-19. When their Exco was firstly appointed the country was under the first lockdown. Even though they had a year plan with different events hoping that everything will be fine soon, it was changed due to the prevailing situation which never became normal, but worse. By they started their Rotaract year in July, they had to start all over again with new plans.

Traditional ways of doing projects and functioning as a club has changed. But she assured that the Exco has been able to deal with this situation well and has been able to convert the challenges into opportunities. She remarked that the Board of Directors has been very helpful in functioning of the club and made her role easy. Finally, she stated again that they want to end their year on a really high note even amidst the pandemic.

Then we interviewed the most silent and innocent personality within the Exco. Rtr. Uvini Ayathma, the Treasurer of RACUSJ, started sharing her experiences in a very friendly manner.

“I joined Rotaract in July 2019 from I’m a Rotaractor program. The first project I volunteered was Soar, which was a kite festival organized for kids at children’s home. My first ever OC experience was with the project Holi-fied.” When talking about making friends she remarked, “Honestly at the beginning, breaking the ice was a bit hard. But after attending a few monthly gatherings and being a part of several OCs, I was able to make a bunch of friends.”

When she was asked about her favorite Rotaract experiences, she stated that her favorite project so far was For Them to Blossom, which was a Community Service project. Then she talked about her favourite experience where five members of the Finance Committee went on pen selling, where she started walking with her friends, starting from Wijerama Junction to Nugegoda covering almost every shop. As none of them wore a University T-shirt, people had started questioning and commenting too. Even though this experience sounds strange, she assured us that she enjoyed every bit of this new experience. 

As a responsible member of the club she gave our fellow Rotaractors some insightful advices and tips. She asked not to consider Rotaract as just another club but as an opportunity where we can develop ourselves, polish up our skills such as leadership, communication, serve to the society and find new friends. And reminded that it is our responsibility to take the maximum out of the projects. She asked not to think it as a burden and try to find the balance between academic work and the club activities.

Then she thankfully reminded the support they got from the talented Board of Directors and club members to achieve this success. And as the Treasurer, she is happy as they found good sponsorship even in this critical situation. 

Then we got the opportunity to talk with Rtr. Imesh Pathirana, Sergeant at Arms of the club. He was happy to share the story of his Rotaract journey with us.

He had a gang of six people, where four of them were members of RACUSJ. At the beginning he didn’t have a proper idea about the club as he thought this was a place to have fun. But then he saw his before mentioned friends working for the project Vidusaviya as OC members. The way they worked, and their commitment encouraged him to join the club. He also mentioned that his first project was Growing Green.

As his favourite Rotaract experience, without any hesitation, he stated about Project Yaluwa training sessions on how to deal with Down syndrome kids. Teaching and dealing with them was the most favourite experience of him as it is a different experience for him. Also, the launch of the “Voice it” app, was a remarkable milestone in his Rotaract journey.

As the Sergeant at Arms he shared some valuable advices and tips with us. “We are stepping into the eleventh year of RACUSJ and taking the club into this level and standard was not an easy task. The discipline inside the club and the team effort were the main reasons behind our success. So my advices are; “do respect each other and their opinions, make friends as much as you can and most importantly do the job right. And you will get what you really deserve.”

And finally, we interviewed our close and sincere friend from the Exco, the Editor Rtr. Harumi Rathugama,

She started our conversation by looking back at July 2019. Amasha and Harumi are the soul sisters of the Exco. They were from the same faculty, and they also joined RACUSJ together. As we mentioned before in Amasha’s story, they were looking for something which can make their university life interesting. Then she expressed with a laugh, the way they joined the Transition Meeting, full dressed in makeup and heels as they had attended a party after the meeting. After joining the meeting and listening to the story of PP, Rtr. Oshani Singapuliarachchi, they decided to continue in Rotaract.

Her Rotaract journey was blessed with so much of new friends. She gratefully reminded Amasha since she was the one who dragged Harumi, giving her all the opportunities, as Harumi was a very silent person. Her first project was AYUBOWAN SRI LANKA, which was initiated by the International Service Avenue. And it is really amazing to hear how she gathered so much of friends, love and care from the very first google form to the Exco google form.

“I love For Them to Blossom” said Harumi, when we asked her about her favourite Rotaract experience, “I really like it because I truly like people being happy and to see someone smiling. We did a huge project for Down syndrome kids and for the drug addicted people. I was the secretary of the project and I truly learnt what a community service is. I respect that project and that is my favourite Rotaract experience so far. But coming back to this year, Badulla visit, walking with Zaina and Amasha for biriyani and listening to their fun stuff and drama, were some other unforgettable experiences I had.”

“If you really love Rotaract and RACUSJ, you will feel that you want to stay” said Harumi while sharing her advices and tips. She specially wanted to state that being in Rotaract is one of the best decisions she has taken in her life, and she is really happy about it.

Being an Editor was a total different experience for me, but I enjoyed it to the maximum and I learnt a lot from it. Looking back our year was not easy as we thought, but our Directors and the other EXCO members moved really well while doing some amazing stuff even through virtual platforms.

Also, she mentioned that a huge credit must go to the content writers and the PR team members as she merely believes that they are the silent workers in every successful project As always, she ended the conversation sweetly saying that she wants to make our blog more shinier.

And that was the end of the quality time with our very own Exco. We two would like to thank each one of these humble souls again for allocating their valuable time even within their busy schedules.

Thus, each individual had a unique story about Rotaract. And we were not surprised about it, because Rotaract creates EVER LASTING MEMORIES!!!

Interviewed and written by, Rtr. Oshani Samarakkody & Rtr. Hasini Amanda

Graphic Designing – Rtr. Dinuka Lakshan & Rtr. Nipuni Rajapaksha