“We started the year with a pandemic and ended it with a pandemic”, the exact words of our very own President, Rtr. Amasha Sirimanna would pretty much sum up the whole Rotaract year 2020/21.
The Rotaract year 2020/21 was started with so much of hope and targets. Our annual year plan was ready, and we were ready but the Iron lady of RACUSJ, Rtr. Amasha Sirimanna and her team were given a challenge by mother nature and COVID-19 imposed many challenges to her and the team.
Adjusting to a word named “Social distancing” was pretty much hard for us but we, abided to it as a club, because we strongly believed that Rotarctors are change agents.
Being a voluntary movement, no one would have expected a pandemic which kept everyone away from each other. One might think we would have stopped functioning for a whole year, unable to move forward without gathering or travelling to serve the community. But with so much of pride we can vouch for the year 2020/21, that it went beyond expectations with many impactful projects and concluded it with contentment to all RACUSJ members who have been active throughout the year.
Adapting to a situation that has never occurred in our lifetime and to carry on it for a whole year is a very difficult task. Being a member base of over 250 active members, our club holds one of the largest member-bases in the District. Indeed, a good team of leaders must lead us without breaking the club apart. The Executive committee and our Board of Directors challenged the challenge of beating a pandemic to Rotaract, and it was an immense success.
Looking back to 5 years, if the pandemic situation hit while the technology was still on the rise, it would have been a huge hurdle. But RACUSJ embraced the new technology and the skilled youngsters to initiate projects that were not familiar to Rotaract before. Virtual webinar series, Virtual competitions and even virtual monthly gatherings kept the Rotaractors together and connected even during a situation where social distancing was practiced.
Considering the fact that not a single avenue or committee of RACUSJ remained unnoticed in their work, it is clearly visible that our Rotaractors along with their respective Directors and the Executive committee did a great job in making an impact during the whole year.
Let us reminisce on the special moments of the Rotaract Club of University of Sri Jayewardenepura for the year 2020/21.
The Club Service Avenue, the avenue which overlooks the well-being and the fellowship among the Rotaractors in our club, faced many hardships during the COVID-19 waves. I would say this was one of the avenues that was affected the most by the pandemic. The Co-Directors of the Avenue Rtr. Yeshika Fonseka and Rtr. Chamathka Oshadhi had their plans and dreams of holding many physical entertaining events for the Rotaractors being ruined by the lockdowns and social restrictions.
Nevertheless, they didn’t want the fellowship and the bonds between the members to be weakened and gave their best shots at every project they did. Project “I’m a Rotaractor” was organized to be conducted virtually with many fun games and programs which attracted more members into the club.
Also, the project Memorable December was organized in order to bring out the talents of our own Rotaractors as well as non-Rotaractors by giving a chance to exhibit their Christmas decorations which were surely what took their boredom away being stuck at home during Christmas and this project provided platform for talented individuals to entertain a crowd of over 100 in an open mic night. Followed by a PR campaign about the history of Christmas, this project surely was a special project to all the Club members.
While the government relaxed restrictions for a short period of time with control over the COVID-19 spread, the Club Service avenue was able to organize 4 score an interclub cricket match between the clubs of our university to enhance the bond between our Rotaractors with other club members.
This was organized and done in a matter of time as no risk could be afforded with the prevailing situation. Also, another fun filled event Triwizard Championship’21 was organized by the CS avenue which included a game of charades, an escape the room experience, a photo challenge and a popularity contest along with a much-needed timely phase of appreciating the family members of our very own Rotaractors who risked their lives for the betterment of the country and worked in the front forces during the pandemic. The success of all projects carried out by the Club Service Avenue proves that COVID-19 was not enough of a barrier to stop them from building the bonds between Rotaractors.
Community Service, the unit with most projects being initiated to be carried out physically, rose beyond their expectations reaching many communities amidst the pandemic including, mental health patients, differently abled children and adults, persons under rehabilitation for drug addiction and so on. Through projects “Butterfly effect 3.0” and “For them to blossom 3.0” were enough to change lives and make even the smallest positive of impact on 1000+ beneficiaries.
They also relaunched and updated the website for the National Institute of Mental Health with all the necessary upgrades including a system to make appointments easily through the internet.
All these tasks would not have been possible if not for the co-directors of the avenue, Rtr.Kushali Jayasundara, Rtr. Thiloka Umagiliyage and Rtr.Janithi Wickramathilaka along with their teams who actively took part in all these projects and adapted and acted accordingly and swiftly amidst the current situation.
Another topic that needed to be addressed, “cyber-crimes” was covered by holding a very interactive and informative series of webinars with many known guests. Through the project E- Shield we were able to make aware hundreds of people of the hotlines and other facilities supplied and the country’s laws related to cyber-crimes and how to keep safe from being a victim.
Rise up Sri Lanka, within a time of being unable to socialize, keeping peace and harmony among all religions and cultures was an important issue, thus the project was organized in order to discuss many cultural and religious misconceptions, beliefs and many more through a series of panel discussions and also a physical phase of helping religious places of the four main religions found in Sri Lanka was conducted in between the COVID-19 waves.
The community service avenue, however, was able to give their services to many individuals from various communities and areas in need and even more desperately in need of love and attention during the prevailing situation.
The International Service Avenue, also known as the ISIS fam, were the ones who took the most advantage of the pandemic by initiating many international projects with the participation and collaboration of over 100 Rotaract clubs in many countries representing all continents. As an avenue which initiates various services that will be then followed by the other collaborating clubs, The ISIS fam was able to make a huge impact not only in our country but worldwide, while staying safe at homes.
Few physical phases of project Aquatica were held with many volunteers who had fun in the few days while involving in impactful services. They also organized a timely topic based project “PRIDE”, addressing a taboo topic in the community which needed many discussions to put away the misconceptions of people on the LGBTQ+ community.
Also, the projects Literato and Rotamates went beyond the horizons. Rtr. Sanara, Rtr. Romesh and Rtr. Sathsara deserves a huge credit for their amazing plans for projects which gave exposure to our Rotaractors by giving them chances to make friends overseas and do much great deeds all over the world.
The Professional Development Avenue was able to conduct projects that will stay in everyone’s memories for a very long time. Project Crackerjacks 2.0 was one of the most popular projects of the year. Be Professionally Equipped 3.0 was held by covering 5 etiquettes followed by the first ever social dancing workshop held by RACUSJ giving a chance to find many pro-level dancers in RACUSJ.
The PD Avenue was able to organize one of the most important and useful projects,“YES,21”, by encouraging the young entrepreneurs in our country to express their business ideas to a judge panel and in return they got an unexpected surprise where the judge panel agreed to mentor the top 5 finalists.
Rtr. Oshadhi and Rtr. Chamod were rewarded for all their efforts by getting great feedback for the projects they launched.
FinSight and Respawn were projects done by the Finance Committee to raise funds and also make aware of many people of financing at a personal level through project FinSight and keeping your money safe and worthy.
Rtr. Sandali and Rtr. Sahan were mainly focusing not only on increasing funds of the club but also encouraging Rotaractors on saving and investment by conducting such a useful project. Respawn was a joint initiative by the Finance team and PR team which was a gaming competition with a mind-blowing prize pool for the winners of PUBG and Call of Duty games. The project gained immense success with more than 200 participants from over 50 teams.
The Membership Development Committee, led by Rtr. Chamika Wickramaratne and Rtr. Dinushi Alwis completed the task of holding the 10th Installation in grandeur. Also, “Sneak Peek into Rotaract”, A project which was launched to attract new members to the family by making aware of how Rotaract works and how it impacts the society as well as oneself. Video clips by well renowned persons was used in this task to get more attention of the target audience.
Splendour ’21 our annual awarding ceremony of RACUSJ which usually is a grand-scale event was organized to be one grand virtual ceremony without letting down the standards of an awarding ceremony. It sure was a huge motivation for the members who weren’t giving up on Rotaract even in a pandemic.
Growing Green 2.0 and Tourisco, the projects which were based on the sustainability and eco-friendliness was initiated by the Environmental Service avenue led by Rtr. Chathura & Rtr. Poornnima. Growing Green 2.0 was initiated with the objective of balancing the carbon footprint of a considerable number of citizens in our country, mostly focusing Rotaractors.
A mangrove tree planting campaign was organized, and 1000 mangrove plants were planted by the organizing committee and many volunteers. For our target audience a PR campaign was launched in order to give them a clear understanding of the carbon footprint and its issues as well as how even the smallest change one makes can make a big impact on the environment.
Project Tourisco was a project on making aware of our travelling enthusiasts of how-to eco-travel through a series of webinars and a vlog competition with many amazing prizes.
The Public Relations Committee led by Rtr. Dinuka and Rtr. Chamath were able to carry out a wonderful public awareness campaign about violence against women through project Someone’s Daughter 3.0. This project was running in various paths of appreciating working women, episodes of talk shows with power women who were well renowned in Sri Lanka and also launching the first ever mobile application “Voice It” which directly contact child and women abuse authority and the only app with details and hotlines for any occasion of abuse.
And that’s how year 2020/21 of RACUSJ came to an end. Not with a resting year of few projects with the excuse of a pandemic, but with the most number of projects of them all were useful and important to Rotaractors and the society at large.
This is the best example one can give when they say “If you have a lemon, make lemonade” We made the best lemonade in town with the COVID-19 lemon which was handed over to us.
We Rotaractors are proud members of a family named the Rotaract Club of University of Sri Jayewardenepura who never gave up on anything for any excuse. Adapting and embracing the given situation helped us grow as a family together.
Hoping that next year, mother nature would give us back the normal we used to live in and the Rotaract movement grows stronger more than ever.
Viva La Rotaract!!!
Written by Rtr. Nethmi Wimalasena
Graphic Designing – Rtr. Dinuka Lakshan & Rtr. Keshan Hapuarachchi
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