Written By: Rtr. Hiruni Dissanayake (Vice President for the RI year 2024-25)

Amigo 2.0 – A project so special, we call it our own

Back in 2023, I joined RACUSJ through a very small project, RACUSJ Sports Fiesta. The project was organised under the Sports and Recreational Activities Avenue of our club, and since that day, I was labelled as a member of the SRA avenue, which I was more than happy to take on. I can still recall how the two directors of the avenue, Rtr. Tharushi Pigera and Rtr. Roshell Askey, welcomed us to our very first organizing committee meeting for RACUSJ Sports Fiesta & how they truly made Rotaract feel like home. Because of this, my friends and I always found ourselves sticking to the SRA avenue.

After working on two projects under the avenue, I wanted to lead a project by myself as the chairperson. That was when the applications for the OC of Amigo 2.0 opened. Deep down, I knew that even if I didn’t apply for the position, I would still be given the opportunity to lead as the chairperson, simply because of the effort I had already put into the avenue, and also because of the close bond I had formed with the directors and the rest of the avenue members.

Fast forward a bit >> yes, I got the position. Then came the day of our very first OC meeting. Speaking honestly, I was nervous, because I wanted to make sure that every member of the OC would be on the same track as I was, to make the project a success. I’m not going to lie, I started the project hoping to win the most outstanding OC Award within our club, and I wasn’t aware about district awards. With that thought, I began working with the 20 incredibly amazing individuals who made this journey unforgettable.

I can still remember the approach I used to bring everyone together. Our very first OC meeting was super chill, where we played fun games to break the ice and ended the day by making a TikTok, which surprisingly (not very surprisingly) got pretty good reach.

We planned Amigo 2.0 in two phases. The first being a beach day and the second a treasure hunt. In preparation for the project we had countless virtual meetings, physical meetups, and even TikTok sessions. After less than a month of planning, on the 23rd of February 2024, we finally held our beach day.

One of our key strategies was giving free breakfast, which worked so well that we ended up with more than 80 participants, which was a pretty large crowd for a Rotaract event. The day was filled with fun games, laughter, TikToks, and above all, unforgettable memories. Successfully concluding our first phase gave us the confidence and energy to move forward with even bigger plans.

For our second phase, we were lucky enough to get a generous sponsorship from PearlBay which helped us place five tickets to Pearl Bay as the ultimate treasure of the treasure hunt, which created a huge hype among participants. Because of that, we managed to attract around eight teams to compete.

We planned out a fun and engaging treasure hunt with different games along the way. On the event day, even though we were fully prepared and expected the hunt to take about two hours to complete, the excitement and competitiveness were so high that it only took around 45 minutes for all the teams to finish. Beside the quick finish, the event was a massive success, full of energy, laughter, and team spirit. With that, we were able to proudly and successfully conclude Amigo 2.0.

Although though the project came to a beautiful end, the true treasure I will forever hold in my heart is my Amigo 2.0 OC. They are the ones who made this project so special, and for that, I’m forever grateful for them. And also yes, not only did we win the Most Outstanding Organizing Committee Award, we also won a district award at the 34th Rotaract District Assembly. On top of that, 7 out of our 20 OC members were selected for the next year’s EXCO/BOD, which clearly shows what kind of an OC we were.

So, this message is especially for my beloved Amigo 2.0 OC:

“I still owe you guys that Pearl Bay day out (iykyk), but more importantly, thank you for making my Rotaract journey so special.”

Graphic Design by Rtr. Manaal Zainab