Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) was successfully held at the CHE Adventure Park, Kosgama on the 25th and the 26th of January 2020. This wonderful platform for youth leadership development was hosted by the Rotary Club of Colombo Mid Town. RYLA is an intensive leadership training program which encourages the next set of future leaders in the Rotaract movement. RYLA 2019-20 facilitated 88 Rotaractors representing all the Rotaract clubs in Sri Lanka and I’m truly honoured that I got this opportunity to represent the Rotaract Club of University of Sri Jayewardenepura in RYLA 2019-20. From the beginning to the end, the program was well organized and the experience that I gained from the program was ineffable.

This was an amazing experience where all the Rylarians worked together as one team to attain the targets and the goals during the whole program. From the first point in time, it was a challenging atmosphere because most of the participants didn’t know each other and we had to mingle with everyone to construct a comfort zone for ourselves. With that, the organizing committee allocated groups for us and we had to contribute to our team until the end of the program.

We kick-started the First day with Rotaract formalities and the statements which were stated by the Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Colombo Mid Town. The very first session was done under the theme of Entrepreneurship and Innovation by Mr. Fathhi Mohammed the Co-Founder of PickMe. In that session, he shared his life experiences with us and motivated us to launch our own ideas in order to become successful individuals.

During that interactive session most of the Rylarians came up with different thoughts and all of us were encouraged to think differently. And then the next session was carried under the theme of Rotaract-Rotary Transformation. That session inspired all the enthusiastic Rotaractors’ inner souls with a lot of unheard information. As a fresher in the Rotaract movement, I personally got to know a lot about the history of the movement as well as the great opportunities that we can gain from the movement while serving to the community. Those facts stimulated me to continue my Rotaract journey furthermore.

Moreover, we spent the latter part of the day in an energetic manner. As teams, we were engaged with various group activities which were aimed to develop our communication skills, leadership skills, intellectual skills and also other forms of power skills. Those activities helped us to find ourselves through obstacles and also taught us the importance of teamwork.

The most blissful moment of the first day was the talent show and the bonfire session. All the groups came up with their own creative skits and they showcased their talents with their teammates in many attractive ways. I enjoyed every moment of it and had a great time with my fellow Rylarians and concluded the day with positivity.

Day two started with a physical therapy where all participants geared up with a pertinent mindset for the day. After having breakfast, we headed to a river to do water rafting which gave me a lifelong experience and it taught me how important each and every individual in a team is in order to accomplish group tasks. One of the most unforgettable activities that I’ve experienced in RYLA was the zip line. That was my very first experience on an aerial rope and it was breathtaking for me. That activity built up confidence and emphasized the importance of the endurance skills to live a balanced life.

As Rotaractors we always try to give our best to the society without any hassle. I also learnt that unity and integrity are the key components that’ll be useful for us in that journey. Therefore, all these activities taught me those key components and also gave me life-lasting experiences and confidence to address the challenges lively.

Ultimately we had to do a presentation on the experiences that we gained from the whole program and almost every team did an amazing job to show the positive impact and the multiple experiences that all Rylarians obtained from RYLA 2019-20. Finally, we passed out as Rylarians in the RYLA batch of 2019-20 with a lot of heart whelming memories.

As a Rotaractor, I learned a whole lot of lessons throughout the program which inspired me to continue Rotaract as well as volunteering in order to serve the community for so long and also be a change agent in the society to make a change in the whole world. I’m eagerly waiting to share my experiences with my fellow club members to elevate the standards of the club to the next level.

– Rtr. Amasha Sirimanna –