‘There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about….’
Even though the economic status of Sri Lanka remains to be at a satisfactory level, there are still certain villages that are deprived of proper infrastructure facilities. There are also certain others, which do not have access to even the basic of resources, to the extent where children drop their studies halfway as they can’t afford to at least buy a pair of shoes. To think about the fact of a small group of people rebuilding or rather uplifting an entire village, a real question arises if it’s quite possible. Well, the truth is nothing is truly impossible when your heart and soul are put into it and when you have the right people around you to work with. Rotaract, which holds Economic and Community Development as one of its leading goals, has led the way in making the impossible, POSSIBLE! Rotaract has never failed to prioritize the act of reaching out and aiding the neediest and has consistently supported communities in enriching their lives. Three exceptional projects were brought to spotlight in the 30th Rotaract District Assembly under the category of ‘Economic and Community development’.
ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ආර්ථික තත්ත්වය සතුටුදායක මට්ටමක පැවතුනද නිසි යටිතල පහසුකම් නොමැති සමහර ගම්මාන තවමත් පවතී. තම මූලික යටිතල පහසුකම් පවා සපුරාගනීමට නොහැකි තවත් පිරිසක්ද මේ අතර වේ. අවම වශයෙන් සපත්තු යුගලයක්වත් මිල දී ගැනීමට නොහැකිව ළමයින් තම අධ්‍යාපන කටයුතු අතහැර දමා ඇති අවස්ථාද ඇත. කුඩා පිරිසක් එක්ව, මුළු ගමක් නැවත ගොඩනැඟීම හෝ නඟා සිටුවීමට හැකියාවක් පවතීද යන කාරණය පිලිබඳව සිතා බැලිය යුතු වේ. සත්‍යය යනු, ඔබගේ හදවත සහ ආත්මය තුළ වුවමනාව ඇති වූ විට සහ ඔබ වටා වැඩ කිරීමට සුදුසු පුද්ගලයින් එක්රොක් වූ විට සත්‍ය වශයෙන්ම කළ නොහැකි දෙයක් නොමැත. ආර්ථික හා ප්‍රජා සංවර්ධනය එහි ප්‍රධාන ඉලක්කයක් ලෙස සලකන රොටරැක්ට්, කළ නොහැකි දෑ, කල හැකි බව සනාත කිරීමට මග පෙන්වයි. රොටරැක්ට් කිසි විටෙකත් අවශ්‍යතා ඇති අය වෙත ළඟා වීමට සහ ඔවුන්ට උපකාර කිරීමට ප්‍රමුඛත්වය දීමට අපොහොසත් වී නොමැති අතර ප්‍රජාවන්ට ඔවුන්ගේ ජීවිත සාරවත් කර ගැනීමට නිරන්තරයෙන් සහයෝගය ලබා දී ඇත. ‘ආර්ථික හා ප්‍රජා සංවර්ධනය’ යන කාණ්ඩය යටතේ 30 වන රොටරැක්ට් දිස්ත්‍රික් එක්රැස්වීමේදී සුවිශේෂී ව්‍යාපෘති තුනක් අවධානයට ලක්විය.
இலங்கையின் பொருளாதார நிலை திருப்திகரமான மட்டத்தில் இருந்தாலும், சரியான உட்கட்டமைப்பு வசதிகள் இல்லாத சில கிராமங்கள் இன்னும் உள்ளன. குறைந்த பட்சம் ஒரு ஜோடி காலணியை வாங்குவதற்கு கூட முடியாததால், குழந்தைகள் தங்கள் படிப்பை பாதியிலேயே கைவிடுகின்ற அளவிற்கும் சில உள்ளன.ஒரு சிறிய குழுவினர் முழு கிராமத்தையும் மீண்டும் கட்டியெழுப்ப அல்லது மேம்படுத்துவது சாத்தியமா? பொருளாதார மற்றும் சமூக மேம்பாட்டை அதன் முக்கிய குறிக்கோள்களில் ஒன்றாக கொண்ட றோட்டறக்ட் சாத்தியமற்றதை சாத்தியமாக்க வழிவகுத்தது! 30 வது றோட்டறக்ட் மாவட்ட சட்டசபையில் ‘பொருளாதார மற்றும் சமூக மேம்பாடு’ என்ற பிரிவின் கீழ் மூன்று திட்டங்கள் கண்டெடுக்கப்பட்டன.
Gold – Horowpathana Sustainable Village (RAC Colombo Central)
Horowpathana Sustainable Village was carried out by the Rotaract Club of Colombo Central at four villages in Horowpathana situated in the Anuradhapura District, with the aim of developing underprivileged rural villages in Sri Lanka.
The Club was able to establish a textile industry within the village, compost manufacturing plants, organic farms, recycling and manufacturing plants which enhanced the economic perspectives of the villagers and introduced them to innovations. Refurbishing schools, constructing libraries, restructuring sports grounds, repairing clinics were also part of this prodigious project.
Through the project the village received new wells, pipelines and water purification systems to help them fight the chronic diseases that were rising in the area. The area was made in to an Environmentally Sustainable and Zero Omission zone by the end of the project.
This exceptional initiative was a result of months’ worth of hard work which impacted and changed the lives of the villagers forever.
To know about RAC Colombo Central you can follow them on;
https://www.facebook.com/raccolcen/
Silver – Grama Prabodhaya (RAC University of Moratuwa)
Grama Prabodhaya – “In Pursuit of Their Dreams’’, an initiative and an aspiration of the Rotaract club of University of Moratuwa to improve the quality of lives of the tiny remote village of Ranugalla, Monaragala. Rotaract Mora owns the pride and dignity in securing the ‘Single Club International Winner in the year 2016-17 Rotaract Outstanding Project Award’ by Rotary International’ surpassing over 8000 Rotaract clubs in 167 countries. This is not just an honourable moment for Rotaract Mora, rather for the entire nation since this prestigious award was triumphed for the first time by a Sri Lankan Rotaract club.
Outstanding from a typical Community Service project, Grama prabodhaya turned out to be a collective endeavour to develop an entire village holistically in many respects. The first phase of the project centered on health and nutrition, education, etc. with the funding support from Millennium Information Technologies. This was only the beginning of their long journey forward.
It is quite astonishing, that in the upcoming phases of “Grama Prabodhaya”, providing clean drinking water to the entire village and creating employment opportunities, especially for the women in the village would be the major concerns.
As they live by their motto, ‘Serve Above Self’, though many challenges had to be met, Rotaract Mora’s determination to make the village a better place shattered them all.
More information can be found on;
https://blog.rotaractmora.org/
Bronze – A home for needy (RAC Negombo)
Each and every one of us hold a range of expectations throughout our lives, Yet, certain unexpected and tragic circumstances pull our lives into sorrow forever. Lending hands to those who are in real need in whatever ways we can is indeed a valuable cause. Rotaract club of Negombo with their parent Rotary club have done their best through this incredible initiative ‘A Home for Needy’. The club has been able to uplift the living conditions and the economic status of a family who got affected from the Easter Sunday Attack back in 2019.
The particular family which already had poverty issues with the unstable income they earned, had to go through a devastating situation as their child was one of the victims of the Easter Sunday Attack. The child who got affected from the bomb blast had to undergo several surgeries in his head.
Empathizing the plight of the family, the joint clubs have contributed by providing funds for the construction of their house and have managed to donate financial and dry-ration aids for their living. The clubs have done their best in giving a relief for the griefs of an innocent family through this exceptional initiative.
To know about RAC Negombo you can follow them on;
https://www.facebook.com/rotaract.negombo/
A huge applause to the clubs and the members behind the success of these projects, for proving that, together we can break the boundaries and together we can build a world with novelty. For togetherness is Strength and Courage, bundled up together.
Conveying our gratitude to the respective clubs for acknowledging us with required information on time and supporting us.
Written & Compiled By:
The Blog Team 2020/21
