Living in lockdown meant a tough choice between safety and hunger for some during the Pandemic.
Out of the many families who were challenged with no income to fulfill their basic needs, there was one cluster in society who became the most vulnerable and thereby faced one of the greatest challenges one could possibly face in life. They were none other than the daily wage earners. COVID-19 not only disrupted the lifestyles of daily wage earners but it also instigated families with stress and a risk of psychological imbalance.
Belonging to a movement like Rotaract, we felt the need to reach out and help these families fight their daily battles. On that account we came forward with the idea of Project “Minisath Pawura”. Its ultimate purpose was to create that strong force of humanity and to be a beacon of hope in difficult times. With the pure intention of cultivating a bit of tranquility in the hearts of our own troubled souls, we raised awareness in our community as the first step of the project.
Few days after initiating the project, we received an unfortunate piece of news of a helpless father. He had given up on his life because he had to witness his children starving while not being able to shoulder the massive burden of fulfilling their needs amidst the pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 was such that his life was tested in terms of how long he could bear it with his hands tied by poverty. His failure to fight back and survive made us realize that social disparity had in fact hit some people harder than social distancing.
Somewhere between giving up and fighting back all their fretful thoughts, we believe that the packs of much needed essential items distributed via Project “Minisath Pawura” was a blessing in their lives indeed.
All thanks to the generous individuals who responded to us, we were able to raise a total of Rs. 118, 000 worth donations with which we made 100 relief packs. These were distributed to families of daily wage earners living in the areas of Dehiwela and Mount Lavinia. On 10th of May as we walked down the roads and went from one home to another, we were received with big smiles and warm welcomes. It reflected the innocent joy, overflowing in them. At that point, we were delighted too for we knew that our efforts to be a beacon of hope were absolutely worthwhile.
While they were given a reason to hold on a little longer, we realized that it is these little moments in which we touch another’s life eventually matter the most.
Steve Maraboli once said, “A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal.”
This project would have been a mere dream if not for all the individuals who decided to stand in solidarity with our fellow citizens by joining this force of humanity. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to all the kindhearted donors who took away the agony of these families at the most defenseless breakpoint of their lives. Every single donation was a source of courage in times that turned out to be dark. Here are a few final words dedicated to our donors out there; Your support made them resilient! Thankyou!
Meanwhile, here’s how Rtr. Eischarya Kariyapperuma penned her thoughts about the project;
ස්වභාවධර්මය වෙත අප විසින් යමක් ලබා දුන්නේද, ඒ සඳහා මුළු මහත් මනුෂ්‍යය සංහතියට ම ස්වභාව ධර්මය විසින් පෙරළා ප‍්‍රතිඋපහාර ලබා දෙන සමයකයි අප මේ දැන් ජීවත් වන්නේ.
නිවස තුළ ම රැඳී සිටීම ජාතික වගකීමක් බවට පත්ව තිබුණි. බොහෝ දෙනා තම වගකීම අකුරටම ඉෂ්ට කරන්නට වූහ. නමුත් එදිනෙදා වේල සරිකර ගන්නට රැකියාවක් කරන අපේම මව්වරුන් සහ පියවරුන් තම දරුවන්ගේ කුස ගිනි විලාප මද්‍යයේ අන්ත අසරණ වූ ආකාරය ඔබට අමුතුවෙන් පසක් කළ යුතු නැත.මෙවන් අසරණ වූ පවුලක ට හැකි ආකාරයෙන් උපකාරයක් කොට ඔවුන්ට හවුහරණක් වීම සැබවින්ම මනුසත් බවයේ වගකීමකි. මෙම වගකීම හරියට හඳුනා ගත් කොළඹ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ කළමනාකරණ හා මූල්ය පීඨයේ රොටරැක්ට් සංගමය වන අප, මිනිසත් පවුර නමින් ව්‍යාපෘතියක් දියත් කරන්නට වුනි.
මෙහි ප‍්‍රධාන අරමුණ වූයේ ඇඳිරි නීතිය සමයේ අසරණ වූ පවුල් වලට අත්‍යවශ්‍ය භාණ්ඩ ලබා දෙමින් ඔවුන්ට ශක්තියක් වීමයි. මේ ව්‍යාපෘතිය සඳහා බොහෝ දෙනා තම දායකත්වය ලබා දුන්නේ තමා තුළ ඇති මිනිසත් බව විදහා පාමිනි. ඔබ ලබාදුන් දායකත්වය කරණ කොට ගෙන අසරණ පවුල් සීයකට සහනයක් ගෙන දී ඔවුන් ගේ මුවඟට සිනහවක් ගෙන එන්නට අපට හැකියාව ලැබිණි.
අප හට, මිනිසත් පවුර ව්‍යාපෘතිය සාර්ථක කර ගැනීමට, ඔබගේ දායකත්වය පිටිවහලක් වූ වගට කිසිදු සැකයක් නැත. ඉතින් ව්‍යාපෘතිය හා අත්වැල් බැඳගෙන මිනිසත් බවේ වගකීමක් ඉෂ්ට සිද්ද කරන්නට යෙදුණු ඔබට අපගේ හෘදයාංගම ස්තුතිය පුද කර සිටින්නෙමු.
A glimpse of our journey;
English Article
Written By
Rtr. Shakila Perera
( Club Member – 2019/20 )
Sinhalese Article
Written By
Rtr. Eischarya Kariyapperuma
( Club Member – 2019/20 )
