Maybe it’s time to adapt to the New Normal, Let’s be responsible and protect each other!
Rotaract has always emphasized encouraging young Rotaractors to adopt and be courageous in the face of unexpected problems. A brief comment about last year would be incomplete without mentioning Covid 19 outbreak that resulted in a global pandemic that caused massive changes to our daily lives, changes that have often happened rapidly and abruptly. As branches of the Rotaract movement, each club has the responsibility to execute programs to educate individuals and assist thriving communities in fighting back. The 31st Rotaract District Assembly brought to light three such great initiatives under the category of “Stop the Spread – Covid 19 – Special Projects”, which created a significant impact on our community.
The project COVID Free Pera started as a part of Rotary’s Stop the Spread Initiative by the Rotaract Club of University of Peradeniya to further the Rotary vision of a vibrant society under the new normal; the project soon became the model project to test the initiatives. The initiative was taken up with the aim of making the University of Peradeniya premises into a COVID Controlled Environment and resuming the academic activities even during the pandemic.
This massive project consists of several phases.
- Phase 1: On-Campus Awareness Workshop
An awareness workshop was conducted to educate the university community about the new protocols and health guidelines that must be followed when the university reopens and get insight from the Health Center and relevant personnel into the pandemic situation and new initiatives.
- Phase 2: Banner Campaign
Under this phase, 100 banners were displayed at specific places demonstrating the relevant health guidelines.
- Phase 3: Online Awareness Campaign
- Phase 4: Donation of washbasins
- Phase 5: “Wear a Mask” Challenge
This outstanding initiative secured the Gold award under the category of ‘Stop the Spread COVID 19 – Special Projects.
Click here to find out more about this award winning initiative.
Silver- Track the Spread (RAC University of Kelaniya)
The project ‘Track the spread’ is a milestone in the Rotaract Club of University of Kelaniya’s journey since it uplifted the club to both national and international level recognition. A COVID-19 patient tracking system was developed with the intention of controlling the spread of coronavirus. As we are aware, this pandemic situation has changed the accustomed lives of people and created many difficulties. The rapid spread of coronavirus and lack of proper medical treatment has resulted in an increase in the number of deaths. Visiting the quarantine centres and risking their own lives is one of the serious issues being faced by healthcare officials.
The development of the mobile application ‘Track the spread’ helps public health officers to trace the movements of infected patients who are under quarantine with just a click or swipe on the screen. Advanced technologies like geolocation capturing and movement tracking are being used in this application. This project was a tremendous success because of the hard work and commitment of web developers, Rotaractors, and Rotarians.
Currently, the development team is undertaking efforts to enhance this software system further. Moreover, they expect to launch this application to the public and present it to the government as a community service. This project is being selected as one of the top 7 finalists from South Asia for the Rotaract Outstanding Project Award.
Click here to find out more about this award winning initiative.
Bronze – Epitome of COVID-19 (RAC Informatics Institute of Technology)
‘Epitome of COVID-19’ is an initiative of the Rotaract club of IIT which had the aim of achieving the goal “STOP THE SPREAD – BEYOND COVID-19” by assisting the people who are in need. This project was executed in five phases for nearly one year. On 21st July 2020, a food drive was conducted through which the club was able to distribute more than 100 food parcels to needy people and also provided disposable and reusable face masks and a pamphlet instructing people to protect themselves from COVID-19. The second phase ‘Rakawarnaya’ was implemented with the support of Camso Loadstar (Pvt) Ltd and OfficeSupply.lk from 7th to 17th of August 2020. The objective of this stage was to supply disinfectants to schools that do not have adequate funds to sanitize their school premises and cater to their needs. The club donated more than 1500 litres of facility cleaners and more than 100 cans of hand wash to 68 selected rural schools located in Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts. In addition to the donation, an awareness programme was conducted regarding the importance of disinfecting and protecting oneself from the virus.
Afterwards, a Blood Donation Campaign was organized on the 2nd of September, 2020 at Sri Sunandarama Temple, Kalubowila at the request of Athurugiriya General Hospital since the amount of blood in blood banks was insufficient to handle the increase in the number of infected patients. The fourth phase was the release of a video series in order to educate people about this pandemic situation since many people were unaware of the precautionary measures. The final phase of this initiative was the donation of a washbasin to JPP Trade Centre, responding to their request to deal with the situation safely and to carry on with their shops’ smooth operations.
Thank you to all fellow clubs and fellow Rotaractors for providing us with the details. Stay tuned for the ninth article of this novel series.
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