“We’re now seeing a warning light on the dashboard … Our assessment is that we should now squeeze that brake pedal in order to keep the virus under control.” – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
The Rotaract Movement has always emphasized the importance of young Rotaractors adopting and being courageous in the face of uncertain circumstances. In a quick recap of 2020-21, the global Covid-19 epidemic has afflicted approximately 220 countries and claimed the lives of over 4 million people in just one year. Rotaract has been at the forefront of measures to not only educate individuals but also to help thriving communities in their fight against the pandemic since the beginning. Rotaract has unquestionably figured prominently, particularly in a developing country like Sri Lanka where there is a lack of basic awareness. The 31st Rotaract District Assembly brought to light two outstanding projects in this category of “Stop the spread – Covid 19”, which created a major impact on our community.
“අපි දැන් අනතුරු ඇඟවීමේ ආලෝකයක් දකිමු … අපගේ තක්සේරුව වන්නේ වෛරසය පාලනය කර ගැනීම සඳහා අපි දැන්ම තිරිංග යෙදිය යුතු බවයි.” – බ්රිතාන්ය අගමැති බොරිස් ජොන්සන්.
රොටරැක්ට් සමාජය සෑම විටම තරුණ රොටරැක්ටර්වරුන්හට අවිනිශ්චිත තත්වයන් හමුවේ ධෛර්ය සම්පන්න වීමේ සහ ඊට අනුගත වීමේ වැදගත්කම අවධාරණය කර ඇත. 2020-21 නැවත සලකා බැලීමේදී, ගෝලීය Covid-19 වසංගතය ආසන්න වශයෙන් රටවල් 220 ක් පීඩාවට පත් කර ඇති අතර වසරක් තුළ මිලියන 4 කට අධික මිනිසුන්ගේ ජීවිත බිලිගෙන ඇත. රොටරැක්ට් සමාජය ආරම්භයේ සිටම පුද්ගලයන් දැනුවත් කිරීම පමණක් නොව, වසංගතයට එරෙහි සටනේදී සමෘද්ධිමත් ප්රජාවන්ට උපකාර කිරීමේ ක්රියාමාර්ගවලද පෙරමුණෙහි සිටියහ. විශේෂයෙන්ම අවම මූලික දැනුවත්භාවයක් සහිත ශ්රී ලංකාව වැනි සංවර්ධනය වෙමින් පවතින රටක, රොටරැක්ට් අවිවාදයෙන්ම දැනුවත් කිරීම් සම්බන්දයෙන් ප්රමුඛස්ථානයක් ගෙන ඇත. 31 වන රොටරැක්ට් දිස්ත්රික් සමුළුව මගින් අපගේ ප්රජාවට විශාල බලපෑමක් ඇති කළ “STOP THE SPREAD – Covid 19” යන කාණ්ඩයේ කැපී පෙනෙන ව්යාපෘති දෙකක් ඇගයීමට ලක් කරන ලදී .
“நாங்கள் இப்போது டாஷ்போர்டில் ஒரு எச்சரிக்கை விளக்கைப் பார்க்கிறோம்… வைரஸைக் கட்டுப்பாட்டிற்குள் வைத்திருக்க பிரேக் பெடலை இப்போது அழுத்த வேண்டும் என்பது எங்கள் மதிப்பீடு.” – பிரிட்டிஷ் பிரதமர் போரிஸ் ஜான்சன்
ரோட்ராக்ட் இயக்கம் எப்போதும் இளம் ரோட்டராக்டர்களை நிச்சயமற்ற சூழ்நிலையில் தைரியமாக இருப்பதன் முக்கியத்துவத்தை வலியுறுத்துகிறது. 2020-21 இன் விரைவான மறுபரிசீலனையில், கோவிட் -19 தொற்றுநோய் உலகளாவிய ரீதியில் சுமார் 220 நாடுகளை பாதித்துள்ளது மற்றும் ஒரு வருடத்தில் 4 மில்லியனுக்கும் அதிகமான மக்களின் உயிரைக் கொன்றுள்ளது. ரோட்டராக்ட் ஆரம்பத்திலிருந்தே தனிநபர்களுக்கு விழிப்புணர்வை ஏற்படுத்துவது மட்டுமல்லாமல், தொற்றுநோய்க்கு எதிரான போராட்டத்தில் சமூகங்களுக்கு உதவுவதற்கான நடவடிக்கைகளில் முன்னணியில் உள்ளது. குறிப்பாக அடிப்படை விழிப்புணர்வு இல்லாத இலங்கை போன்ற வளரும் நாட்டில் ரோட்ராக்ட் முக்கிய இடத்தைப் பிடித்துள்ளது. 31வது ரோட்டராக்ட் மாவட்ட பேரவை, “STOP THE SPREAD – Covid 19” என்பதன் கீழ் சமூகத்தில் பெரும் தாக்கத்தை ஏற்படுத்திய இரண்டு சிறப்பான திட்டங்களை வெளிச்சத்திற்கு கொண்டு வந்துள்ளது.
Gold – Break the Outbreak (RAC Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo)
‘Break the outbreak’ is an effort of Rotaract club of Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo to educate Rotaractors, Interactors, and university students about Covid-19 and other pandemics that could occur in the future. The project was conducted in 3 phases as;
- Phase 1 – Covid talks, A-Z about Corona (The Webinar)
- Phase 2 – Adhere! Live Clear! (The Booklet)
- Phase 3 – The Next Pandemic, are we ready? (The International Seminar)
.
Phase 1 – ‘Covid talks’
This webinar will empower participants with a wealth of information about the current pandemic. The webinar had a fantastic panel of speakers with extensive knowledge and experience in the pandemic situation. This session provided a better opportunity for attendees to learn more about what was going on in the IDH. During this difficult period when physical events were disallowed, this program provided advice to other Rotaractors on how to start their own Covid projects in a very effective and socially friendly manner.
Topics covered;
- What is Covid 19?
- Covid and public health response.
- Sri Lanka’s battle against Covid 19
- Covid 19 and mental well-being
- COVID-19, how can youth respond
Phase 2 – A booklet that contains all about Covid-19.
The aim of this booklet is to gather dispersed knowledge about COVID-19 in one place. The team wanted to make a sustainable information source about the COVID-19 pandemic for future generations.
The book’s material was compiled by the students themselves, and it was validated by FOMUOC lecturers. To pique the reader’s attention, each chapter was written in either a story format, an article style, or a Q & A format.
Topics covered in the book;
- History of pandemics
- About COVID 19
- Sri Lanka’s fight against Covid 19
- Other aspects of Covid 19
- How can we protect from Covid 19
- The new normal
- Factors contributing to another pandemic
- FAQs and Myths about Covid 19
.
Click here to download an e-copy of this publication which was launched via their official website.
Phase 3 – Are we ready for the next pandemic?
This was a quiz and conference to raise awareness about COVID-19 and other pandemics, as well as to attract attention to the invisible side of pandemics such as deforestation, animal exploitation, and global warming, with ideas of the expertise in the field.
The conference addressed the microbiological aspect, epidemiological aspect, pharmacological aspect, and environmental aspect of future pandemics as mentioned above.
The booklet that was compiled in phase 2 was launched at this event.
Topics covered;
- Current situation with new strains of Covid-19 and Virological and immunological factors contributing a future pandemic
- Current spread of Covid-19 and Epidemiological aspect of a future pandemic
- Pharmacological aspects contributing to a future pandemic and how to prevent them
- Environmental aspects contributing to the emergence of future pandemics and how to prevent them
Silver – Street Play on Stop the Spread- Covid 19 (RAC Jaffna Peninsula)
Street play on stop the spread- COVID 19, was another magnificent initiative conducted by our impressive mates of the Rotaract Club of Jaffna Peninsula. To be exact on how wonderfully conducted this project, which was beyond success was recognized in the 31st Rotaract District Assembly and rewarded by the silver award.
The team was able to make an unforgettable impact on society by raising awareness of the Covid 19 virus and especially the higher was the impact as a result of the creativeness added into the awareness campaign.
Thinking out of the box, these passionate Rotaractors conducted a street play bringing the timely topic Covid 19 to the spotlight and raising awareness on the most underrated yet the most important topic, the protective measures to be used in order to prevent the spread of covid- 19 virus. These sedulous members also distributed Covid 19 literature approved by the public health inspector. Our fellow mates focused on performing at the spots where many people interact in order to reach out to many people as possible conducting a memorable & inventive awareness campaign on Covid 19 virus.
Overcoming several obstacles during the pandemic period, the club members worked really hard in achieving their objective and were able to reach out to many locals especially as they conducted the play in a local language. Not only that, the street play was broadcast live via the Club Facebook page and also telecasted on the TV channels attracting the attention of the local audience.
The projects “Break the outbreak” and “Street play on Stop the Spread- COVID 19” received deserved recognition and were rewarded for their selfless and tireless acts.
And with that, ladies and gentlemen, the ‘Honoured & Sealed Season 2’ for the year 2021 comes to a close. Throughout this series, we’ve apprised you about 44 outstanding projects that were recognized at the 31st Rotaract District Assembly under 15 categories. While we congratulate the clubs and individuals behind these projects, we also want to thank our fellow Rotaractors and clubs for supplying us with the details and for their continued support.
We’d want to express our gratitude to everyone who has read and enjoyed our novel series. Keep an eye out for ‘Season 3′ of the ‘Honoured & Sealed’ in the following Rotary International year!
Written and Compiled by:
