“Some of the activities should be viewed as an investment, not an expense”
The spread of COVID-19 has become an escalating threat and it has reshaped our lives to a new normal in which we are more concerned about our health and safety. In the battle against the pandemic, attention should be paid to the health infrastructure. The more adequate and robust health infrastructures are established, the easier and more effective it will be to halt the spread of the disease. Rotaractors take the responsibility of helping one another to live a healthy life by providing the health infrastructure facilities and ensuring the wellness of the public through their initiatives. We are pleased to introduce three exceptional projects that were awarded in the 31st Rotaract assembly under the category of “Stop the spread – Beyond COVID-19 – Health and Infrastructure”
“ඇතැම් ක්රියාකාරකම් දැකිය යුත්තේ වියදමක් ලෙස නොව ආයෝජනයක් ලෙසයි.”
කොවිඩ් 19 වසංගතයේ පැතිරීම ශීඝ්රයෙන් වර්ධනය වන තර්ජනයක් බවට පත්ව ඇති අතර අපගේ ජීවිත සෞඛ්ය සහ ආරක්ෂාව පිළිබඳ වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමුකරන නව සාමාන්යයක් බවට පත් කර ඇත. වසංගතයට එරෙහි මේ ගැටුමේදී සෞඛ්ය යටිතල පහසුකම් පිළිබඳ වැඩි අවධානය යොමු කළ යුතු ය. ප්රමාණවත් සහ ශක්තිමත් සෞඛ්ය යටිතල පහසුකම් වැඩි වන තරමට ම මෙම රෝග ව්යාප්තිය පහසුවෙන් සහ කාර්යක්ෂමව පාලනය කළ හැක. රොටරැක්ට් සාමාජිකයින් ඔවුන්ගේ ව්යාපෘති තුළින් සෞඛ්යය යටිතල පහසුකම් සපයා සහ සමාජ යහපැවැත්ම සහතික කොට නිරෝගී ජීවිතයක් ගතකිරීමට එකිනෙකාට උපකාර කිරීමේ වගකීම බාර ගනී. 31 වන රොටරැක්ට් රැස්වීමේ දී “Stop the spread – Beyond COVID-19 – Health and Infrastructure” කාණ්ඩය යටතේ සම්මානයට පාත්ර වූ වඩාත් කැපී පෙනුන ව්යාපෘති තුන මෙසේ හඳුන්වා දීම පිළිබඳ සතුටු වන්නෙමු.
“சில செயல்பாடுகள் செலவாக அன்றி ஒரு முதலீடாக பார்க்கப்பட வேண்டும்”
கோவிட்-19 இன் பரவல் அதிகரித்து வரும் அச்சுறுத்தலாக மாறியுள்ளது, மேலும் இது எமது உடல்நலம் மற்றும் பாதுகாப்பு மீதான அக்கறையை அதிகரித்து நமது வாழ்க்கையை ஒரு புதிய இயல்பு நிலைக்கு மாற்றியுள்ளது. இத்தொற்றுநோய்க்கு எதிரான போரில், சுகாதார உட்கட்டமைப்புகள் முக்கிய இடம் பெறுகின்றன. பயனுறுதி வாய்ந்த முறையில் நோய் பரவுவதைத் தடுப்பதற்கு போதுமான மற்றும் வலுவான சுகாதார உட்கட்டமைப்புகள் நிறுவப்படுதல் அவசியமாகும். ரோட்டராக்டர்கள் சுகாதார உட்கட்டமைப்பு வசதிகளை வழங்குவதன் மூலமும், வேறு பல முயற்சிகள் மூலமும் ஒருவருக்கொருவர் ஆரோக்கியமாக வாழ உதவுவதை தமது ஒரு பொறுப்பாக கருதுகின்றனர். 31வது ரோட்ராக்ட் கூட்டத்தில் “Stop the spread – Beyond COVID-19 – Health and Infrastructure” என்ற தலைப்பின் கீழ் தெரிவு செய்யப்பட்ட 3 திட்டங்களை இங்கு அறிமுகப்படுத்துவதில் மகிழ்ச்சியடைகிறோம்.
Gold – Namakaga Naam (RAC Hatton – Kotagala and RAC IIT)
Namakaga Naam is a signature project initiated by the Rotaract Club of IIT in collaboration with the Rotaract Club of Hatton Koggala, who didn’t forget the tireless effort of our unseen heroes, medical staff. MOH and PHI are some of the abbreviations we got to acquaint within our new normal era. Their contribution to curbing the growing COVID-19 outbreak is priceless.
This project offered a helping hand to the MOH office of Kotagala to conduct its daily endeavors in a COVID-free environment by offering a perfect workplace to its employees. With the pandemic outbreak, almost every place that interacts with the general public made changes in their working environment. Likewise, the MOH office was partitioned into several segments according to the health and safety regulations by allocating individual workspaces.
Furthermore, through this initiative, they created awareness on ways cooperation can resume all its activities while contributing towards stabilizing the ongoing pandemic crisis. The project that kicked off on March 14th was successfully concluded on May 31st, creating a positive impact on the community.
Silver – Battle with Pandemic (RAC Alumni of University of Moratuwa)
“Battle with Pandemic” is a project series aimed at highlighting the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, seeking remedies, and tracking it with the international community. The project was divided into three sub-projects. Those projects were created to cater to many genres of the common problem at hand, Covid-19, and they carefully followed a timeframe to achieve their goals. “Diary in a Pandemic,” “A Year with a Pandemic,” and “To2gether” were the three subprojects.
The International Service avenue of Rotaract Club of Alumni of University of Moratuwa proudly delivered “Diary in a Pandemic” in collaboration with other international Rotaract clubs such as Rotaract Club of Manipal International University in Malaysia, Rotaract Club of Kelowna in Canada, Rotaract Club of Battambang Youth in Cambodia, Rotaract Club of Kathmandu in Nepal, Rotaractors of Oakland Community Rotaract in the USA and Rotaract Club of Lima in Peru as the first sub-project of “Battle with Pandemic”. The project’s goal was to provide insight into the various techniques used by different countries to combat COVID – 19. These findings could aid countries in reshaping their own survival strategies in the face of the pandemic. To begin, the University of Moratuwa Rotaract Club sent invites to other Rotaract Clubs, along with project specifics, to collaborate with them in creating a video documentary that captures the impact of COVID-19 on their lives and, most importantly, their survival experiences. Following that, on September 17th, 2020, they released the first video in the series, which included Malaysia’s pandemic narrative. The final film focused on Sri Lankans’ efforts to combat the global pandemic.
‘A year with a Pandemic,’ the second sub-project of ‘Battle with Pandemic,’ is an effort to promote awareness among communities about the experiences of nations around the world during a year with a pandemic on May 23, 2021. The progress of the pandemic, What were the loopholes and downfalls in the mitigation process? The impacts on the country and awareness and advice from participants’ expertise were all discussed topics during this valuable knowledge sharing session on the pandemic experience of nations around the world over the past year, which was held via the Zoom platform.
‘TO2gether,’ Rotaract Alumni Mora’s International Service avenue, proudly delivered the project in collaboration with the Rotaract Club of Kathmandu, Nepal, as the third sub-project of the ‘Battle with Pandemic,’ an effort to raise funds through an online platform with the goal of purchasing oxygen concentrators for Nepal. It was successfully finished due to a generous contribution of an oxygen concentrator to aid those in Nepal who are suffering from the pandemic.
Bronze – Kaha Ira (Rotaract club of Colombo Central)
“Kaha Ira” was an initiative carried out successfully by the Rotaract Club of Colombo Central in the month of March with the sole purpose of ensuring the health and safety of the passengers who are using the public transportation services. For this initiative, five major bus depots were targeted, namely the Maharagama, Thalangama, Homagama, Udahamulla, and Ratmalana depots, and sanitizer bottles were fixed.
Transportation plays an essential role in the economy in moving people and goods. Since so many passengers rely on public transportation, ensuring their safety should be a top priority. Maintaining health and safety in the public services becomes critical as we adjust to the new normal and return to the activities we used to do.
Sanitizers were fixed on 150 buses that serve some of the busiest daily routes. RACC has contributed to transportation disinfection by addressing this timely issue.
Thank you to all fellow clubs and fellow Rotaractors for providing us with the details. Stay tuned for the final article of the series!
