‘A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in it’s path….’
The evolution of the Maternal and Child Health services in Sri Lanka dates back to the early 20th Century and has been nurturing the needs of pregnant mothers by providing them access to quality care during, before and after childbirth. Nevertheless, maternal health and childcare remains to be an increasing challenge particularly in developing countries. Few of our fellow clubs have joined forces together with the motive of lending hands to our beloved mothers who are in need of extreme support during their maternity. In recognition of their efforts, the following initiatives were awarded at the 30th Rotaract District Assembly under the category of “Maternal Health and Child Care”.
ශ්රී ලංකාවේ මාතෘ හා ළමා සෞඛ්ය සේවාවන්හි විකාශනය 20 වන සියවසේ මුල් භාගයේ සිට පැවත එන අතර දරු ප්රසූතියට පෙර, පසුව සහ පසුව ගුණාත්මක සත්කාර සඳහා ප්රවේශය ලබා දීමෙන් ගර්භනී මව්වරුන්ගේ අවශ්යතා පෝෂණය කරමින් සිටියි. එසේ වුවද, විශේෂයෙන් සංවර්ධනය වෙමින් පවතින රටවල මාතෘ සෞඛ්යය හා ළමා රැකවරණය වර්ධනය වන අභියෝගයක් ලෙස පවතී. මාතෘ අවධියේදී අතිශයින්ම සහයෝගය අවශ්ය වන අපගේ ආදරණීය මව්වරුන්ට අතහිත ලබා දීමේ චේතනාව සමඟ අපගේ සෙසු සමාජයන් කිහිපයක් ඒ වෙනුවෙන් එක්වී ඇත. ඔවුන්ගේ උත්සාහය අගයමින් 30 වන දිස්ත්රික් සමුළුවේදී “මාතෘ සෞඛ්ය හා ළමා රැකවරණය” යන කාණ්ඩය යටතේ පහත සඳහන් සම්මානයන් ප්රදානය කරන ලදී.
இலங்கையில் தாய் மற்றும் குழந்தை நல சேவைகளின் பரிணாமம் 20 ஆம் நூற்றாண்டின் முற்பகுதியில் தொடங்கியது. பிரசவத்திற்கு முன்பும் பின்பும் கர்ப்பிணி தாய்மார்களுக்கு தரமான பராமரிப்புக்கான அணுகலை வழங்குவதன் மூலம் அவர்களின் தேவைகளை பூர்த்தி செய்கின்றன.ஆயினும்கூட, குறிப்பாக வளரும் நாடுகளில் தாய்வழி சுகாதாரம் மற்றும் குழந்தை பராமரிப்பு அதிகரித்து வரும் சவாலாக உள்ளது.மகப்பேறு காலத்தில் தீவிர ஆதரவு தேவைப்படும் எங்கள் அன்புக்குரிய தாய்மார்களுக்கு உதவி வழங்குவதற்காக எங்கள் சக கழகங்கள் முன்வந்துள்ளன. அவர்களின் முயற்சிகளை அங்கீகரிக்கும் விதமாக, 30 வது மாவட்ட சட்டமன்றத்தில் “தாய்வழி சுகாதாரம் மற்றும் குழந்தை பராமரிப்பு” என்ற பிரிவின் கீழ் பின்வரும் முயற்சிகளுக்கு பரிசில் வழங்கப்பட்டன.
Gold – Help her Raise ( RAC SLIIT)
Though the infant mortality rate is low in Sri Lanka due to the availability of advices and free, safe and easy access to clinical facilities, it is reported that 20% of Sri Lankan mothers face difficulty to afford the items required for a maternity bag. The Rotaract club of SLIIT partnering with Rotary club of Battaramulla and Rotary club of Essendon, Australia hosted a donation programme to help the expectant mothers in need. A sum of 83 maternity bags which had a compact of essential items including baby sheets, napkins, baby blankets and bed jackets were donated to the mothers at Thalangama base hospital.
With the involvement of 20 energetic Rotaractors, the club was able to spot the needed people and distribute the items according to the plan. Following the success of the project, Rotaract club of SLIIT officially commenced “Help her raise 2.0” – the second phase of this project on 14th of July 2020.
More information can be found on the RAC SLITT Blog;
https://rotaractsliit.com/
Silver – Ammawarune (RAC Centennial United, RAC Colombo North, RAC Hatton Kotagala, RAC Nallur Heritage, RAC Kandy, RAC Nuwara Eliya)
”Of all the gifts that life has to offer, a loving mother is the greatest of them all”
Rotaract Clubs of Centennial United, Colombo – North, Hatton Kotagala, Nallur Heritage and Kandy joined in collaboration with the Volunteer Club of Nuwara Eliya to venture upon the project ‘Ammawarune’. The project held the objective as to support the mothers from a rural village called Meepilimana- Mihindupura who have been encountering difficulties and hardships for almost over a year, without a properly functioning maternal and child health clinic to fulfill their medical needs. As a temporary solution to the problem, the clinic was shifted to a location 2kms away from the village where the pregnant mothers had to walk by foot to reach the clinic. (Yes, you read that right!)
Addressing the issue and the risk the mothers had to go through, the clubs took the initiative to renovate the clinic and provide necessary facilities along with reinstalled electricity, lavatory and sanitation facilities. It is indeed the responsibility of each and every one of us to care, love and appreciate mothers in our country not only on Mother’s Day but also on every single day.
Bronze – Hand in Hand (RAC of University of Moratuwa)
Project Hand in Hand is yet another beautiful project carried out annually by the Rotaract Club of University of Moratuwa. The touching project, which was initiated in the year 2010 was carried out over the years with the aim of supporting the little angels who are battling Cancer, but this year the club was able to be more inclusive by extending their support to adult cancer patients as well. This was done in 3 phases which included several sub projects.
Phase 1
The sub project “Hope” was carried out on the 12th of October 2019 at the Old Auditorium, Apeksha Hospital, Maharagama. The adult patients were provided with craft material and were encouraged to design handicrafts together with the Rotaractors. These were later sold, and a proportion of it was bought by the club and the profits from the sales were donated to the hospital.
Further, a fund raising campaign was organized and through the campaign, stickers of drawings (painted by the children at the CCC Cancer Transmit House) were sold at the annual International Book Fair, at tuition classes and few other public locations.
Phase 2
This phase was conducted in 2 sub projects. Firstly, Project “Colours 1” was conducted on the 2nd of November 2019, where the Children at CCC Cancer Transmit House, Maharagama were treated to an enjoyable day filled with bright colours and even brighter memories. The little angels, along with the volunteers, spent the entire day drawing and later these beautiful drawings were used to make Christmas cards and were sold at the Colombo Shopping Festival, among the students of University of Moratuwa and in several tuition classes.
The second sub project executed was project “Athwela 2.0”,which focused on enhancing the standard of living of the senior generation who are diagnosed with cancer and are also neglected by their families. Sigh… The project was implemented on 7th December 2019 at Shantha Sewana Hospice, Maharagama, where the club members cleaned and fully painted the female ward.
Phase 3
Due to the Pandemic, The Club was unable to carry out phase 3 as planned, instead the “Colours 2” and the Vesak phase fundraiser was done through designing electronic cards using Vesak drawings of previous years and were sent via email to all the District Council members and other relevant parties.
More information can be found on;
https://blog.rotaractmora.org/
The impactful projects executed to address the unseen issues of the expectant mothers of the nation and the heroic action taken to put a smile on the faces of the innocent children and adults struggling to live an ordinary life like any other, shall never be forgotten. And as we always say, it’s beyond competing for awards! This category of awards too is yet another driving force for clubs to Strive as One!
Thankyou to all our fellow clubs and fellow Rotaractors for providing us with the details!
Written & Compiled By:
The Blog Team 2020/21
