Quarterly Round Up – 3rd Quarter 2019/20

Here is a recap of how our Third Quarter unfolded;

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENTS

– Speech Craft

The Rotaract District 3220, together with Toastmasters International, conducted its Pilot project of its first ever joint Speech Craft program, over a span of 10 weeks for just 50 Rotaractors/Rotarians from the District. Rtr. Arshad Sufi Ismail, Rtr. Dilhari Dias and Rtr. Aamina Ismail from RACUOCFMF, were among those who were selected to be a part of this rare opportunity.

– Rotaract Champions League – Overall 4^th Place

RACUOCFMF was the only faculty based club within the Top 5 of Rotaract Champions League 2020. Rtr. Pamudee Salpadoru secured the 1^st place in Women’s Shot Put while Rtr. Sajini became the 4^th. Our Men’s Tug of War team won the 3^rd place and our Women’s Tug of War team won the 2^nd place. Rtr. Sajini became the 2^nd in Chess and our Women’s Tag Rugby team became the First Runners-Up!

– Rotary Youth Leadership Awards 2020 – Rotary Youth Leadership Awards popularly known as RYLA was held on the 25th and 26th of January at the CHE Adventure Park. Rtr. Shehani Leo was a member of Team “Ketchup” that emerged as Champions of RYLA 2020.

– Virtual Quarantine Quiz Competition – 1^st Place – Among 75 enthusiastic contestants, Rtr. Aloka Weerawardane secured the 1^st place in this Quiz Competition which was organized by the Rotaract Club of Faculty of Law, University of Colombo and held on 31st of March 2020.

AVENUES

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WORLD DOWN SYNDROME DAY 2020

This annual District project, organized in order to celebrate the World Down Syndrome Day, has been a project that RACUOCFMF joined as a host club for several years consecutively, as we did this year too. The one-day event was broken down to three phases, in order to give 300 children with Down syndrome, an enjoyable and worthwhile day out. The three phases consisted of a medical camp, in which the kids were given a free physiotherapy session, a variety show, in which they got the opportunity to showcase their amazing talents in front of a large audience and a carnival, in which they got to play, dance and enjoy to their hearts’ content. Each child was a given a goody bag with daily essentials.

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HIGH FIVE – PHASE 01

Project High Five 1.0 was one of the most exhilarating events in the RACUOCFMF calendar year. It was an outbound leadership training camp conducted at the Adventure Base Camp, Kithulgala. Day 1 included many fun activities like “Cobweb Odyssey”, “Balancing the Tube” and “Caterpillar Walk”. After a refreshing river bath we had together, a Bonfire was lit up on a rock in the middle of the rushing waters of the Kelani River. Surrounded by our stellar vocalists, great music and good food, the night couldn’t have gotten any better. Day 2 which was the final day turned out to be one of the most memorable days in our lives as we rafted our way through the fast flowing downhill stream in 8-man boats! Every time we tried not to topple, we thoroughly enjoyed!

ALOHA

Aloha 2020 –The Hawaiian Party was successfully held on the 31st of January 2019 at the Beacon-Resolute, Rajagiriya from 6.00 p.m onwards. It was jointly organized by the Rotaract Clubs of Cluster 04 belonging to Rotaract District 3220 in the year 2019/20. Dressed up in strikingly colorful attire, wearing the luminous colored flower garlands given at the entrance and dancing to the toe-tapping beats of party music, the guests at “Aloha” truly added a little tropical flare to the last Friday of the first month of a new decade. The conventional party games had been organized too, where Rtr. Lahiru Perera and Rtr. Shelisha Mendis from the Rotaract Club of Ja-Ela/Kandana were crowned as the Aloha King and Queen respectively following an excitingly competitive session of balloon dancing.

EPIPHANY

Organized as the 2^nd phase of project “High Five”, Epiphany was a session conducted by culture consultant and soft skills trainer, Mr. Altaf Ahamed. The session primarily was focused on the broad topic self-awareness, which he very cleverly broke down to sub-topics, in a way that all the participants found it easy and effective to understand. Apart from elaborating on some very important and eye opening life lessons, he also conducted several group activities for the participants, which required them to use everything they’ve learned during the session. Mr. Ahamed, also being a Bollywood based dance trainer, ended the session with getting the participants sweating off to a fast-beat Bollywood song.

BOARD TRIP

The Board Trip was an overnight stay which happened on the 12th and 13th of March, 2020 at The Bliss Villa, on Ruskin Island which is situated a little farther from the mainland Bolgoda shore. The purpose of the trip was to benefit the members on the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors for the year 2019/2020 by mingling and relaxing to de-stress from the complications of the mundane life. The evening was spent merrily with a constant flow of chatter and with nightfall, the members got together for a pleasant sing-along session by the poolside at which dinner was served later towards the night. Next morning, they gathered together for a fun conversation reflecting upon how the past Rotaract year had been. The trip is to-date reminisced very fondly by all the members who participated!

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R-EVOLUTION

R-Evolution was the annual non-technical quiz competition organized by the Rotaract Club of Dr. D.Y. Patil Vidya Pratishthan Pune, India- RID 3131 in collaboration with Rotaract Club of University of Colombo, Faculty of Management and Finance. It was held on 7th of February, 2020 from 1.00p.m. at the University premises. The competition was team based and each team had two members. They had to answer a 1-hour paper which consisted of general knowledge and aptitude questions. The paper included 40 questions with 4 possible answers and covered a range of areas from current affairs to IQ. The 3rd place was secured by Gayathri Hatthotuwa and Lahiru Maduwantha while the team including Ashkar Ajward and Joel Mark became the 2nd. Arshad Sufi Ismail and Oshadi Dias won the 1st place and were awarded the certificates amidst the loud cheer and applause.

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CREATOR WITHIN YOU

This was a workshop aimed at teaching and developing the skills as well as the abilities of the participants in using Adobe Photoshop. The workshop was conducted by an industry expert – Mr. Chamaka Ranasinghe, Chief Operating Officer of IKON Impressions who made it a point to pay attention to the work being done by each participant, providing them one-to-one guidance as and when needed. The session helped participants gain both theoretical knowledge and technical knowledge related to graphic designing.

BRAND YOURSELF

This was a session organized to provide its participants the knowledge of how important it is to know and build themselves as a brand, widely known as Personal Branding. The facilitator, Mr. Chetaka Gunawardena conducted the session in an interesting manner, making sure to engage and interact with all participants individually. He covered aspects such as aligning personal branding with one’s goals, understanding our purpose in life and create a purpose statement, finding your spark, and personal growth, throughout the session. He made sure to bring out examples from the participants while explaining these concepts, for a higher impact.

SKY IS THE LIMIT

This was a very interesting session, in which we got a famous and respected public figure in Sri Lanka, one of the greatest cricketers of all time, a sincere and inspiring personality, Mr. Mahela Jayawardene, as the speaker. A highly enthusiastic audience listened to him as he spoke about his childhood, and certain incidents that happened growing up, which shaped him to be the person he is today, how he managed to open up a well-known foundation for cancer at the age of 22 and built a cancer hospital, and values that we should nourish our lives with, which will stand as pillars holding our lives on it. The session ended with a questions and answer session, to which Mr. Jayawardena responded very enthusiastically, making sure to respond to every question.

LIGHTS. CAMERA. ACTION.

This was a workshop organized, aimed at teaching and developing the skills in using DaVinci Resolve 16, an industry standard software which is used widely for video editing. The workshop which was conducted free of charge, created a platform for enthusiastic learners to have the opportunity to learn this software, aiding them to develop their video editing skills that can be used in the corporate world and other occupations. Mr. Ruzni Faik, the conductor of the workshop, made sure it was a highly fruitful session, by providing a 360 degree view about the software.

FINANCE

YUMMILICIOUS

This was a Fund-Raising Food Stall was held at the Faculty of Management and Finance, University of Colombo, targeting the MBA students of the faculty. Even though it was organized with the purpose of raising funds in order to cover the preliminary expenses of “Glass Ice 5.0”, since we had to cancel “Glass Ice 5.0” due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the funds were donated to “Minisath Pawura”, a project organized under the Community Service avenue in order to support nearly 80- 100 less privileged families in the Dehiwala and Mount Lavinia areas. The project was a massive success as almost all the food items were sold out within just 4 hours.

“Do what you have to do with a good intention. Your deeds will always find purpose.”

PUBLIC RELATIONS HIGHLIGHTS

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

This was an Instagram based project, carried out with the intention of spreading some positivity, during the initial days of the COVID-19 lockdown, a time which caused thoughts of negativity and uncertainty among most people. We created a template suitable for Instagram stories, which called the participants to reflect on their lives and answer the questions; something they’ve learned during this time, a memory they cherish and something/someone they are grateful for. An overwhelming response of over 150+ participants indicated that we indeed, were able to spread some happiness and positivity through this project, not only to the participants, but also to those who read these responses via social media.

EACH FOR EQUAL

This was a brief video done to celebrate Women’s Day while highlighting the theme for the year 2019, which was “Each for Equal”. The message which was conveyed in the video revolved around the fact that each and very role played in society is important irrespective of whichever the gender plays it. 16 club members were part of it, both boys and girls. In order to add more impact to the message, every line talking about “him” was voiced by a girl and every line talking about “her” was voiced by a boy. While we identified the importance of working together we also created a positive perception in the minds of the general public as a primarily youth led movement comprising of future leaders of this country.

Sustainable Development Goals Covered

The following SDGs were covered throughout the 3^rd Quarter via the Projects completed by RACUOCFMF.

Rotary Focus Areas Covered

The following Rotary Focus Areas were covered throughout the 3^rd Quarter via the projects completed by RACUOCFMF.

CLUB ACHIEVEMENTS

The following is a summary of the milestones we achieved as a Club throughout the Quarter.

Number of General Meetings : 04
Number of Board Meetings : 03
Rotaractor of the Months :
Rtr. Dulan Prabashana & Rtr. Dilani Perera – January
Rtr. Nuzhath Rizvi – February
Rtr. Oshadi Dias – March
Rotaractor of the Quarter : Rtr. Harith Lokugamage

DISTRICT PARTICIPATION

The following are the District Events in which RACUOCFMF took part in, during the Quarter.

Rotaract-Toastmasters Speech Craft Program – This was a pilot project conducted together for the first time ever by Rotary and Toastmasters international. The 10 day program took the structure of a Speech Craft program, tailor-made to suit the needs of Rotarians and Rotaractors, focusing on public speaking, leadership, project planning etc.

Rotary International District 3220 Intercity Meeting – This was held on the 17^th of February 2020 at the Hilton Hotel Colombo and was graced by the Rotary International President Mark Maloney and Rotary First Lady Gay Maloney. The audience included many distinguished Rotarians, Rotaractors and Interactors. Apart from the conventional formalities and fellowship, the highlight of the evening was the appreciation of the Speech Craft Program initiated by Rotary International in collaboration with Toastmasters International.

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards 2020 – RYLA was held at the CHE Adventure Park as a 2 Day- Outbound Leadership Training Programme with the participation of nearly 90 Rotaractors. It was hosted by the Rotary Club of Colombo Mid Town. Rtr. Shehani Leo and Rtr. Piyumi Abeywardhana represented our club. Rtr. Afraa Mohammd was awarded the Best RYLARIAN award while Rtr. Keith Mehta became the Most Popular RYLARIAN. The programme offered an excellent opportunity for long lasting fellowship and for acquiring amazing leadership skills.

Road Safety Awareness Program – As a part of an advocacy campaign on road safety, “Road Safety Week” was organized by the Rotary District 3220 and it was held from the 18^th to 25 of January 2020. Rtr. Shehani Leo, Rtr. Kethni Wijesinghe, Rtr. Saseni Wijegunawardane, Rtr. Nadeera Ratnayake and Rtr. Nikhil Senadheera were part of the insightful session held on the 21^st of January at the Sri Lanka Foundation Auditorium.

CLUB PARTICIPATION

The following are the events RACUOCFMF participated in, which were organized by other clubs during the Third Quarter.

3×3 Championship 2020 – RACFOLUOC
Wella Pongal – RAC Wellawatte
Rangoli – RAC Centennial United
Future Proof – RAC Kelaniya
IR Bolah 2020 – RAC Colombo Midtown & RAC Colombo West
Hat Trick 2020 – RAC Colombo Fort
Hotdog Showdown – RAC IIT
Midtown Picnic – RAC Colombo Midtown
Cook Off – Cluster 05
Paduru Party – RAC USJ
Enigma 2020 – RAC KDU
Know Your SDGs – RAC Centennial United & RAC Colombo Midtown
My Rotaract Story – RAC USJ
Real Life Superheroes – RAC Colombo Midtown
Virtual Open Mic Night – RAC Colombo West
Quarantine and Chill Art Competition – Rotaract Clubs of Badulla, Colombo Fort, ICBT, MSI, Nallur, Kurunegela, University of Peradeniya
Hand Wash Challenge – RAC IIT