HERE IS A RECAP OF HOW OUR SECOND QUARTER UNFOLDED;
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENTS
President of the month of November – What a way to start a quarterly round-up! Rtr. Aamina Ismail President of the Rotaract Club of University of Colombo, Faculty of Management and Finance was recognized as the best president for the month of November 2020. On a side note; we the members of RACUOCFMF are flabbergasted at how you manage to balance it all.
Runners up Rotary Rotaract International Debate – Going a tad international Rtr. Arshad Sufi Ismail representing RACUOCFMF alongside Rtr. Nimesha Jayamanne was awarded runners-up in the Rotary Rotaract International debate. It was a well-fought battle with teams all around the world including the USA, India, and many more debating on the topic “Referendums are essential for global peace and development”.
Finalist Spell Down – Figuring out the correct spelling of a word can sometimes be challenging. But Rtr. Hasara Hikkaduwa says otherwise. Rtr. Hasara made it to the finals of Spell Down a spelling bee competition that had intense competition from all around the country.
Top 20 S-Quiz – We all have a little sportsman inside us, and there is Rtr. Gayan went the extra mile to make use of all the sports gen he had saved up in his mind. Rtr. Gayan was placed among the top 20 of S-Quiz organized by the Rotaract clubs of CFPS and IIT.
Second runners-up House Party Massacre – There’s no October without a tad of Halloween into it. House Party Massacre an online Halloween-based hunt organized by the Rotaract clubs of Kelaniya and Athugalpura saw Rtr. Oshadi and Rtr. Arshad being placed the second runner up after completing numerous outrageous tasks throughout the process.
Winner Adios Hunger –Adios Hunger a creative competition jointly organized by the Rotaract clubs of Colombo East and Colombo Uptown focused on Zero hunger; a sustainable development goal that we all strive to achieve. Rtr.Gajeeni a silent individual yet mighty with the pen claimed her position yet again winning the Essay Writing category.
Winner Screens Out – All of us have that one scary story to creep everyone out, don’t we? Screens out organized by the Rotaract of Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo laid the platform for many to bring out that story and Rtr. Rashini displayed her amazing skills in storytelling while she penned it to paper to win Screens Out.
1st Place lives with COVID – Videography has always been a topic that interests many. Rtr. Anuja the individual behind many of the recent PR of RACUOCFMF took part and was placed 1st yet again proving his talent and ability in video editing.
2nd runners-up Brainstorm – Brainstorm, an IQ and general knowledge-based quiz organized by the Interact Club of Wesley College saw the lights of many young enthusiastic individuals brainstorming to claim the title. Rtr. Arshad Sufi Ismail was placed second runners up having answered many of the questions right.
Winner December to remember – Rotaract Club of Colombo Heritage laid the platform for all the bakers and decorators during the month of December to showcase their skill with the theme of Christmas. Rtr. Nuzhath well known for her baking amongst RACUOCFMF took part and won the competition yet again proving why she’s the best in the business when it comes to baking.
AVENUES
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COVID Gear
The pandemic had made many venerable and there seemed like no going back any time soon. In such a situation RACUOCFMF saw the dire need to protect the most vulnerable out of them all; the homeless who spent their day in the streets. Funds were raised and the club took measures to purchase and donate protective gear including masks to all those in the streets in Dehiwala and also a few other selected areas in Colombo. The clerical workers of the municipal council were also benefited in the process.
Blind Walk
The Rotaract family of Colombo Mid Town successfully completed Blind Walk for the 4th consecutive year. This year the pandemic brought some change as to how the project is carried out. Phase I of the project was a panel discussion with renowned Rotarians and other fellow members, and focused the World Sight Day with this year’s theme “Hope in Sight”. With more than 1500 viewers joining live through various platforms the discussion was able to raise a considerable amount of funding required to complete phase II.
Phase II of the project saw the Rotaract family of Colombo Mid Town donating dry rations to 45 families, 50 white canes and also self-employment incentives for 5 families from the Sri Lanka Welfare Society of Blind Women. All in all the project which was carried out on the 23rd of December uplifted the Christmas spirit among both Rotaractors and the beneficiaries.
COVID-19 – Relief Force
Putting food on the table became a major challenge when the lockdown was imposed in all areas in the country. RACUOCFMF along with 11 other Rotaract clubs and the Rotaract District partnered with the Sarvodaya movement to help out the families in dire need. The project which was carried out in two phases winded up after ensuring the distribution of 110 bags of goods worth Rs.240,000 and consisted of Rice, Dhal, Sugar, Milk Powder, Onions, Potatoes, Tea, Chili powder, and Salmon. The donations were made on the 23rd of December, 2020 and the bags were distributed to households in Kochchikade and Kolonnawa.
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11th Installation Ceremony
The 11th Installation Ceremony of the Rotaract Club of University of Colombo, Faculty of Management and Finance which was held on the 3rd of October 2020 at the ICBT Auditorium from 5.30 onwards, marked yet another triumphant epoch in the Rotaract journey as the club stepped in to a new decade under the leadership of Rtr. Aamina Ismail. The beautiful ladies clothed in elegant shades of blue and silver brightened the ceremony as much as the gentlemen suited up in style did.
The Chief Guest for the day, Rtn. PP PHF G. S. Sylvester and the Special invitees; District Rotaract Chair PDRR Rtn. Amjad Yoosuf, District Rotaract Representative Rtn. Rtr. PP Kavindra Kasun Sigera, Assistant Director for Youth Services of the Rotaract Club of Colombo Midtown, Rtn. Rtr. PP Insaf Ismail and the Guide Club Coordinator, Rtr. IPP Danuka Perera graced the occasion with their valued presence.
Fandemic 2.0
“THE FANDEMIC 2.0 – If You Know, You Know” was an online quiz series based on popular TV and movie series. This year after a vote from numerous fans the four fandoms that the enthusiastic fans battled out were FRIENDS, Fast and Furious, Marvel, and Walt Disney Animations. Each quiz consisted of three stages and then a winner claimed the throne. The Fandemic End Game took place once again with the four winners now battling out each other. Rtr. Thisura Ramanayake emerged as the winner out of them all.
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Fitness Unleashed
Fitness Unleashed was a project organized under the Sports and Recreations Avenue of the Rotaract Club of University of Colombo, Faculty of Management and Finance (RACUOCFMF) aiming to improve the physical and mental health of Rotaractors as well as non-rotaractors while considering the adverse effects the pandemic crisis has brought forth. It was carried out during the months of November and December 2020 in three phases which focused on different aspects of fitness.
The first phase was a live workout session held on the 8th November 2020 which was concentrated around cardiovascular exercises and enlightened the part takers on the importance of doing exercise on a daily basis. The second phase was held on 14th November 2020 which focused on the spiritual aspect of fitness where an expert with more than 3 decades of experience Guru Nanda Siriwardene introduced the concept of yoga to the attendees to improve their wellbeing. The final phase was conducted on 19th December 2020 as a special Q & A; session with the qualified fitness professional and transformational coach Gaia Kodithuwakku and focused on educating the attendees on mental health, physical movement, nutrition, self-awareness, and self-love.
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Twinning Day of RACUOCFMF with the RAC La Pus Sur, Bolivia
The first-ever virtual Twinning day between the Rotaract Club of La Paz Sur Bolivia and RACUOCFMF was held on 30th October 2020. The main purpose of such twinning day was to improve cultural understanding between the two countries and with the ultimate motive to sign a twin club agreement during the year. One of the best ways to celebrate a country’s culture is to celebrate its food and music as we believe it’s the closest way to appeal a person regardless of their origin. Consequently, RACUOCFMF prepared Bolivian dishes while RAC La Pur Sur was taught how to prepare a dish of “Kiribath”. Songs that signify each culture were also sung and finally, a video was made comprising all the short clips that were collected in the process.
Voice of the Eye
“Voice of the Eye” is a Global Speech Competition, organized in order to create a platform for people to be a voice for eye donations for the blind. Hence, the topic of the competition was “An Appeal for Eye Donation”. The project was initiated by “The Project Vision”, an Indian-based community service organization that are dedicated to supporting the visually impaired community. The Rotary Club of Colombo Mid Town, the Rotaract Club of Colombo Mid Town, and RACUOCFMF along with many other clubs joined hands with “The Project Vision” to make this event a success. The project which comprised of two stages saw more than 400 entries in its preliminary rounds and Rtr. Venisha Dewasurendra, the finalist representing Sri Lanka, emerged as the winner of the Global Speech Contest.
Jingle Bells of RACUOCFMF with Rotaract of Club La Paz Sur
Music is a universal language that connects people around the world. To enhance our friendship with the Rotaract Club of La Paz Sur, Bolivia, RACUOCFMF organized a virtual Christmas Carol session on the 11th of December 2020. The event was carried out through ZOOM where members of both the clubs joined at 6.30 A.M (Sri Lankan Time) to celebrate Christmas, and share best wishes for the New Year. A Christmas-themed Pictionary and a Christmas BINGO were also played in the midst of the carols. The day ended with a group performance by the members of the Rotaract Club of La Paz Sur with the promise to connect with each other very soon to continue the beautiful bond.
Alvaro 1.0
Every relationship is unique and has a lot of added beauty to it. Similarly, some experience the dark side with certain forms of abuse. Project Alvaro 1.0 is an initiative taken by RACUCFMF to address a well-ignored topic of dating abuse. The platform was open to many youngsters where they were educated on the different forms of abuse, the legal aid available, etc.
Ms. Jerusha Crossette Thambiah an Attorney-At-Law spoke about the Legal aspect and implications for those who are facing/have faced Dating Abuse, and what laws do we have in Sri Lanka to protect such people. Ms. Nilusha Goonatilleke, a Psychologist, touched on the physiological areas of the topic, covering how it affects a victim’s psychology, what are the long and short-term effects of that and how one can deal with such situations in a healthy manner. Our final guest speaker, Ms. Shanuki De Alwis, touched on the Dating Etiquettes, in which she spoke about the Dos and Don’ts of dating, and the importance of always understanding and respecting your partner, understanding boundaries, and how to use communication effectively for a healthy relationship. This gave an overall picture relating to dating abuse to all the participants who joined us live through Zoom and Facebook.
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Dynamic You
A decision on a career path is not like any other decision made, it’s one of the vital decisions that could potentially result in a whole new direction, making or breaking one’s life. As undergraduates, we look into the specialization we want to graduate from based on our interested carrier, or we look into the opportunities we have for our specialization vice versa. We, the Rotaract Club of University of Colombo, Faculty of Management and Finance, intended to introduce a platform to support this decision by the Project “Dynamic You”. Through this, we aimed to bring out the different career paths, young graduates and undergraduates could pursue in the field of Management. It was an opportunity to witness the Industry Professionals unleash their experience to guide the seekers towards their dream path. The initiative spanned 2 days while day 01 focused on industries such as Telecommunication, Education, and Entrepreneurship, while day 02 focused on industries such as Marketing, Hospitality and Tourism, and Banking and Finance.
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The Girl Child
Commemorating the International Day of the Girl Child held on the 11th of October 2020, the project “The Girl Child” was carried out through social media platforms with the main objective of raising awareness on violence and rape happening to girl children, which we identified as a very timely issue yet less spoken. The opinion of the public was gathered through a Google Form and the input received from it alongside the information that were obtained from a thorough research were then converted into meaningful posts and videos to raise awareness relating to the topic. Moreover a poem and even an article relating to the topic was published.
Honoured & Sealed
The Project “Honoured and Sealed” is an initiative put forward by the Blog Team of the club with the motive of introducing and appreciating a well-deserved set of initiatives undertaken by our fellow clubs that won awards for their unwavering efforts. The project was implemented in the form of an article series which comprised of 15 articles covering 15 categories of awards given away at the 30th Rotaract District Assembly. Each article included a brief introduction on the category followed by a description of each of the projects that won gold, silver, and bronze awards along with a set of collages that included pictures of the respective projects. The descriptions on the projects were collectively written by the members of the blog team and then was proofread and compiled into an article by the chairs of the project.
Talentangle
“TALENTANGLE”, a joint project organized by the Rotaract Clubs of Achievers Lanka Business School, ICBT, IIT, SLIIT, University of Colombo-Faculty of Management and Finance, and University of Sri Jayewardenepura under the main avenue of Public Image is the largest inter-university talent show organized in the year 2020 with over 200 registrations. This year the project was energized and powered by REDBULL. The project was organized to enhance the talents and skills of the university undergraduates while giving them the opportunity to showcase their talents on a recognized virtual platform.
Polio Awareness Campaign
Even though the disease has no cure, prevention of it plays a major role. The efforts of the Rotary movement to eradicate polio in Sri Lanka are indeed commendable. RACUOCFMF took the initiative to raise awareness on Polio through a series of “Did you know?” posts which were shared on Facebook and also circulated through Whatsapp. The awareness campaign covered facts such as what Polio is, when the first patient was discovered, the current status in the world, and also the organizations who were involved in creating the vaccine to make a polio-free world.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS COVERED
The following SDGs were covered throughout the 2nd Quarter via the Projects completed by RACUOCFMF.
ROTARY FOCUS AREAS COVERED
The following Rotary Focus Areas were covered throughout the 2nd 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 : 03
Number of Board Meetings : 03
Rotaractor of the Month :
Rtr. Rashini Himasha & Rtr. Udesh Jayawardhane – October
Rtr. Kaushalya Dabare, Rtr. Ashein Fernando & Rtr. Samindi Weerakoon – November
Rtr. Eranga Dias, Rtr. Dilki Kottage & Rtr. Navinda Meepe – December
Rotaractors of the Quarter :
Rtr. Visula Harendra & Rtr. Anuja Premathilake
DISTRICT PARTICIPATION
The following are the District Events in which RACUOCFMF took part, during the Quarter.
SDG Integration and high impact program – This program was conducted with the aim of promoting an in-depth understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to the Rotaractors. It was held with the motive of generating greater impact through incorporating the knowledge on SDGs in designing projects, in planning the Rotaract year, and so on. Extensive knowledge on the integration of SDGs into projects and their impact was disseminated through this extremely valuable initiative.
Lockdown Talks – Lockdown Talks which was organized by the Rotary Club of Colombo Heritage in collaboration with the Rotaract District Steering Committee of RI District 3220, was a very informative webinar program held to promote timely and needed awareness on the COVID-19 virus. The speakers of the event were Consultant Epidemiologist – Dr. Deepa Gamage, DIG -Mr. Ajith Rohana and Director of Quantum Leap (Pvt) Ltd – Mr. Amithe Gamage. The webinar was live-streamed on Facebook live and YouTube and was moderated by Mr. Tharindu Amerasekere.
Learn to Discern – Learn to discern was a webinar series on media literacy, organized by the International Research and Exchange Board (IREX) in collaboration with Rotaract District 3220. The sessions were held biweekly for 4 weeks and were aimed to disseminate information on the issues of promotion of disinformation and their negative effects on society. It further provided an in-depth understanding of how sensational coverage, tendentious language, and hate speech lead to the manipulation of emotions.
Youth Talk – Youth talk was a live webinar series organized to discuss, ‘How youth is taking on the challenges of COVID-19’. The first session of the series was graced by the virtual presence of the eminent panelists including President/CEO of Cooltrack- Dr. Rohantha Athukorala, District Rotaract Representative Rtn. Rtr. PP Kavindra Kasun Sigera and Nethmini Medawala – Head of Programmes, Hashtag Generation.
We’ll Fight COVID-19 Till it Ends – This project was initiated by the Rotaract COVID-19 Task Force along with the Sri Lanka Standards Institute, as the second phase of the District Initiative of STOP THE SPREAD – Beyond COVID-19. The initiative was a virtual training session organized towards ensuring a safe workplace around different environments around the country. The session which targeted the youth of the nation was aimed at training them to take action to prevent further damage caused by the pandemic.
Content Factory – Content Factory was a virtual session aimed at educating Rotaractors on the importance of Public Relations activities carried out by the clubs. It was conducted via the zoom platform and was hosted by the Rotaract Clubs of ACBT, Kelaniya, and Wellawatte. Through the discussion, the audience was educated on the aspects of public relations activities of targeting the right audience, using the right keywords in promoting online presence on social platforms, conducting an iconic PR campaign, and so on.
CLUB PARTICIPATION
The following are the events RACUOCFMF participated in, which were organized by other clubs during the Second Quarter.
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For the Sinhalese Article click on : https://bit.ly/3w7jJC8
For the Tamil Article click on : https://bit.ly/3rDRxna
Written By:-
Blog Team [2020/21]
