Content

Rotaractors’ Day

Gift a Smile

Hand in Hand

T shirt Project

KGM Visit

EDITOR: Gayashan Fernando

Rotaractors’ Day 2010 By Rtr. Chethana Dharmawardane

Rtr. Chinthaka Dharmasiri and Rtr. Sacheera Fernando were project co chairs of this event that was

conducted on the 4th of December 2010, a Saturday. It was held at the New Auditorium from 9 am. This

event was organized mainly to unofficially welcome freshers into the club and to get to know their

talents and for them to recognize the senior members of the club. The sponsors for this event were

BMS, ATC, Achievers and ICBT.

We were pleased and encouraged to see the crowd which mainly consisted of Level One students, even

if they were scheduled to sit their final exams in about two weeks. Rtr. Sasanka Jayadasa and I were

comperes for this event. To start things off, the IPP, Rtr. Sajith Vimukthi made an illuminating speech

about the club and its importance.

Then we asked the audience to split up into groups according to the numbers that were given to them

during registration. We were particularly careful to make sure that a group included senior members as

well as juniors. We gave them about 5 minutes to come up with a group name, to pick a group leader

and also to introduce themselves to their group members. We specifically asked them to pick a junior as

a group leader in order to make it more fun and a different kind of experience.

There were 5 groups and their

names were Igneous, Sharks,

Arrows, Formation and Open

Minds. Starting off the events was

the ‘Ball Passing’ game. Each team

had to throw a ball to the team

next to them, and the person who

caught the ball had to shout out the

name of the person who threw the

ball to them. This proved to be a

very energetic event and got

everyone up in high spirits. The next

event too, brought lots of

enjoyment. Each team was given 20

balloons and some tape and paper and told to construct a structure using them within 20 minutes. The

structure had to be stable and creative. We saw lots of good ideas cropping up and the ‘esteemed’ judge

for the event, Rtr. Ranil Jayasuriya inspected each creation and commented on them.

Then we had a guest lecture by Toastmaster Dian Abeywardene. His speech was about the importance

of punctuality, hard work and courage. I am sure most of our members would remember it for a long

time to come not only because it was very inspirational but also because of certain events

that took place during this speech!!! ;)

Before lunch was served, a quiz was conducted. This had questions from several categories like Rotaract,

University, International news etc. This too, was an unforgettable event due to the reactions of the

audience, in true Rotaract style. It was nice to see that despite several outbursts, it was conducted in a

generally smooth manner with the active participation of almost all Rotaractors that were present.

Lunch was served at 1.20 pm and during that break Rtr. Ranil gave five topics regarding Rotaract

projects to each team and asked them to come up with a presentation based on that topic. After lunch,

there was a presentation by ATC’s Shyam Ryal and Dilruk Jayasinghe (graduates of our university) about

the importance of technical training for undergraduates. Then there was an ice cream treat which

everyone enjoyed immensely and straight afterwards we started on the other fun events we had

planned. Unfortunately we couldn’t hold the events outside because of the torrential rain, but in the

end we decided to use the hall as it was quite spacious.

A very innovative game called ‘Turning the Mat

around’ was conducted next. Each group had to stand

on a mat and turn it on to its other side using only

their feet. They were not allowed to step outside the

mat at any point of time. We saw great team work

while this was going on! Then we played another

unforgettable game, ‘the Longest Human Chain’. Each

team had to create a chain from one side of the hall

to the other, but they had to be touching the person

next to them at least slightly. The team which

formed the longest chain would win. This was

indeed a really awesome experience for the judges

and competitors alike. We never even thought this

much creativity (not to mention agility and physical

fitness!!) was there in our members, to say the

least!

Then came the final event, which was also the

highlight of the day; the presentations. Each team

had come up with their very own creative and humourous take of the topic they were assigned to, with

the help of their seniors. We saw some memorable skits on HandZ, IDEAS and Are You Ready, to name a

few! The judging panel included Rtr. Ranil, Rtr. Sajith Vimukthi and Rtr. Dilina Fernando. It was an event

filled with nostalgia as well as lots of laughs!

Finally, the judges gave comments on the performances and set about finding the winning team of the

day and a prize was presented to them, which everyone was in a hurry to share, obviously! But due to

one certain judge who happens to be a bit ‘too’ talented in basic Math (ahem), a wrong final score was

calculated and the fault was discovered only after the winners were announced, adding to the fun of the

day. The real winners were the Sharks and even though they didn’t look very forgiving, they bore it in

good grace as they obviously wanted to be in the good books of ‘his Excellency’ (ha ha!). So, fortunately,

he was able to get off without a scratch!

We asked a few juniors for their comments and

were pleased to see them excited about being

part of Rotaract. One even said he didn’t regret

spending the whole day having fun when he

should have been studying for finals because it

felt awesome to be part of such a great club

and that he learned a lot anyway!

After having a fabulous and fun filled time, we

wrapped up the highly successful Rotaractors’

Day 2010 at 5 pm.

GIFT A SMILE

IT IS NOVEMBER by Rtr. Sandamali Devadithya

November came. With the winds of happiness and joy, it was time to celebrate the birthdays. The

November born Rotaractors, instead of giving out a smashing party, went on to gift a smile to innocent

souls. Thus the third phase of “Gift A Smile” project was carried out at the Cancer Hospital,

Maharagama, chaired by Rtr. Gavithra Udayakumara.

The sight of the little kids on their beds at the children’s ward was heart melting. There were babies

even at the age of three. What will the future hold for these little flowers? These kids were hoping and

hoping that they could go back home soon; to play with their brothers and sisters; to go to school to sing

and play. The sight of the nurse coming with the medicine scares the little hearts. Oh! How they wish to

go back home.

Yet, in spite of all the hardships and sorrows none of them had lost their liveliness nor their smiles. They

share their laughter and playfulness with all the children at the ward and we were quite privileged

because they shared it with us. Akalanka, Gihan and all the rest of them talked and played with us with

beautiful and innocent smiles.

The reason behind choosing the Cancer Hospital for the

November phase has a very interesting story. The Rotaract

Club had started a foundation called “Hand In Hand”. The

sole purpose of the foundation is to help the cancer

patients. As the first project they have printed greeting

cards in this festive season and all the money will be spent

on medical equipment for the hospital. The beauties of

these greeting cards are the cover pictures for they are

creations of the children we visited this November.

At the hospital we gave presents of beautiful and much colorful pastels to the children. We all loved to

draw and paint when we were small and so do them. The faces lit up at the sight of the colours and they

were impatient to try them out. Giving out drawing papers, we kindly asked them to draw us pictures so

we can put them on greeting cards to be sold at the big shops and the happiness overwhelmed from

their little eyes. The idea of their creations in greeting cards and grownups buying them at shops was

very exciting for them.

So they drew, they painted and in the end gave us some beautiful pictures of the Christmas atmosphere.

And to show them back our love we gave them exciting toys to play with which they took with big

‘Thank you’s.

At the end of the day this is one of the unforgettable days in my life. Sharing the joy of my birthday with

pure and innocent hearts is worthwhile. The little lives lying on those beds could be gone at any second.

And the thought that we were able to make them smile one more time is wordless.

Hand In Hand This is the news article which was published on the Mirror

Magazine in The Sunday Times on 23rd January ,2010.This article

was written by Rtr. Sandamali Devadithya.

One of the most beautiful sights in the universe is the smile of a child; innocent and pure it can vanquish all the sorrows of the earth. But imagine the child being sick, lying on a hospital bed fighting a battle with cancer, hoping that one day he can go out to the world to smell a flower, to dance in the rain and to feel the breeze of the winds.

Had you ever visited the cancer hospital or know someone very near and dear to you suffering from a cancer, you would have seen the effort it takes them to breathe one more time or to live through one more day to see the sun shining again.

While you and I run a rat race, there are children and many other people out there fighting this deadly battle and we at the Rotaract Club of the University of Moratuwa decided to help spread a bit of happiness back their lives. Thus the “HAND IN HAND” was created. Hand In Hand is a foundation established by the Rotaract Club of the University of Moratuwa.

The foundation, Hand In Hand was established to help the patients at the cancer hospital. As the very first project, Hand In Hand is going to donate medical and surgical instruments to the Children’s Unit of the Cancer Hospital, Maharagama. To raise the funds the foundation had printed beautiful greetings cards during the festive season. The art designs on the cover of these cards were designed by the children at the Cancer Hospital. The children - some of them having never set foot inside a school were wondering what these we were doing with their paintings. The innocent souls were simply amused at the thought of their drawings on greeting cards.

Two designs of greeting cards were created, printed and sent to the leading bookstalls and some supermarkets in the country. Furthermore corporates were approached to purchase these greeting cards. The Hand In Hand team was also successful in reaching out to the next generation of university entrants, the advance level students. They were impressed by our determination and gave their support.

From the sales we collected the amount of money we anticipated and every single cent of that money will be used in aid of the Cancer Hospital. Mid February will mark the donation ceremony. The president of the Rotaract Club, Rtr. Dilina Fernando says, “ It was a great experience for us to do something for the children suffering from cancer. And I also like to thank the Director of the Cancer Hospital, Maharagama, Dr. Kanishka Karunarathne and the Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Health Mr. Sarath Chandrasiri Vithana for their support in making the project a reality.”

The effort the young rotaractors put during the last months was wonderful. All the members gave their maximum strength in selling the greeting cards and raising the funds. The success was a result of teamwork and dedication. Furthermore a big thank you goes out to all who contributed to the project by buying a greeting card. Remember, the card you brought, will make somebody win the battle against the cancer and bring back that wonderful smile to a child’s face

T-Shirt Project The T-Shirt for the Rotaract year 2010-2011 was designed and printed in the month of December.

Rtr.Harsha Kumara was in charge of the T-Shirt project. With the new logo of Rotaract Mora the T- Shirt

design was agreed by all the Rotaractors with its’ Grey and Red colours.

KGM Visit by Rtr. Dulitha Wanniarachchi

The month of December marked the end of an interesting trip to Sri Lanka by a group of Rotaractors from Hong Kong. The young group was hosted by the Rotaract Club of the University of Moratuwa. The Rotaract Club of Kowloon Golden Mile (KGM), Hong Kong teamed up with the ‘HandZ’ team during this stint.

This is the first ever International service trip hosted by the Rotaract Club of the University of Moratuwa. The trip took the Hong Kong team to Polonnaruwa where the HandZ project is under operation. The Hong Kongers have worked for around 5 months to gather funds and material for the project.

Third phase of HandZ , the community service project was successfully held on 28th and 29th of

December 2010, in collaboration with Rotaract Club of Kowloon Golden Mile, Hong Kong. This phase

was the extension of community service work in Polonnaruwa where the 2nd phase carried out a series

of seminars for G.C.E Ordinary Level students in the district. This phase consisted of two projects.

First of which was the water and sanitary facilities

project for the community centre of the village,

Kuruppu Handiya in Polonnaruwa. It was funded by

the Rotaract club from Hong Kong and was facilitated

by the Rotaract club of UoM.

Water supply project was initialized sometime back

and was completed by the day of visit and was

declared open by the presidents of the two clubs, KGM

and UoM. The project was carried out by the villagers

and the village society.

Also First stones were laid for the lavatory adjacent to

the community centre on the same day. Plaque was also unveiled to mark the occasion.

Preceding these events there was a very warm welcome by the villagers and their society for both

Rotaract clubs KGM and UoM and was escorted to the community centre with a procession. There was a

colorful ceremony including dances of pre-school children in the village.

Furthermore there was a distribution of books and stationary items for the kids who performed at the

occasion. The rotaractors from Hong Kong were also taken for a tour in the village where they were

given the opportunity to get the feel of village life. They visited the village temple and also a country

house as well as the pre-school.

Lunch was provided by the villagers, which included some country food which was a special moment for

the people from abroad.

Since it was the first time for the rotaractors from Hong Kong being in Sri Lanka, a sightseeing tour was

also organized in the ancient city of Polonnaruwa before moving on to the next project for the 3rd phase

of HandZ.

It included a distribution of stationery items and English books

for libraries of the students of 17 under privileged schools in

Polonnaruwa District.

This was carried out at a ceremony held at Vijitha Central

College, in Polonnaruwa. Amidst difficulties caused by rain the

rotaractors from both clubs were so enthusiastic in taking part

of the event and so were the school children, principals of

respective schools in the educational zone as well as the

Directors of the zonal education offices.

Distribution of laptop computers for 6 students, who qualified to enter the local universities from the

G.C.E Advanced Level examination, was the main event of the day. This was a donation from the

Rotaract club of KGM and was distributed at the ceremony to the students. The students said that it

would help them immensely in continuing their higher studies.

In line with the event there was a distribution of books for the students of schools in the district, which

was donated by the members of Rotaract club of UoM. Over 300 English books for the libraries of the

schools were also distributed at the occasion.

Ceremony was once again filled with colorful events

where there was also traditional Kandiyan Dancing,

which took the eyes of Rotaractors from Hong Kong.

Directors from zonal education office addressed the

gathering and mentioned that they were very happy

to have had the chance to take part in this initiative.

At the end of the event there was refreshments

arranged for the visitors.

The former and the current heads of teacher’s

training institute in the district played a big part in

organizing both the events.

All in all the projects were a huge success as the HandZ team from the Rotaract club of University of

Moratuwa did a splendid job in serving the community with the helping hand from Rotaract Club of

Kowloon Golden Mile , Hong Kong.

The visitors from Hong Kong spent two days in Kandy as well. The Rotaractors of Kandy and the University of Peradeniya joined up with guided tours around the Kandy town. The members of the four clubs began their new year on December 31, with songs around a campfire.

The delegation visited the ruins of Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, Kandy and Pinnawala. The guiding at all these places were provided by the members of the local club promoting excellent cultural exchange between the two clubs.

The Hong Kong Rotaractors also spent a morning with the children at the Sneha Home, Wellwatta during their visit, bringing laughter to many unfortunate little children, while contributing to the postcard project, “Hand-in-Hand” that is collecting funds for the cancer hospital by seasonal greeting card sales. The International Service trip marked a beginning of a new relationship between the two clubs.