Time swiftly passes! That is more than a fact! A truth that all of us still try to understand in a world full of earthly pleasures!
Being a Rotaractor for more than two years, I feel that it is an undeniable fact to recall my own story word by word and phrase by phrase as we get closer to the end of another venturesome voyage day by day.
For every undergraduate, the first year reflects the beginning of a new life. For me, it was the same as I motivated myself to join some clubs in our university. Then came the big word “Rotaract” into my mind! Why shouldn’t I give it a try? I thought again and again. Even I saw how my friends had been dedicated members of our Rotaract Club from chairing projects to being directors. To name one, it was Rtr. Yashodha Weerasekara. Then came the next big question! “What avenue am I going to choose?” and I answered it by selecting the International Service Avenue as I wanted to embrace every breath of International Service. At that time, I was a newbie and knew nothing! To spice it up, I struggled a lot to balance my academics and these reasons did not allow me to be an active member til RotaTomorrow 3.0 sparkled the sky.
Yes, it was really a life changer for an individual like me! Being joined as one of the editors of a competition committee named Soyuru Piyapath, had the privilege of realizing how things work in the club for the very first time. Here, I must mention some of the individuals who supported me in abundance: Rtr. Lanka Muhandiram, and Rtr. Chathuka De Silva. Surprisingly, we became the winning team for the outstanding performance at the Awards Night Ceremony.
With such a victory, I stepped into the Rotaract International Year 23-24 with a firm decision to feel what it is to be in the IS Avenue. Interestingly, I was fortunate to get to know the newly appointed Co-Directors from the beginning namely, Rtr. Chanumi Manathunga and Rtr. Subodha Rajakaruna. Once, they put a message saying that they need someone to create a flyer or caption, I texted back to lend a hand and it was not to highlight myself but to understand the importance of being responsible. In addition, there was another pillar of motivation and support: Rtr. Disandi Nikagoda, Overlooking Vice President of the IS avenue. Her presence always guided me to achieve more without any self-doubt.
The first IS experience came into my life from Merge 1.0, a hybrid conference opened for all local and foreign Rotaractors. There, I was again selected to play the role of editor realizing how necessary it was! I would say that from here I started running the IS race marking several milestones in various initiatives namely, Anantham, Culinary Kindness, Merry Zoomas, AmiSphere, Cric’Eve, Anatolian Serendipity, We Care, and Dhara 2.0.
There is another thing to mention and that is being appointed as one of the Team Leaders of my Avenue. Thereby, I met a bunch of high spirited souls as my Co-TLs: Rtr. Lihini Ranasinghe, Rtr. Thanuj Abeyratne, and Rtr. Sevni Jayasinghe. With a position comes responsibility, hence, we were given the full authority to decide what we were going to do and gradually the above mentioned initiatives were executed highlighting international service and understanding.
Next came another novel and exciting experience and it was working on Rota Tomorrow 4.0! I still believe that I took the right decision to join the Event Committee as an Editor and it made me meet many TLs from all the other avenues.
RI Year 24-25
As I already mentioned, time passes! It is like a high speed train which provides an individual with the ultimate joy! You might be wondering how it relates to me! Well….. it is not a secret! When this new chapter was ready to be unveiled, I was privileged to be selected as a Co-Director for the International Service Avenue along with Rtr. Lihini Ranasinghe and as two individuals, we have had the opportunity to work with an energetic soul who is none other than Rtr. Himaz Faizal, Overlooking Vice President of the IS Avenue. With our unity and strength, 5 initiatives (Merge 2.0, Diversea, We Care 2.0, Harmony Across Borders, and Ekhos of Ceylon) were executed creating the ideal platform for virtuality and physicality. Besides all these, don’t you feel that there were many to support us? Yes, there were! I would say that they are a bunch of souls who touched our hearts with trust, dedication, enthusiasm, and friendship. This makes me to introduce not only our Team Leaders but also the amazing Avenue members. Therefore, I will first mention our Team Leaders Anuji, Chamodya, Kareema, and Pruthivi. As individuals, they possess their unique skills which brought us extra assistance when dealing with various situations. Sometimes, I feel that I did not have much time to interact with them due to balancing all the stuff yet I cherish every memory we were all a part of. Cracking jokes, highly contagious laughs and smiles are some. It is not unthinkable that there were both ups and downs yet we all faced them together with a strong mind.
Similar to them, our hearts have become a home to the most amazing avenue members. Although it is a long list of names, I mention some as a way of admiring their services: Nadha, Nishanthan, Vidun, Nilakshi, Diduli, Yashodhara, Sachula, Gayan, Methya, Navoda, Namuni, Isurika, Vimanshani, Jithmini, Ashmi, Nadun, Arosha, Kavindi, Nuzha, Sineth, Bavindu, and Rashmi. When looking back to the past, we have found them at different periods of time when we needed the team spirit to show that the IS Avenue can do more than others say!
Taking a different turn, a contribution was directly made to RotaTomorrow 5.0 by mentoring project Suwisal. Here, I had the privilege of working with passionate individuals including Akalanka, Wathsala, Vinod, Naduni, and Ashen. Their capability in handling many tasks did say one thing and that was “unity”!
Last but not least, Writing Maze gave me the most precious chance to represent our club along with Adeesha and Himangi. Together we weaved the best story we could and enchanted all the readers.
I feel that it is the time to flip another chapter, yet, it is not as easy as it sounds!
Some of you will read my story and comprehend it in many different ways but the only thing you need to remember is “Taking a challenge is the best!” because it will teach you a lot. Therefore, I would like to thank the Rotaract Club of University of Kelaniya for providing me with ample opportunities to form novel friendships along with invaluable experiences and knowledge! May you shine as the brightest star for an eternity!
Viva La Rotaract!
