Glad tidings await those who have faith, trust the process and strive hard to hit the goal.
“Rotaract” was just an unusual and peculiar name for me when I first noticed it. In the year 2021, when I was in my first year, my university colleagues were in the opinion that we should join a club in order to improve ourselves. I still remember how eagerly we discussed each and every club in the university. However, most of us didn’t have a proper idea of what club to join. During this confused stage, I saw a flyer which said “Registrations are open for the Rotaract Club of University of Kelaniya!”.
I did some background search on the club and felt the urge to join Rotaract. I didn’t have friends in Rotaract. As it was the first year in the university and had been a virtual year, I didn’t have many friends within our faculty batch too. It was me and a very few of my friends that did join Rotaract. In such an unfamiliar background it’s quite easy to feel bewildered. I experienced the same. I got lost in the ocean of Rotaract with little to no friends at all! I didn’t have any idea what’s going on. I joined the International Service Avenue randomly too. When I joined, I didn’t know it was the turning point of my whole life. So, I can tell you, IS made me to whom I am in the Rotaract today.
Within the avenue and the club, Dinithi akka was someone who is extremely and forever special to me. Most of the time she included me in the club work and gave me so many opportunities to become that true Rotaractor. Representing the entire avenue, and the club the same, she motivated me to feel the true essence of volunteerism. Even though she was not one of the directors, she worked hard as one, which led her to become the Director of IS Avenue for the RI year 2022-23. I’m honestly happy that the rightfully deserved person got the position.
With the guidance and support from my fellow Rotaractors, including Dinithi Akka and Ruchika Akka I got used to all the proceedings of the club and primarily carried on writing tasks for both the avenue and the entire club. I had been a part of Project Akura and Project Athena initiated by the IS Avenue. I’m happily proud to mention that I could further contribute to some other projects of the club as well, especially by writing. Further, I also worked as an Editor in SL Made, one of the projects in the project series of RotaTomorrow 2.0. In the year 2021, most of the projects took place on a virtual platform and it gave me a vast opportunity to witness almost all the projects and their procedures staying at home. It reinforced my understanding about the club. I first met my fellow Rotaractors at the final awarding ceremony of RotaTomorrow 2.0. It was quite a remarkable occasion for me.
By the second year of my Rotaract journey, I was able to become one of the Editors of the club. This was indeed a precious opportunity for me to unveil my hidden potential as a content-writer. Pen has always been my mentor, my caretaker, allowing my heart and mind to flow out and form into words. This pen, this passion of myself has led me to where I am now and I’m forever grateful to Rotaract for this.
When it comes to the Editorial Avenue, it is the avenue which handles and approves all the written documents of the club. From captions to project articles, special day articles, project reports to email content and to proposals, all of them were Editorial commitments. When I first joined the club I struggled to write a caption. I still remember how we had Zoom meetings to edit captions and choose the most suitable one in the first year of Rotaract. They were all new to me. I can tell you how I wrote a poem when asked to come up with a caption…. This is what I deeply felt as a Rotaractor in a simple sentence: Rotaract can make a novice an expert!
I will never forget how my fellow two Editors have always been my backbone through thick and thin. I’m indebted to them, Rahma, the Senior Editor and Dinithi, Co-Editor who became the best friends I met in the club. We shared our tasks till the last moment of the RI year and this made our work easier and less hectic, granting a productive output to the club despite the workloads Editorial is intended to do.
I can proudly say that Rotaract shaped me and carved me to become both a great individual and a volunteer enlightening me with empathy and self-assurance. Finally, all you need to have to be self-confident and empathetic at the same time is “Opportunity”; and Rotaract is endowed with tremendous amounts of opportunities both to serve yourself and humanity. If I were asked to describe Rotaract with one word, I would name the word as “Opportunity”.
Viva La Rotaract!!!
