“Rotaract teaches you how to work with people and how to have a sense of morality, sense of consciousness towards the society”

What does being a Rotaractor give me at the end of the day? This question pops up in almost everyone’s mind when they first decide to join Rotaract. We were able to find someone who qualifies to answer this question. That’s none other than Mr. Amal Vithanage, who is currently working as an Assistant Manager at “J. L. Morison son & Jones (Ceylon) PLC”. He was the President of the Rotaract Club of Faculty of Science, University of Colombo for the year 2011/12. We contacted him and he was very supportive from the beginning and was happy to take time off his busy schedule to meet us. ”I will be there sharp at 8”, he said on the day before the meet up and had turned up even before 8am and was patiently waiting for us. ”So what you need to know from me?” he asked with a smile on his face. His conversational style was concise but friendly. This is how he shared his experiences as a Rotaractor with us.

• Good Morning! So to begin, we would like if you could give us a small introduction about yourself, your school life and family?

My name is Amal, and I’m now 27 years old. I have two brothers and a sister and I’m the youngest in my family. I studied at S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia and I entered University of Colombo in 2009. I studied Physical Science and I chose Statistics and Mathematics as my subjects in the university.

• University of Colombo offers students wide variety of extra-curricular activities, among them what made you choose Rotaract?

Basically I had some friends who were engaged in Rotaract at that time and were asking me to join as well. In college I had seen interact but it never caught my attention, so I thought maybe I should give it a shot.

• What was the first project you were able to join in Rotaract?

I was supposed to join “Sevana” but I missed it. So the first project I was able join was the Installation.

• We would like to know about your Rotaract year, what was the most highlighted project carried out?

We started the year with the theme of “Coloring Lives”, it’s about bringing color to people’s life. Back in those days we were very much in to Community Service projects so the biggest project we did was a project called “Intuition” where we had a teaching seminar session for about 400 students from Ampara who were facing the GCE O/L Examination at the end of that year with the help of about 40 Rotaractors from the Faculty of Science, University of Colombo. We went there Just about 2 months before the GCE O/L Examination and their situation was a pity. The students had not received proper guidance due to the lack of teachers. There were students who really wanted to study, but they were helpless. So when we went the first thing we did was giving them some enthusiasm about university life and encouraging them to study. We conducted the seminars continuously for about 4 days. At the end most of them did really well at the examination. However we didn’t stop there. After the examination we took 50 students on a tour to Colombo and they were here for 3 days, we gave them books that they needed to continue their studies, bags, shoes and some other necessities. We were also able to give scholarships to 20 students who were facing financial difficulties.

Talking about the awards, when we started our year I wanted only one thing. That was the district citation. That has to be achieved and that was my only target. No matter what you do you had to achieve this because that’s the basis for any Rotaract Club. So we planned out our calendar focusing on achieving the district citation. However at the end we won 10 awards including the “Best Community Service Project” for the project “Intuition”. The project “Future Challenge” won the Bronze Award in the Professional Development Avenue. We won the award for the “Most Outstanding Club” for the year 2011/12 and that was the first time our club was able to win that title. Apart from that I was able to win the award for the “Best Rylarian”. Back in those days they didn’t have the Most Outstanding President award, it was the “Best President of the month” instead and I won that once during my year. We won the award for the “Best Reporting club” and my Vice President won the title, “Spirit of Service”.

• What is the most cherishing moments of your Rotaract life?

Undoubtedly it’s the project “Intuition”. Apart from being a Community Service project “Intuition” itself was a good club service project. We were together for good 4 days. We went there on the 3rd of October. It was a 10 hour bus ride, traveling to a place we haven’t seen before having so many questions in our head, this is hard to explain through words. We didn’t know whether we will get a place to sleep or whether students will come for the seminars.

Actually the place we booked was only for 12 people and 40 people went there. The caretaker of the place got frightened up when we parked the bus. There were about 10 girls with us so we gave them 1 room and 1 wash room. So imagine them having to get up around three in the morning to make sure that by 8’o clock they’re all ready? It was not only for those 4 days that we were working, from 2 nights before we went there we were working, printing tutorials and arranging them.

There was a lake in front of the place we stayed and we got the chance to bath in the lake which was a wonderful experience. Wild elephants come to the lake every single morning and that was one amazing scenery to watch. We had a BBQ night on the second day. Those were the best memories of my Rotaract life.

• What is Rotaract to you? How has being a Rotaractor, being a Rotaract President helped you to do well in life?

Well, as I said I joined Rotaract because my friends asked me to. It was really unexpected but it worked out well. I got my first job through the project “Future Challenge”. My second job was again through a connection in Rotaract and I’m actually doing my current job with a Rotarian who was a Rotary President. He knew me from Rotaract and asked me to join. Basically you can say that my entire career life was set by Rotaract. I was able to get many opportunities through Rotaract and Rotaract means a lot to me.

Just that almost all my friends in University started rotaract with me or joined later or helped in anyway in the projects. I still meet up with the other rotaractors and other presidents. So a lot of the experiences with friends are shared in rotaract and now we shared the experience out of rotaract. But most influences are by rotaract even though you don’t realize it.

• What do you think about the impact of Rotaract on society? Would you recommend Rotaract to somebody and why?

Looking at what I got from Rotaract I would recommend it to anybody. When you enter the university system, you don’t have much in your mind. You just join these clubs and societies because it’s fun and good to work in them. In Rotaract, the club and its’ governance lead you in such a way that it moves your life into it and makes you feel you engaged in the society more. You would know how to get things done and that’s exactly what you need in the cooperate world. Rotaract teaches you how to things get done in a professional way, how to work with people and how to have a sense of morality, sense of consciousness towards the society. So definitely for someone who comes to the society especially from a university, it’s the right direction even though you don’t see it. You only feel that you are having fun but later in life you will realize that it steered you in to the right direction.

• What is your message to the current Rotaractors and newbies of the Rotaract Club of Faculty of Science, University of Colombo?

Have fun, have a sense of achievement and never be afraid to give your ideas. During my year only about five were planned projects and others came up with the ideas from members. ‘Project Intuition” per say was not a planned project, it was one of our member’s idea. Definitely the club needs the passion of its members. We did a concert called “Esperanza” which came from last year. They did it as a club service project. During our year we did it to raise funds for “Project Intuition”. We molded our whole year towards the passion of people around me. So always work on your passion.

• Anything else you want to include?

Just a shout out for everyone who has been with me in the club, my board and my members, they did a fantastic job, the club couldn’t have achieved anything without them. Basically these are not things I achieved. Everyone helped me without any ego. Every single one played their part perfectly. Finally I want to thank everyone who has been in Rotaract with me, specially my seniors for their proper guidance.