Month In Review: October

Hello again, everyone! 

You might want to strap in as we have quite a chunky Month-In-Review for you all this time around as our Rotaractors have been keeping themselves quite busy (those projects aren’t gonna complete themselves now, are they?). Join us as we go over our efforts during the month of October.

The Bare Niceties

Bare Niceties, a project headed by the Professional Development Avenue, is an ongoing initiative of the Rotaract Club of Faculty of Arts of University of Colombo. An initiative that started back in July saw its completion on the 1st of October. The main objective of the project was to educate the public on proper manners, decorum and etiquette that must be followed in public places, interviews and official events such as office dinners etc. Other objectives included promoting accepted norms of social behavior, promoting conduct that will help individuals build lasting interpersonal relationships in a professional space and to empower people to feel more comfortable and confident in their careers.

The project consisted of three phases. Each phase took place in the months following the project’s start in July which saw the publication of posters going over the do’s and don’ts of day to day etiquette.

Writing Clinic 2.0

Writing Clinic 2.0 was a project initiated by the Professional Development Avenue, which aimed to provide an opportunity for Advanced Level students studying English Literature to develop their knowledge,  their skills on writing the answers, understanding the question patterns and time management when facing the examination. The project also helped in developing the teaching and tutoring skills of the volunteers. The Project Chair for this ambitious initiative was Rtr. Lalinka De Silva. ‘Writing Clinic 2.0’ was conducted in collaboration with the Rotaract Club of katugastota Region and the Interact Club of Girls’ High School Kandy.

The PR efforts relating to the ‘Writing Clinic 2.0’ saw the publication of two posters alongside a google form in our social media channels. The first poster and form focused on calling for university undergraduates willing to volunteer as tutors while the second poster and form revolved around spreading awareness of the event to students sitting for G.C.E. A Level examinations for the academic year of 2021, who required tutoring for English Literature. 

The tutoring volunteers then were paired up with the students based on the requirements indicated by the students in the google form, and the qualifications of the volunteers. After each participant was paired up, a member from the organizing committee was assigned to each pair to monitor their activities. Separate Whatsapp groups for both students and volunteers were created and the instructions with regard to how the project was to be conducted, along with a list of student-volunteer pairs and the report format for the volunteers were shared in the common group. The participants were given the discretion to arrange time slots within the week depending on their schedules.The committee also decided to create a report for the volunteers to fill out and submit every two weeks. The report consisted of the number of hours each pair put into the project, the areas and tasks undertaken by them and scope for improvement. Each club was assigned 6 pairs of participants to monitor during the course of the project. Their task was to collect reports submitted by the volunteers and monitor their progress on a 2 week basis.

The success of this project was two fold. Firstly, the students who participated in the project found an outsource to clarify their doubts regarding the subject, especially during the pandemic when there are very limited interactions. Secondly, the volunteers were able to improve their teaching skills through the project. We hope that the success we saw with the project will eventually come in handy to the students writing their GCE A/L English Literature and Language during the coming year. 

Forget-Me-Not

‘Forget-me-Not’ was a project started by the Community Service Avenue in commemoration of World Children’s Day 2021 and aimed to spread awareness on child abuse. Our primary goal in this endeavour was to prevent the society from generalizing “child sexual abuse” as a normal incident. 

The project was chaired by Rtr. T. C. A. Kalyanapriya and took place in two phases. The first phase was a poster campaign to raise awareness on the topic of child abuse and to break various myths surrounding it. These posters included various facts and myths regarding child abuse and were publicized through our social media platforms from late September to early  October.

The second phase was a webinar conducted in collaboration with the members of Concrete Angels Foundation: an organisation that exclusively works to spread awareness regarding child abuse and other related issues. On the 16th of October, the webinar took place in the form of a conversation. It was moderated by Rtr. Sithmi Edirisinghe and the resource persons were: Ms Shiandra Gooneratne, Founder, Concrete Angels, Ms Rebecca Kulanayagam, Assistant Head of PR, Concrete Angels, Ms Dileksha Senaratne, Coordinator, Programs and Logistics, Concrete Angels.The session saw a total of just over 30 participants who were actively engaged in the conversation.

‘Forget-Me-Not’ helped raise awareness among the general public about the topic of child abuse, how prevelent it is in the country, various myths surrounding the matter and its long term and short term effects. Further, the participants were also informed of how to help an individual who may have been subjected to child abuse. 

Enigma Phase I

‘Enigma’ was the Editorial’s first crack at a project this Rotaract year, which focused on unsolved mysteries across the globe. The project was chaired by Rtr. Yeshani Fernando and Rtr. Anjalee Wanduragala. A total of 10 articles are to be published during its 1st phase, with the following areas of focus. 

• The Zodiac Killer
• Tabby’s Star
• The Watcher House
• Vatican Archives
• Jack the Ripper
• Area 51
• Jeanette DePalma
• Bermuda Triangle
• The Sodder Children
• The Illuminati

Each article explored the respective mystery, its background and its public perception to date. The project, in its entirety, was launched with the intention of instilling interest within the readers and the writers of the Editorial regarding mysteries that remain unsolved to date. A subsequent, yet equally important, objective was the improvement of writing and research skills within the members of the Editorial who provided their articles for the project.

Ongoing Projects

o   ‘Athwal’ by Community Service

o   ‘Academic Writing 101’ by Professional Development 

o   ‘Kuppiya ’21’ by International Service

o   ‘Enigma Phase I’ by The Editorial (Registered under Club Service)

– The Editorial