Club News

Rotary Club of Colombo West fosters Tomorrow’s Leaders

Beverley Jansz

Communication and leadership skills are a prerequisite to be successful in one’s career and other aspects in life. To impart these skills in the younger generation, the Youth Leadership Program (YLP) for the year 2009 sponsored by the Rotary Club of Colombo West was conducted from October to December 2009 on 10

consecutive Saturdays at Wycherley International School, Queens Road.

This program has been sponsored by the Rotary Club of Colombo West for the last 20 years in conjunction with Toastmasters International District 82 said President Rtn. Nissanka Samaratunga of the Rotary Club of Colombo West.

YLP is a 10-week program created meticulously by Toastmasters International, USA designed for youngsters in the age group of 12-19 years. Toastmasters’ resource personnel were provided for this program for the fifth successive year by Smedley Toastmasters Club.

The Cordinators for this year’s program were TM Sabirah Caffoor (Cordinator) and TM Shuhaib Ali (Assistant Cordinator), both active members of Smedley Toastmasters Club. On behalf of the Rotary Club of Colombo West, President Nissanka thanked both TM Sabirah, TM Shuhaib and all other Toastmasters Resource Personnel for their dedication and time given to successfully carry out the project. Around 35 students from Asian International School, Wycherley International School, Sujatha Vidyalaya and British School participated in this program. President Nissanka further added that under the program, each student was provided with a manual from Toastmasters International which contains different aspects and projects relating to public speaking and leadership. Every meeting trained the students to deliver prepared and impromptu speeches and play different leadership roles such as the President, Toastmaster of the Day, Table Topics master, Round Robin master etc.

Each session also had a highly experienced toastmaster delivering a feature presentation for the benefit of the students on areas such as Introduction to Public Speaking, How to structure and prepare your speech, meeting procedures, use of body langauge/ vocal variety, Free Association of speech etc.

YLP culminated on the 12th of December 2009 with the awards ceremony held at HNB towers with the large participation of Rotarians, toastmasters, parents and students. president of the Rotary Club of Colombo West RTN Nissanka Samaratunga, Past District Governor of Toastmasters District 82 TM Arunasalam Balraj, Director Youth Service Rtn. Haroon Careem and many Past Presidents of the Rotary Club of Colombo West were among the distinguished gathering present.

Everyone present at the awards ceremony was amazed at the transformation that had taken place in the students from nervous speakers to confident and competent communicators and leaders within a short span of 10 weeks.

During their impromptu speeches, the students displayed exceptional skills of delivering well structured and informative speeches with confidence and flair on a variety of topics, which kept the audience spellbound.

PDG TM Arunasalam Balraj who is also a member of the Rotary Club of Colombo West, said the progress and the transformation of the students within such a short span of time, shows the talent we have in Sri Lanka, which needs to be carefully nurtured so that the country could benefit in the future, with such exceptional talents and leadership qualities.

The Rotary Club of Colombo West which is celebrating their Golden Jubilee of its charter in 2010/2011 is planning to commence YLP 2010 in September this year.

Lions Clubs International - District 306 A 2 All Island Essay Contest

Sarath Malalasekera

The International Association of Lions Clubs - District 306 A2 is pleased to announce that it’s annual essay contest on prevention of Drug Abuse & HIV/AIDS will be conducted this year too. Special significance of this contest which is in it’s 18th consecutive year is the support and assistance extended by the Lions Club of

Pestum, Italy.

This contest is one of the major programs conducted continuously by the Lions District 306 A2 to create much needed awareness among the younger generation of our country.

Lion Prof. Swarna Premaratne of the Lions Club of Pestum, Italy readily respondent to our call for funding our health camps and awareness programs. She was instrumental in raising the required funds through the Lions of her club in Italy, said District Chairperson Lion S. Ramachandran.

District Chairperson Lion S. Ramachandran is organizing this contest for the 18th consecutive year and he is ably supported by the President of the Lions Club of Dehiwala North, Lion Lalith Lokuge under the guidance of District Governor Lion Nimal Aluthge MJF.

Relevant Details of the contest

1. Participation: Open to all schoolchildren in the age group of 15 to 19 years.

2. Topics: a. “Youths’ Role in Drug Abuse Prevention”

b. “Life of Discipline - Life of Happiness” (on HIV/AIDS)

3. Language: Sinhala, Tamil or English

4. Closing Date: 22nd February, 2010.

5. Awards: (a) Cash Awards: First three place winners in each language category and under each topic will receive Rs. 10,000/-, Rs. 5,000/- & Rs. 2,500/- respectively. Total amount of cash prizes awarded is Rs. 105,000/-

** (Descriptive details of cash prizes given below)

(b) Other Awards: Beautiful Trophies and attractive certificate will be awarded to all winners.

6. Conditions side: (a) Essay should not exceed 06 A4 size pages (preferably on one of the sheet) and not less than 04 pages. They could be either handwritten or typed.

(b) Certification by the Principal is a must in respect of the Date of Birth of the participating student and that the entry is the original work of the student concerned.

(c) Name & Address of the participating student including the residential address to be either written or typed in bold English letters to facilitate the preparation of the certificates/trophies of the winners.

(d) Decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entertained.

(e) Scripts will not be returned.

7. Mailing Address: District Chairperson (Prevention of Drug Abuse and HIV/AIDS)

12/3, Frances Road , Wellawatta , Colombo 06.

Second VDG’s official visit to Lions Club of Colombo West

Second Vice District Governor 306A2, Lion R.A.K. Padmasiri paid his official visit to the Lions Club of Colombo West, last week.

Lion Padmasiri commended the services rendered by the Lions Club of Colombo West towards the blind, elders and handicapped children.

He also thanked the club for colour washing the premises of the Sri Lanka Council of the Blind, which was a long felt need.

Dawn to Dusk – 2009-2010 Lions Club of Colombo Mutual Town

The Lions Club of Colombo Mutual Town conducted a multi-service project ‘Dawn to Dusk’ at the Gokulam Children’s Home, Wattala. Chief guest on the occasion was District Governor 306B2, Lion Kingsley Bernard , MJF.

The Service Project consisted of eye screening, and providing lunch to over 125 children. Several other projects too were carried out including the donation of a gluco-meter to an elderly person and a cash donation to the Lions Ladies Association Cancer Hospital Project.

Rotary Club Colombo East sponsors pre-school concert at Dehiaththakandiya

The annual Pre School Concert at Dehiaththakandiya, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Colombo East was conducted at the Mahaweli Centre. The concert was attended by about 1000 parents and relatives of 308 pre-schoolchildren, who attend the 10 pre-schools sponsored by Rotary Club of Colombo East since the year 2000.

Annually, approximately 300 to 325 pre-schoolchildren attend 10 pre-schools are sponsored by the Rotary Club of Colombo East of which about 150 to 175 pass on to the primary schools of the area. The quality of the children passing out of these schools, receive the admiration of the neighbouring school principals, who welcome these children to join their schools to pursue primary education.

The funds for the program are obtained through direct donors (corporate and individuals), who commit themselves with passion for the remarkable achievement/progress of the program since the year 2000. Hatton National Bank has taken a substantial share of the sponsorship of this program during the last few years. A significant achievement in this program is the increase in the number of children passing the year five scholarship exams, as a result of the good pre-school education received by them in the formative years, and also the improved attendance of the children, which was otherwise not up to expectations.

The Rotary Club of Colombo East, has focused on Pre-School teacher training from the inception by conducting residential and non residential training program for teachers in the Mahaweli system C areas, to equip them with the much needed training to teach the young ones in their formative years.

The program is co-ordinated by the Rotary Community Corps (RCC) sponsored by the Rotary Club of Colombo East. The patron of the RCC at Dehiaththakandiya is the Ven. Makuruppe Pannasekara Thera, who gives of himself the leadership to the 20 RCC members who volunteer to organize the various activities throughout the year.With this experience Rotary Club of Colombo East has already conducted a pre-school teacher training program for the teachers attached to the Kopay division in Jaffna and has plans to conduct several similar programs in other areas as well.