As the month of May comes to an end, I wanted to write my personal experience as a rotaractor in Colombo Mid Town.

As an undergrad, while me and my friends had the opportunity to join the Rotaract club of our institution, we thought of joining Mid Town as by then, we had heard many great stories of it.But while we had zero clue as to what and how Rotaract worked we went into our first meeting in July hoping it to be interesting.

And as we enter coco space for our first meeting, we were welcomed by a happy face of a young cheerful girl named ‘Nadeera’. She asked all our details and told us how the meeting was going to work. Then came the president to become: ‘Nipun Aiya’, to very later in the journey we realize that so called ‘Nadeera and Nipun Aiya’ were actually not two people but one (thank you Hamza for helping us solve the mystery of one father and two different last names).

While we learnt the customs and culture of how a meetings worked, we all realized it wasn’t your normal boring meeting, it was actually interesting and enjoyable too. And as time went by we participated in our first event ‘Sambandiyawa’ where we learnt the background and establishment of all religions prevailing in Sri Lanka.

One reason that truly inspired me to stay in Rotaract became this. Because for the first time in my 22 years of life, someone put forward an effort to truly create a platform to understand each other’s background and lifestyle than to rather question it.

Moreover, I was truly happy to see Mid Town going Green and it wasn’t just publicity. Mid Town truly went Green.

Then the installation happened and we all became rotaractors officially.

Meeting so many people in different fields with different skills was one of the greatest benefits I believe I gained during the past year. Furthermore, to it, charity projects like ‘hasarella’ truly created an emotional impact and understanding too.

I am not a massive athlete and I did confirm my athletic disability at the Rotaract Champions League. But what I can tell you is that the bond and the new friendships that were created thanks to RCL is never forgotten. It didn’t feel like another one of your sports meets. It felt like half of the entire county was fighting for one single championship. And Mid Town Bisons never failed to take the spotlight.

Although I failed to attend many events thanks to my college, the limited events I did participate in gave me experience more than ever.

For instance, Inter Mid Town Futsal match. Where the Rising Phoenix won the championship thanks to a lot of luck and our talented players.

But if you really have attended at least one of our matches, the following things can always be concluded for sure,

1. DON’T even TRY to tackle AK unless you have a pure death wish – truly talented but toxic as Earth can get (out in the field).
2. If you are not ready to stand pressure and a lot of aggressiveness when dividing teams PRAY TO EVERY LORD ON EARTH to have you put to any other team but his (one and only Ak)
3. Once the ball is in the hands (or rather feet) of Adhil, he becomes mute. (another very talented player)
4. Ashfaq Jr is the king of goal keeping
5. Umar is the calm player (very talented again)
6. Always make sure to tell Hanea which side her goal is before you play the game (I love you)
7. Ignore haneef. ( that applies out of futsal as well)
8. Stephie falls, cries but never fails to get back up again (you go girl!)
9. And you’d have the happiest/funnest (if there is such a word) session if you get to the team with Nipun the Boss  
10. And last but not least, unless you have NO CHOICE, don’t EVER pass the ball to Jini

With quarantine, we had many more virtual events that happened and I thankfully got the opportunity to participate in them. But while there are blogs written to commemorate all these event individually, I wanted to just mention a few to show you how Roteractors of Mid Town isn’t your everyday ‘I am Rotaract’. They will always be BIGGER, BETTER and LOUDER than you could ever think of. Signing out of the year 2019/20 , here’s to 40 years of excellence and true friendship!

By Rtr. Sajani Mayadunne | Email: sajanimayadunne@gmail.com