7th Installation Ceremony of Rotaract Club of Centennial United

The 7^th installation ceremony of President Rtr. PHF Nuzrath Benazir Farouk and her board of directors of Rotaract Club Of Centennial United (RCCU) was held on the 24^th July at Colombo city Hotel. Rtr. Aqeela Najeeb and Rtr. Devmini Weerasuriya attended the ceremony on behalf of our club.

The event commenced with the arrival of the chief guests and other dignitaries. The chief guest for the evening was Rtn. Kausha Kalpage, President of Rotary Club of Colombo Centennial and the guest of honour was Rtn. P.P Marshad Barry, District Rotaract Committee Chair 2013/14 .The house was called to order soon after the lighting of the oil lamp, flag salutaion, Rotaract invocation and the Rotaract song.

The welcome address was done by Rtr. Baghya Bandara, Assistant Secretary of the new board and was followed up with the Secretary’s report for the year 2014/2015 which was presented as a creative video clip including a collection of photographs of the main projects the club had carried out during their term.

As per the agenda Rtr. PHF. Darini Sahadewan, the outgoing President of the club addressed the gathering and in her speech she pointed out that the club has carried out several successful noteworthy projects during its short history and she thanked the outgoing board for the immense support given in achieving the set targets for the past year. She went on to describe about the innovative gala charity event they organised, “Sparkling Glory” in raising funds to organize community service projects in aid of displaced persons and differently able children. She then distributed tokens of appreciation to her board and the members of the club for supporting her in every aspect during her term as President.  Her next task was to introduce the new President. She gave a long and heart touching introduction and officially handed over the responsibilities and duties of the post to the new President for the year 2015/2016, Rtr. PHF Nuzrath Farouk.  Then it was her turn to address the gathering as the President of the RCCU.

The new President’s speech emphasised that this year RCCU will concentrate more on peace building through diversity. She explained the ultimate theme of the club being “let's scatter the light of hope”, they thrive to achieve ever lasting peace through avenues of Rotaract services to benefit people of different ethnicities living in the society. She then humbly invited her fellow Rotaractors to support her in taking their club to greater heights.

Next the new board was introduced and each board member was officially handed over with their responsibilities by their new President. The board of RCCU for the year 2015/2016 is as follows;

President –  Rtr. PHF. Nuzrath Benazir Farouk

Vice President – Rtr. Suchithe Malawikankanamge

Secretary- Rtr.PHF. Brintha Mathavasunderam

Treasurer – Rtr. Elalshinnia Vimalendran

Sargent at arms – Rtr. Lahiru Abeyrathne

Editor and Retract and Interact Coordinator – Rtr. P.P Chamal Weerakkody

Rotaract and Rotary Coordinator – Rtr. P.P Isuru Samarawickrama

Assistant Secretary – Rtr. PHF. Baghya Bandara

Director Public Relations – Rtr. Roshan Ganeshalingam

Director Club Service –  Rtr. Nathaash Wishwa

Director Community service – Rtr. Shihan Hansiff

Director Professional Development – Rtr. Jagathkumar Manotharan

Director International Understanding – Rtr. Fahama Shahabdeen

Director Finance and IT – Rtr. Sangha Jayanithy

Next up was an entertainment item which was performed by 3 guitarists and was followed by the speech of DRR Rtr. PP. PHF. T. Sathiyaeandra  Tharmakularajasingham, where he appreciated the projects RCCU had produced during their short history, he congratulated the new President and further went on to say that he is awaiting to see project ‘Sparkling Glory’ back again this year with more colour and force surrounding it.

 The gathering was next addressed by DRCC 2015/16 Rtn. P.P Saifu Adamaly who explained about what we gain from being a Rotaractor, and he said that Rotaract is a wonderful platform to display our skills; may be in the form of delivering a speech or  conducting a club meeting, the training and exposure we gain from this will eventually reflect in our professional lives. He further talked about the theme set for Rotary this year, ‘Be a gift to the world’ and requested all the Rotaractors to consider themselves as a gift to the world and do something valuable to the society that we can be proud of, not just this year but in the many years to come.

 This was followed up by the speech of Rtn. PP. PHF Farzana Khan, the Youth Services Chair who admired RCCU focusing on peace building through diversity and further said that ‘Let’s Scatter the light of hope’ is a good theme to work on as young people can get involved through community service and professional development projects to benefit people of different ethnicity living in the society.

The next entertainment item for the evening was a surprise to all, where a stand up comedian entertained the audience and it was indeed a very clever entertainment item to be included in a formal agenda as this. It was appreciated by all who were present at the event. Next the Guest of honour, Rtn. PP. Marshad Barry, DRCC 2013/2014 acknowledged that RCCU is one of the vibrant Rotaract clubs which comprise of young enthusiastic youth which maintained the highest standard in the Rotary District 3220 in a short span of 6 years.

In her speech, the Chief guest Rtn. Kausha Kalpage, President of Rotary club of Colombo Centennial  emphasised that after decades of greatest burdens of the conflict, as a youth it is the time for us to raise the voice against social disturbances through racial harmony thus aiming to create a better future for the generations to come. Then the installation ceremony was concluded with felicitations and the vote of thanks followed by the national anthem.

Rotaract Club of University of Colombo Faculty of Management and Finance wishes the new President Rtr. PHF. Nuzrath Benazir Farouk and her board every success to prosper with their projects and as their theme goes, to ‘Kindle the spark within to scatter the light of hope’

Reported by-

Rtr. Devmini Weerasuriya 

Compiled by-

Rtr. Aqeela Najeeb (Co-Director - Community Service)