Sevana: The inspiring project

“Sevana,” the project carried out by the Rotaract Club of the Faculty of Science, University of Colombo, (RACFOSUOC) for the 6th consecutive time on November 30, 2019, served a magnificent purpose by helping out and being there for the children of ‘Sevana,’ Special School and Child Care Centre. This school, located in Ethul Kotte, is a place for children with special needs.
With the intention of drawing the children of Sevana out of their repetitive dull routines, the Rotaract Club added colours to their lives by providing the kids with an opportunity to enjoy life outdoors and to escape their day to day lives confined to wheelchairs. 

The project had over 80 participants including the Community Service Directors; Nadun Madushanka, Sihan Sankalpa, Tharushi Illukpitiya and the Project Coordinators; Vihanga Kularthna, Ruchira Ekanyaka, Imalsha Ubeygunawardena and Nipuni Happitiya.
According to the club, they had chosen a destination where the children were able to come in contact with water for a considerable amount of time. “We intended to help them in improving their health since it assists in decreasing muscle spasms and also allows more efficient lung functioning which are common problems associated with the lack of movement in physically disabled children,”Sachindee Chandula, the Secretary of RACFOSUOC said.

"The Rotaract Club added colours to their lives by providing the kids with an opportunity to enjoy life outdoors and to escape their day to day lives confined to wheelchairs"

“Another main intention of the project was to raise public awareness on differently-abled children which is not given proper attention in most of the South Asian Countries including ours causing them to become isolated from rest of the society. Also through the project, we tried to develop the teamwork and organizing skills of the club members by dividing responsibilities”.
The Community Service Directors had also made sure to visit Bopath Ella several times prior to the journey, in order to ensure the safety of the children during the trip because of the bad weather condition that had prevailed during that time. “Time spent in waters of Bopath Ella surely helped to boost their spirit since it allowed them to escape from the relatively restricted day to day lives. Then we proceeded to Rathganga Temple which is also known as the Punchi Dambadiwa. Then we all headed back to Colombo while the project was successfully concluded,” Schindee said.

The club’s project ‘Sevana’ had concluded the day leaving the children quite satisfied with the great experience. The club successfully turned the children’s normal day into quite an amazing adventure by sharing a very little amount of their precious time to light up the children’s lives.
It is very important to promote such projects in society and encourage the public to engage in such activities. The society today tends to be quite clueless about such matters and this is truly saddening considering the fact that there are many more people out there, in need of love and support, all around the world.

“There are many occasions when people stare at these individuals or openly make comments on their disabilities without being considerate about the ethics of a society. Therefore we believe that a project like this provides the opportunity for the society to interact with these individuals and assist them in living a normal life without letting them become isolated,”Sachindee concluded.