Kelaniya Uni’s Rotaract Club conducts ‘peace and harmony’ building project

These students extended their efforts to the Wataraka Prison where they implemented a comprehensive programme aimed at promoting rehabilitation and reconciliation among inmates

In a commendable display of engagement and proactive leadership, university students across the country initiated a series of impactful peace and conflict resolution programmes at the grassroots level. Through innovative strategies and collaborative efforts, the students are fostering harmony and mutual understanding within their communities.
When a study of today’s society is made, it is common to see instances where people’s quarrelsomeness and conflict are clearly underscored. From this kind of social space, the actions carried out by the students of the Rotaract Club of Kelaniya University through the ‘Ekwa’ project to spread peace and harmony in the society are timely.
One noteworthy initiative undertaken by the students is the creation of a YouTube series featuring insightful discussions with various stakeholders, including lecturers in the university, journalists and lawyers, according to a press release issued by the Rotaract Club of Kelaniya University. This series serves as a platform for dialogue and knowledge-sharing, facilitating constructive conversations on pressing issues related to peacebuilding and conflict resolution. Every Sunday, a YouTube video is socialised to a large group of subscribers; this is one of the main goals of the students.

Moreover, these dedicated students have extended their efforts to the Wataraka prison, where they have implemented a comprehensive programme aimed at promoting rehabilitation and reconciliation among inmates. In Sri Lanka’s law and order system, the procedure for dealing with an act in a prison is very deep and overcoming all these, the university students managed to launch the programme successfully. 
The programme was held on March 6 at the Wataraka Prison premises. Here, Dr. Tharindu Weerasinghe, Lecturer of the Human Resources Department of the University of Kelaniya, made arrangements to hold a   lecture, and the music programme, which was held with the participation of a talented visually impaired child in the university, was also a successful programme aimed at catering to the mental well-being of the inmates. They got an opportunity to showcase their talents and share their ideas with the university students. The undergrads will provide a meal for the inmates and donate towels, dry rations, medicine and toothpaste to the institution.
As the third stage of the programme, the cultural festival held with the participation of children from several schools can be described as a very important event. In order to spread peace and harmony in the society, the influence on the children can be considered a very powerful influence. These students, who understood this better, had organized different programmes to instill this root seed in the school children. Arrangements have been made to hold a counseling programme for the children and various musical programmes have been arranged for the entertainment of the children with the participation of undergraduates. The students have also arranged to provide  breakfast. Moreover, various activities have been arranged to involve the school students and there the children participated in this process with great interest and the children. Here, the university students have arranged to give prizes to the winning teams and they have also arranged to provide delicious drinks to quench the tiredness of the children in the afternoon. To make this programme even more successful, a photo agency has come forward as the sponsor to offer beverages to them. The students of the university worked hard to present valuable certificates to all child participants in the programme and all the children who attended the event as well as to the teachers.