RI Year 1995/96

• 12 District Meetings were held during this year at the following schools.

  • Carey College

  • St. Thomas’s College, Mt. Lavinia

  • Visakha Vidyalaya

  • St. Bridget’s Convent

  • St. Peter’s College

  • Aleathea International School

  • Prince of Wales

  • Anula Vidyalaya

  • Bishop’s College

  • Richmond College

  • Wycherley International School

  • Wesley College

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• Apart from the awarding of Citations to out standing clubs, the committee decided to present awards to Interact Clubs which displayed out standing commitment in conducting projects in the different avenues of service & in handling affairs within & out side the club. The awards are as following :

  • Best Interact Club

  • Best President

  • Best Vice-President

  • Best Secretary

  • Best Treasurer

  • Best Bulletin

  • Best Overall Project

  • Best Community Service Project

  • Best Club Service Project

  • Best International Understanding Project

  • Best Finance Project

  • Best Community Service Director

  • Best Club Service Director

  • Best International Service Director

• A circular was sent at the beginning of the year detailing the awards & Citations criteria to every club. This circular also contained guidelines on club projects & activities. 

• This year the District Committee decided to concentrate on Interact leadership development & membership growth within Interact Clubs. Interact Clubs were asked to conduct many leadership development projects as possible. They were also asked to conduct membership drives & membership orientation seminars in their clubs. The response was commendable at the latest information received from the Interact Clubs indicate that their has been considerable & at sometimes incredible membership growth in almost every club. 

• Subscription fees were set at Rs. 350.00 per club, and Rs. 500.00 for late payments after the month of September.
   

• 5th District Interact Assembly

This event was hosted jointly by the Interact Clubs of Royal College & Bishop’s College on the 25th of June 1995 at the Navaragahala. This was the 1st time the District Assembly was jointly hosted by 2 Interact Clubs, a trend which later continued throughout the year. The Chief Guest for the opening ceremony was Hon.Dharmasiri Senanayake minister of Media; Tourism & Aviation while the guest of Honour was Rotary District Governor 94/95 PHF.Melville Assauw. The Chief Guest for the closing ceremony was Rotary District Governor 95/96 PHF. Dr. Ranjith Samarasinghe. 

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• Rotary Youth Activities Month

Rotary International allocated the month of September as the Rotary Youth activities month. Each club was informed by the Interact District to be especially active during this month. It was also made compulsory that clubs should

Conduct a community service project ; or

Conduct a joint meeting with collaborating with a Rotary, Roteract or Interact Club ; or

Conduct a Finance project ; and

Organize a seminar for a school based audience. 

In addition clubs were informed to organize seminars to benefit club members, & to participate in Interaction 1995.

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• Interaction

The aim of this event was to bring together Interactors from all parts of the country while providing an opportunity to display their talents in various sports & recreational events. The selected events were :

• Cricket (six-a-side)

• Song Competition 

• Volleyball

• Quiz Competition   

• Basket ball (boys)  

• Debating Competition

• Football (seven-a-side)

• Short Drama Competition     

• Netball (girls)

• Give Us A Clue Competition

The above events were conducted 1st at zone level & then at national level. All Interact Clubs in the island were divided into 10 groups based in different area of the country, which enabled every Interactor a chance to participate whether in the events or in the organizational work. The finals were held on the 7th & 8th of October saw over 2400 Interactors from all over the island participating.

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A sum of Rs.100.00 per club was charge as subscription fees. Also an entrance ticket of Rs.20.00 was charged in order to raise revenue. The Interact Club of Ananda College conducted a raffle draw in this connection.

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The finals of Interaction ’95 was started off with the Rotary Peace walk. Over 500 Interactors as well as Rotarians, Roteractors & peace loving members of the public walked the streets of Colombo carrying posters & placards spreading the message of Peace.

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Rotary District Governor Rtn. PHF. Dr. Ranjith Samarasinghe officially declared open Interaction, while Rtn. Baboo Wickramaratne, Honorary Counsel for Sri Lanka in Hawaii & Rotary Youth Scholarship Chairman for the Hawaiian region was the Chief Guest for the closing ceremony.

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Interaction ’95 was widely publicized through the Yes FM radio station & the Sunday Times newspaper.

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• Polio Plus

The Interact District & the clubs along with the Rotaract District chipped in with the Rotary district to help Rotary Internationals dream of eradicating  Polio by the year 2000 come true. The Interact District & the Rotaract District were assigned the district of Colombo to conduct the immunization clinics District & the 4th of  November and the 9th of December 1995. The project was a success for almost every child under 5 (the targeted age group) in Colombo had been immunized during the national immunization days according to government medical officers statement.  Further more every Interact Club was briefed on the detriment of Polio & other such deadly diseases and the personal and social benefits of taking preventive action. 

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• Youth Camp ’95

The primary objective of organizing Youth Camp ’95  was to provide Interactors with training on leading & motivating groups & the opportunity of experiencing the ability of outdoor life through activities such as outdoor camping, hiking, jungle cooking, pioneering & other such events, and also to inculcate team spirit, & environmental awareness.

The camp was organized as a 3 day event. All campers at Youth Camp ’95 took part in a jungle hike, summer team games, and Afro style campfire, rope & rock climbing and in many other exciting activities. Also seminars of leadership, interpersonal competence, lateral thinking, outdoor living, bomb awareness, first aid, emergency escaping were conducted by experts in respective fields for the benefit of all campers.

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The opening Ceremony was held at the Public Library Auditorium, Colombo & Interact Chairman Rtn. PP. Nissanka Perera presided as Chief Guest. Later the participants were presented with a participation certificate while 15 Interactors were awarded "Youth Camp ’95 Award Of Excellence" for their out standing performance. A total number of 83 Interactors participated.

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A 90 hour non stop FM  radio station titled "Youth FM" was conducted by the campers concurrently with Youth Camp ’95. Youth FM broadcasted the happenings at the Youth Camp ’95 & popular music throughout the western province on 103 MHz, and was wholly run by Interactors.

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Youth Camp ’95 was held at the Lee Dissanayake International Scout Training Centre Mirigama on the 14th,15th,16th of December 1995. It was the 1st time that a project of this nature was conducted by the Interact District.

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• Inter - Interact Cricket Tournament

This event was held on the 7th April 96 at the Bloomfield Grounds. Over 25 boys & girls teams participated. The Interact Clubs of Thurstan College & Aleathea International School on behalf of the Interact District organized this project jointly.

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• Interact Leadership Training Programme

The main objective of conducting the aforementioned programme was to select & train Interactors on the goals of Interact, functions of the District Committee & board of officials, project organization and management, accounting, public speaking, assertiveness, interpersonal, competence, group behaviour, public administration, leadership & motivating skills, efficient reporting & presentation, negotiation skills etc.

The programme was first introduced in the Colombo Zone & later taken to the other zones. Participants between the ages of 15-17 years were selected after interviews. However, due to the tension that prevailed in the country, this programme was temporarily suspended & restarted in March 96. 

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• Zone Activities

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The Interact Zone of Kandy, Galle, Trincomalee were very active during the year & conducted many activities to keep the Interactors informed about the plans and goals set by the Interact District. The zones of Batticaloa, & Jaffna were unable to conduct their activities due to the tension and state of unrest which prevailed in the area.

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The Kandy Zone was active as usual. They organized many events to facilitate the District’s ambitions when it came to District projects. The most outstanding project conducted by the Kandy Zone was the donation of necessities for the refugees in the Kotiyagala Refugee Camp. Dry rations, clothing, food items etc.. worth over Rs.1000,000.00 were given out to the needy people in this camp. All Interact Clubs in the zone contributed for the success of this project.

The Galle Interact zone too functioned very well. The Galle Interact Assembly was conducted on the 29th of October ’95 at St.Aloysious College. This is the 2nt consecutive year that this event was been conducted.

Trincomalee Interact zone was revived this year after been dormant previously. They did many projects to benefit the community of which the shramadana at the Base Hospital in Trincomalee conducted by 200 Interactors. They also raised awareness on Interact in Trincomalee.

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• Pen Pal Programme

The Interact District envisaged to conduct a pen pal programme to build friendships within & outside the island. A Pen Pal data bank was started & all Interactors were informed to submit their names, address & personal description of themselves if they were interested. This information was later submitted to the Zone Representatives within the country, other DIR’s & to other pen pal organizations. However due to poor feed back this project couldn’t be fully implemented. 

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• District Magazine

The Interact District published two 20 page half yearly magazines titled “The Interactor”. This magazine provided Interactors with an opportunity to communicate with other Interactors to express their views & opinions, learning about Interact, Roteract & Rotary functions and to publicize their club projects. This project was done in collaboration with the National Paper Co-operation which funded the printing of the magazine. 

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• Youth Exchange

The Rotary District organized a youth exchange programme for Interactors. Interviews were held in Colombo, Kandy, Galle, & Trincomalee to select Interactors to represent the District. These programmes provided Interactors an opportunity to broaden their international awareness & meet members of the Rotary family from different parts of the world. 

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• The Paper Recycling Project

The Interact District & The National Paper Co-operation together with the Rotary Club of Colombo Mid town initiated this waste paper collection programme for recycling paper within Sri Lanka. 15 schools with Interact Clubs in the Colombo district were selected as a pilot group & they were briefed upon the benefits of recycling & how to launch the project within schools. In addition, Interact Clubs were rewarded on the quantum of waste paper collected. 

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• Inter-Interact Swimming Gala

After a lapse of 4 years the Inter-Interact swimming Gala was organized by the Interact Clubs of Royal College & St.Thomas’s College.This event was held on the 12th of May 96 at the Royal College swimming Pool. 

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• Interact Year Book

The District published an Interact Year Book which included the photographs of the board of officials in each club, a brief history of each club & a summary of the clubs activities during the year. 

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• 5th Interact District Conference : "Conference of Hope"

This event was organized jointly organized by the Interact Clubs of Visakha Vidyalaya & Ananda College on the 26th & 27th of January 1996. The Chief Guest for the opening ceremony held on the 26th of January at the Kularatne Hall was Rotary District Governor 95/96 Rtn. PP. PHF. Ranjith Samarasinghe, while the Chief Guest for the closing ceremony held on the 27th of January ’96 at the Jeramias Dias Hall was Rotary District Governor elect 96/97 Rtn. PP. PHF.Mangala Gunawardana

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Int. PP. Imeshika de Silva (Sacred Heart Convent), Int. J. Anandakumar (St. Peter’s College), Int. PP. Ifthikar Mohammed (Thurstan College), contested for the post of DIR for the year 96/97. Int. PP. Ifthikar Mohammed was elected after a closely contested election

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A record number of 1054 Interactors were presented for the Interact District Conference.