ORIENTATION PROGRAM

Hundreds of faces showed up with enthusiasm to be joined with us,

Hundreds of hearts were touched with the dew drops of humanity,

Hundreds of stories were told about the blessings of our doings,

Hundreds and hundreds of minds were inspired with what we are,

The orientation program was another remarkable day for the UOM Leos. We were blessed with the unexpected participation of those who willing to be the future leaders. 19th December 2016 was a turning point for the LEO club of University of Moratuwa which faith has built within us as we realized that the future of the LEOs within the club is assured with these new faces. All of them were enthusiastic to grab this opportunity to serve the nation as a LEO with their kind hearts.

Those novices were guided towards the path to find the excellence in everything we do as LEOs. They will probably be the next landmark to hoist the eminence of Leo club of University of Moratuwa and will be ahead of the pack at every turn.

RAGASUN MANAKAL

Orphans are easier to ignore

before you know their names…

They are easier to ignore

before you see their faces…

It’s easier to pretend they’re not real

before you hold them in your arms…

but once you do,

everything changes...

Children are priceless treasures and gifts in the world. It is everyone’s conviction that the physical, psychological and spiritual needs of children should be amply and competently met. But children who live lonely in children homes with no affection of beloved family members may be lack of these needs. They also need love and affection in their lives even though we cannot give them the exact love from their own parents.  As Leos we always try to do the best for those children’s happiness and welfare. This time we were able to bring smile to the innocent little faces at Buddhist Girls’ Children’s Home, Kamil Pedesa, Nupe, Matara. 

It was 26th of November 2016. UoM Leos went to the Buddhist Girls’ Children’s Home to spend the time with those little children. Since their chances to enjoy their lives are very few, we had a small movie time with them, letting them watch a very interesting and exemplary movie that make them both happy and educated. And also we treated them with a tea party and presented them some gifts. Then we spent some time with them witnessing their hidden talents. At last we could see the success of our project by their happy faces.

NIGHT WATCH 2K16

Most of us go through life looking straight ahead. But when we reach some point, the stress we gain from it can tear us down. So it is good for us to stop once in a while and look up, because you’ve got to look up to see stars. The magical scenery they create will surely sooth all your pain and stress and then it will allow you to relax, enjoy and get amused by the little things in life that you didn’t see earlier.   In order to get away from the busy stressful lives, four outstanding Leo clubs of 306A2 Leo Club of University of Moratuwa, Leo Club of Godigamuwa, Leo Club of Katuwawala and Leo Club of Sri Lanka Technological Campus together with the Astronomical Association of University of Moratuwa and the Subhodi Institute, Piliyandala organized a stargazing camp “NIGHT WATCH 2K16” presenting a new experience to all the Leos of Sri Lanka.  It was a Night Sky Observation Camp and an Astronomy Workshop held on 12th of November at Remuna Vidyalaya, Horana from 6PM onwards. Many Leos who are curious about mysteries of the universe and love stargazing took part in this amazing event.

Even though we gathered to admire the beauty of the night sky, she concealed her beauty with heavy showers like a pretty princess hides her beauty with pride. But the organizers did not let her ruin the whole unforgettable cosmic experience which was planned to go till sunrise. First Astronomical Association of University of Moratuwa gave a basic idea on astronomy which gave everyone a light to follow the stargazing path. The telescope which was brought by the Subhodi Institute, Piliyandala was the most exciting thing in this whole event. They explained every part of the telescope, how to focus it and how to use it. Although we could not see the stars the organizers made it sure to make it an unforgettable memory for every Leo who participated. So the NIGHT WATCH for the year 2016 ended with style. 

Surakimu Mawuwaru

Taking care of the elders is considered as a mark of honor to them. Every mother has done a great sacrifice to create this society to this extent. Therefore, it is our responsibility to take care of them as they took care of us when we were children. However, there are some old people who are put in elder care homes and forgotten by their children. Our aim of this project was to help them as much as possible to forget their pain and loneliness and be happy even for a moment.

Surakimu Mawuwaru Elder Care Foundation is one such place. This time we visited them on 29th of October 2016. In order to make the event a success we distributed the workload among each other. As a result, we prepared the evening tea for them, cleaned the place and elders properly, distributed the donations among elders and donated the books to the coordinator of the elders’ home as decided before. Everything was done on time according to the pre-defined schedule. While working we had a chat with those elder mothers and it gave them a chance to express their feelings and erase even a little
bit of their loneliness. 

This program was successfully conducted with the help of our club members, prospects, some university students and the coordinator of the elders’ home. All of us were happy after this project   as we had done a great service. The main objective of this project was to make those elder mothers happy even for little moment. At the end the success of our project was depicted by their happy faces.

TRAIL SRI LANKA

Suffering do not rely on race, religion or cast. They are common for all human beings. If we have a chance to fight against them or if we can help someone to get thorough those sufferings, we will receive the true meaning of happiness. 

TRAIL, Sri Lanka’s largest ever crowd-funded charitable initiative was started under the intention of constructing the nation’s second specialized cancer hospital. The founders for this fund raising campaign were Sarinda Unamboowe and Nathan Sivagananathan. On 2011 they laid the foundation for this initiative. They first thought of constructing a hospital in Jaffna after raising around Rs.401 million. Then the project was set to resume again with the announcement of “Walk, Unite, Heal” in October 2016 with the new goal of raising Rs.772.95 million to build a dedicated cancer treatment facility as an expansion of the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital in Galle. A 670 km walk from Point Pedro to Point Dondra was commenced on 6th of October in order to gather funds.

UoM Leos were blessed to join in this campaign of humanity, on 26th of October 2016. We were able to join the walk from Maliban Junction and trailed to Moratuwa town with them. Funds collected by us from the university colleagues and others were donated on the day to the pioneers. It was another new experience for the UoM Leos as they were able to contribute to a large scale charity project which touches the hearts of everyone.

API AKURATA MALI NOWEMU

Knowledge is a wealth increasing continuously when keeps on giving out education. God gives something to us in order to share it out with others and see happy on. So when such chances are met, we don’t neglect it to do our duty there. That is the principle of life for pleasant survival.

Such golden opportunity we had on 17^th Oct 2016 at Phase VII of Api Akurata Meli Nowemu. 

 This is a students educating session at Batemulla National College.We as a group of Leos and prospects visited there and mixed-up with the students for encouraging on their path of education. Big portion of the day is spent with them effectively by teaching some necessary areas explaining important concepts, clarifying doubts and guide them to approach questions. 

There, we worked in spread-out manner to face all students.

 Children are on more important phase of life growth and every society have the great responsible to fertilize them. Here, our Leo club helps us to carry-out such responsibilities of us. And we completed it with great pleasure.

Evening with Elders

With the dawn of the centennial era, we got an opportunity to reach another milestone of the UoM Leo history. We launched the very first international twinning project, “You Smile, We Smile”, joining with the Leo Club of Butwal Manimukunda, celebrating the occasion of their first anniversary. On 21st of September, UoM Leos spent the day at the Methodist Elders Home Moratmulla while the Leo Club of Butwal Manimukunda spent the day with differently abled children at Butwal-13, Nepal. 

George Washington Carver once said that, “How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong because, some day in your life you will have been all of these.” Once in life and never again we all will have two supreme characters from whom we learn the true meaning of the words “purest love”. So called are the “Parents”; the amazing selfless creation to this harsh world. There are some people in this world who are just running after money and achievements, without any sense about the true meaning and purpose of life and the greatness behind the small precious things that matters us most in this world, like parents. They might never understand, that they will not be able to reach the climax of their achievements because they lack the heartiest blessings from their parents. Elder care homes have become the roof for the mothers and fathers of these people, to spend the later part of their lonely lives, relieving their blessings to the empty space of their own frozen souls. 

Listening to their sweet stories once they had dreamed to say to their grandchildren, sharing their pain and loneliness and bringing smile to those faces even for a second, might be the best thing that one can do to console those lonely fragile minds. Along with this twinning project UoM Leos were privileged to bring a smile on the faces of such elders at Methodist Elders Home Moratmulla and bring a light to their gloomy lives. We had tea and snacks and a small musical evening with them. They sang with us, danced with us, forgetting all the grievances for a while. We were able to shine their hearts and fill their minds with happiness while on the other way around we were more than happy by knowing that we were the reason behind their happiness and blissful smiles. Finally it was comprehended that it was very much befitting to use 

“YOU SMILE-WE SMILE” as the title for this blissful evening.

NONIMI SENEHASA

        As human beings we can’t live alone. Our lives are always about being taken care of or being a caretaker for others. We are growing by learning nurturing, love and compassion. Taking care of elders may be difficult due to their physical and emotional problems.

        

       But elders are the one who deserve our honour, love and care. 28^th of August 2016 was a special day for the elders of Aluthwala Amaraseela Elders’ Home because they could feel the love and affection of UoM Leos.

    We spent the whole day with elders and shared the happiness. We cleaned their premises and made it more pleasant for the elders to live. We bathed them and served meals to them. True smiles in the faces of elders came up by passing many barriers of wounds. It was a day they were blessed from the warm hearts of UoMLeos.

       

          

14th INSTALLATION CEREMONY

Desire is said to be the starting point of achievements. Once we have a vision and a decision for an achievement we will reach it eventually with the helping hands of courage, dedication and unity. We, Leos of University of Moratuwa possessed so called helping hands and we all got a unique vision through our career. We have spent another lively year, illuminating thousands of hearts, making a smile on thousands of faces while spreading the message of humanity. We have never failed in believing the unwavering truth of the saying “The more you give the happier you get”. We were able to spend a year full of blissful memories which last forever.

Having completed another successful year, we are about to dominate the centennial dawn of the Leostic years. On the 10th of September 2016 we took the first step of our journey through the challenging path of the New Year. Installation of the new leaders who will be the backbones of this centennial arena was done on that special day. 

Chief Guest for the 14^th Installation Ceremony of the Leo club of University of Moratuwa was the President of the Leo District 306A2 Leo Kesari Seneviratna PMJF. The head table was spirited with dignitaries of Leo District 306A2.

Leo Shehan Akmeemana became the Main Pillar by being appointed as the President for the leostic year 2016/2017 while Leo Yasiru Nilan became the Secretary for the dawning year with  Leo Achala Isuru  became the treasurer. The installation became a stylish event remarking the emergence of another distinctive year where UoM Leos will treat the world with their beautiful souls bound to do the best.

ARANA

Historically, cleanliness has been considered as one of the important factors by which a society’s development can be measured. All the religious leaders, including Lord Buddha, placed a great emphasis on cleanliness and purity both physically and spiritually. 

A temple is a place of developing the spiritual life of people. Therefore a temple should be clean, calm, peaceful and a quiet place avoiding unnecessary noises. 

To fulfill this and to improve the happiness of members by doing community development projects, we took another step in the series of continuous projects, ‘ARANA’. It was a shramadana campaign held at Kodagoda Rajamaha Viharaya, Imaduwa on 20th August. We cleaned the temple premises, painted the buildings and helped the ongoing construction work at the temple premises. 

It was a successful event with the participation of Leos and prospects of the club.  

Suwa Sarana

Let the groundwork of happiness be the good health!

Good health is the utmost wealth that anyone can have in life. UOM Leos conducted an Awareness program about non-communicable diseases at Yatiyana Medical Center to spread the message on health. Apart from conveying that message with the help of the MOH, they conducted a health camp. Eye checkups, blood tests, breast tests, random sugar tests, thyroid checkups were done on the occasion for villagers for free of charge. The participants were refreshed with kurakkan kanda. The villagers were addressed by the Public Health Inspector at the end of the session.

19th of August 2016 was an inspiring day for the villagers in Yatiyana. With the help of the UOM Leos they received the guidance towards the paradise of health.

SENEHASE SATHKARAYA

Giving a smile to someone who forgot to smile is the best thing someone can do. 
                                          ~Mother Theresa~ 

Parents are the people who made their kids grow up, pampered them, spent their whole life for them and now are in need of help as they grew old with gray hair and painful bones.

Although parents never let their kids to be helpless as they grow up, in the present most of the children neglect their parents and let them be helpless in  elders’ homes where they are only provided with just shelter and food not the love and affection they need.

So we, UoM Leos thought of visiting one such place to spend the day with the lonely elders and give them some love and affection they seek in the later parts of their lives. We paid a visit to Thihagoda Elder’s home on 31st of July with hearts full of love and affection.  First, all the elders were bathed and then all their clothes as well as their living areas were cleaned. After the cleaning was done we were able to give them a proper meal, and a moment to relieve their pain and enjoy by singing along with us. At the end of the session, innocent smiles on their faces depicted the success of our effort to bring some love and affection to their lonely lives.  

 

GO GREEN

We all have a responsibility to save the nature. Plants are one of the major substances of the nature and they create a peaceful and aesthetically pleasing environment. Plants increase our quality of life by bringing natural elements and wildlife habitats into urban settings.

Trees not only contribute to the environment by providing oxygen, improving quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife, but also they control climate by moderating the effects of the sun, rain and wind. Leaves absorb and filter the sun’s radiant energy, keeping things cool in summer.

So as the Leo Club of University of Moratuwa we decided to organize an ecofriendly project outside the university. Planting Herbal and Fruit trees around Kadawedduwa Temple in Yatiyana, Matara was successfully held on 10th of July from 1.00 pm onwards. This was a really great project to save the nature. We distributed all the responsibilities among the club members to make this event a success. As a result of that, buying plants, transporting the plants, arranging needed items, promoting the event and all other work was done properly on time. The distribution of plants among the participants, selection of suitable places for plantation and finally planting trees were done in a proper way by the Leos.  

We spent about 4 hours working in the temple with the participation of about 10 Leos, Leo prospects and university students. It was a great pleasure for us to see those small plants after planting and probably the thoughts of every person who was there would have been running towards the future to have the pleasure of seeing them as big grown trees.