For the second consecutive year, the Rotary Club of Kandy marked the International Day of Disabled Persons with a “Champions’ Day” Sports meet held at the Nittawela Grounds. Postponed from 3rd December due to a threatened epidemic in the Kandy area, Champions Day was held on 23rd February and brought together around 75 people with physical and other disabilities to compete against each other in a number of track events. The smiles on the faces of the participants was reward enough for the Rotarians who had worked so hard to put the meet together.
 
On the same day R/C Kandy’s extended its support to persons living with disability by “harnessing the therapeutic qualities of dance, music and drama” to build their self-confidence and sense of self worth. A landmark agreement was signed with the Sunera Foundation which uses the medium of the performing arts to achieve the greater social integration of people living with disability. The launch of Sunera in Kandy took place at Wesley Hall of the Methodist Church in the presence of the Founder and Chairperson of the Foundation, Ms. Sunethra Bandaraniake. Twenty eight people with disability were welcomed to the event and trained resource persons from Sunera encouraged them to get to know one another and introduced them to dance as a way of expressing themselves and of communicating. Watching the sheer pleasure with which these young people relaxed and lost themselves in the dance was a moving experience for both observers and caregivers. Sunera will hold weekly classes in Kandy for the rest of this year and beyond.
 
Since 1992 the International Dayof Disabled Persons (December 3) is celebrated around the world with a view to calling attention to the situation and the rights of people living with disability and to the commitments of governments with regard to them.
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