AIESEC 'APE AVURUDU'

The Sinhalese and Tamil New Year is an occasion where all of Sri Lanka puts aside their differences and gets together to celebrate the dawn of a new year in harmony. Even though LC's in our country work separately and are a little competitive when it comes to AIESEC's functions, we all work towards the same goal and this new year was the perfect occasion to bring everyone in AIESEC together to celebrate an Avurudu filled with fun and games as one family.

For the first time ever AIESEC in Colombo South took up the responsibility of organizing this event in a national scale and the organization committee comprised of a very dedicated set of people who put their heart and soul into making this event a success and the fruition of their effort could be seen on the 22nd of April when AIESECers dressed in colourful sarongs and lungis gathered in
the Colombo University Ground to take part in AIESEC Ape Avurudu.

AIESEC Ape Avurudu opened with the lighting of the oil lamp and after the kiri ithiraweema a welcome speech was given. After opening the head table and eating the tasty avurudu kevili we dived right into the avurudu games.
Everyone cheered on as people hilariously tried to break the pots in the game if kanamutti and when trying to draw the eye in aliyata asa thabima.

An entertainment item was performed by each LC and in the usual AIESEC fashion we didn't fail to include dancing to roll calls in the middle of the avurudu uthsavaya. Anyone could take part in the games that were conducted  that day and the true spirit of AIESEC came through when we got to share this occasion with a bunch of foreign participants from an LC in Netherlands.

Special thanks had to be given to Now You See Me our photography partner who co hosted our event and Pizza Hut who we decided to tribute by carrying out a pizza eating contest.
Finally the much awaited event of choosing the avurudu kumaraya and kumariya arrived and this was the highlight of the day as the contestants had to go through many trials and tribulations to receive the crown.

The event concluded with the awarding ceremony and the vote of thanks and the happiness on everyone's faces because of the day and the friendships and bonds forged between the whole LC reflected that this event had been truly successful in bringing AIESEC in Sri Lanka together as one family.

Lead CS 4.0 was the annual two-day residential leadership development seminar of AIESEC in Colombo South. It was held for the fourth consecutive time at Sanctuary House Negombo on 3rd and 4th of April 2018. Lead CS is all about developing leadership qualities, getting to know fellow AIESECers, getting to know the AEISEC way and having fun.
The accommodation, Sanctuary House at Negombo was the ideal locale with comfortable air-conditioned dormitories separately for boys and girls, spacious dining area and a well-maintained lawn for outdoor activities with the beautiful Negombo beach in the vicinity.
On arrival we were checked in and provided with name tags and goodie bags sponsored the British Council and the Coca-Cola company. The morning plenary was mainly about the chair for the event miss. Ela from AIESEC in Poland. We were acknowledged about the AIESEC way, the meaning of our vision and mission and most importantly what AEISEC delivers to the world; how AEISEC reduce conflicts among nations by promoting cross cultural exchanges among different countries.

Afterwards the organizing committee and the FACI team of LEAD CS 4.0 were introduced. We divided into groups and did a small presentation on several world issues and solutions for them. Finally, the end of the morning plenary was energized by famous AEISEC roll calls.

Outdoor games were held after lunch and afternoon plenary. We were divided to groups by random numbering. Each group had to come up with a unique shout out and a haka. These weren’t mere fun games, each game was created to test and make us comprehend about morale values such as team spirit, endurance, efficiency and productivity. As an example, the game that checked productivity was done by passing wheat flour in a container from hand to hand and finally putting it back to the original container, to check the amount of flour wasted, which made us understand that it isn’t always about speed when completing a task, it should be productive too.  Final games were held in the Negombo beach, ended with us building sand castles.

We refreshed after the games for the evening plenary, which was warmed up by Nescafe thanks to Nestle Lanka. The gala night was an outdoor event filled with glamour to see everyone dressed up in elegant gowns

and tuxedos. Special thanks goes to official food sponsor, Water’s Edge for the scrumptious dinner at the gala. The awards night for functions and best performers of AEISEC in Colombo South was held after the dinner. After party of the gala night was energized with a DJ for fellow AIESECers to dance under the disco lights.
The next morning was about AIESEC functions and other significant teams such as the business development team and the marketing team. We were acknowledged about the part of each function and teams in AIESEC, followed by inspiring stories from people who went on exchange programs abroad and their video documentaries.
After lunch, AIESECers were divided into functions; Outgoing Global Exchange (oGX), Incoming Global Entrepreneurship and Talent (iGET), Incoming Global Volunteer (iGV), we were given practical training to how to interact with exchange partners, volunteer organizations and companies. After evening tea, we had the evening plenary, and closing session. Finally, there were envelopes assigned to AIESECer in LEAD CS 4.0, and we had to fill sugar cubes for anyone we like.
After the ending session we packed up and left the premises. Special thanks goes to CBL for giving us small a small hamper of ‘YAHAPOSHA”. We had the dinner buffet at a restaurant in Negombo. Finally, we reached back to University of Moratuwa willed with appreciation, perception and memories about AIESEC in Colombo South.