Gorgeous Minoli Dayaratne was warmly welcomed by President Roshan Perera and thereafter proved she is a Beauty with Brains and has a Passion for the underprivileged, when she addressed the Rotary Club of Colombo West.
She is the epitome of the Modern Woman who strives to make a difference and not just be seen but heard as well, She has a own clothing Brand named..”Dante” (https://www.facebook.com/dantebyminoli/) and she hopes to change a life at a time !
See her amazing heartwarming speech below to the Rotarians;
” A very good afternoon to you all. , I am truly honoured to stand here before you today, having won this title. And im ecstatic to be able to share a bit about who I am , and what I do. My journey of self discovery began when I started questioning who I am and my purpose on this earth.
And at a very young age I realized that nothing brought me more joy than serving humanity. My very first exposure to charity was with the rotary club of Colombo fort, of which my father is an active member of, and as a kid I truly enjoyed going on missions and projects with my dad. Getting to know these people, and the opportunity to be a part of their lives, to see them smile, was a priceless experience.
So at the age of 17, I started my own charity organization called HOPE with a couple of my friends, with not much direction or funds, we simply did it because we were passionate about it, and the rest beautifully fell into place. I was always a little more passionate about helping children, and this is where hope rooted from. Simply wanting to touch the lives of as many little kids as possible and change it for the better, because I believe that’s where is all starts. Hope has grown ever since and we have reached out to children from all parts of the country, in terms of materialistic things, and most importantly, we take great joy in the business of making them smile.
As I grew older, and saw more of the world, and experienced more of it, one thing I noticed in today’s world is the amount of people going through their lives just to get through the day. People have gone from making a life, to making a living. And sadly, From living , to existing. The current rates of mental illness and depression in the world as a whole is rising, and with it , the rates of suicide. And along side all this, we have generations of people growing up thinking this is it. That life is just something we have to get through. And this is something that really bugged us.
And this is when my fellow members and I, founded “FDTL” from darkness to light” a non- profit organization aimed at raising awareness about mental illnesses, mainly depression, and reducing the sky rocketing rate of suicides in the country. our goal is to raise awareness in order to break the stigma attached to mental illnesses, and make conditions better for the victims and the society as a whole. Even something as common as depression has become a major taboo in our society.
And the amount of lives lost solely because of how ignorant our society is, is very disappointing. And most of these people could have have been helped if only someone reached out to them, and told them it was ok to get help, and that this is just a phase of life that they will get through and that there is definitely light at the end of this dark tunnel. We believe that people are created with so much light and love within themselves, but as they grow, society teaches them otherwise. They feel less important as individuals as this world deems big and scary. Leaving them feeling un-important, like they’re just slaves to a system. Our aim is to help people find that light inside them again, and ignite it.
To empower human beings to un-apologetically be themselves, and embrace who they are regardless of what the world feeds them on a daily basis. To tell them that its ok to sometimes fall. To let them know that they are loved and that their lives matter. We believe that every single life matters, and every one has a well deserved chance at a beautiful life. So we started doing awareness projects and workshops starting from universities and schools in Colombo, to raise awareness and get people to open up, and get help, and at the end of it all, empower them. Having done our very first projects in November last year, we are now planning on reaching out to societies outside Colombo and the western province. Workshops and seminars, with qualified councillors and psychologists are to be conducted in rural areas where psychologists are scarce and un-heard of. And our very next project is to be conducted in killinochchi in august. We have also partnered with the Ceylon railway to put up posters reaching out to people at the main railways stations,which has been approved by the sri Lankan mental hospital, and all our projects are also backed by sumithrayo, and ccc, the current suicide hotlines in the country. who have all very enthusiastically agreed to be a part of our cause. We are currently working on raising funds as we have faced some issues where we have to compromise in terms of quality due to the lack of financial backing. but as a group of young individuals, we are willing to give it all we have, as we are very passionate about our cause.
I am truly very grateful for this pageant and this opportunity as it put me on a pedestal quite literally and in society so that I have a chance of being heard by a larger audience and in turn make more of an impact. My sincere gratitude goes out to all the members of the rotary club of Colombo West, its current president, and franchisee for the miss intercontinental pageant, Mr. Roshan Perera, and anushiya dilshard who closely worked with him. My heartfelt thanks to Dinesh chandrasena and her team for prepping us from the very beginning, when we didn’t know how to smile on a ramp, and turning us into beauty queens, and most importantly, strong young women who can confidently carry themselves. I would also like to extend my thanks to the wonderful board of judges, for their un-biased and valued opinions and results. I want to thank my family for always standing by my side,and Last but not least, I would like to thank God. For I am who I am today, because of who He raised me to be. And I am truly blessed to have everything that I treasure today, and my life of service to humanity, will be my gift to him.”
Hasna-Pres. Roshan Perera – Minoli Dayarathne..Miss Sri Lanka 2nd Runner-up
