A roaring half-century of community service

This year, the Lions Club of Colombo (Host) completes 50 years of serving the community. Being the mother club of the Lions Movement in Sri Lanka, the club has proudly watched the numbers grow from just one to 424 clubs with 12,300 members in the country by the end of February 2008. The result of this phenomenal growth has been that the Lions are now the largest voluntary international community service organization in Sri Lanka. There is not a town of any significance in the country which does not have a Lions Club serving the people of the area.

Lions Clubs are active in the North and the East, too. In the Jaffna Peninsula, there are 17 clubs, and one each in Mannar and Vavuniya; in the East there are 10 clubs. All of them are active, running regular meetings and service projects.

The Colombo (Host) Club was inaugurated in 1958 through the sponsorship of the South Indian Lions with the support of Lions Clubs International. The local initiators were Onaly Gulamhussein, well-known businessman and Zain Markar, a senior executive in Esso Inc. It then had 25 members, all of them leading citizens in the professions, vocations and business. The first President was Col. C.P. Jayawardena.

It took some time for the members to understand the new-in-its-time concept of community service and to translate it into practical terms. Other new traditions introduced were the singing of the national anthem and the taking of a pledge of allegiance to the national flag, at club meetings.

The first project successfully completed by this pioneering club was the introduction of the White Cane to assist the blind. Five hundred white canes were distributed to the sight-impaired. More importantly, the club successfully lobbied for the enactment of legislation to make it an offence for motor traffic not to permit the safe passage of any person using a white cane. The legislation was finally enacted on February 13, 1959 as part of the Motor Traffic Act No. 14 of 1951.

Later projects included the first Eye Bank in Sri Lanka, gifted to the National Eye Hospital in 1962. It was later supplemented by the Eye Bank of the Eye Donation Society organized by the late Lion Dr. Hudson Silva and developed into an internationally renowned cornea resource. Other early projects were the inauguration of a weekly medical clinic staffed by the doctor members of the club, assisted by lay members. The roster of projects completed by the club in 50 years of service runs into the hundreds.

The Lions Club of Colombo (Host) continues to be a beacon of service to the community.