Wednesday Nov 27, 2024
Wednesday Nov 27, 2024
Friday, 17 March 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Janis McDavid, 25, was born with no arms and legs. But he still goes to university, drives a car and travels the world. Today he is embarking on his career. This is what we are focusing on this year’s conference said Governor of Rotary Sri Lanka Senake Amerasinghe. The theme is ‘Humanity Everyday’ and the conference is scheduled for 17 and 18 March at BMICH.
Governor Senaka Amerasinghe said some people are successful even in situations where others would have given up. They surmount hurdles that lead others to fail. How have these people managed to succeed in the face of adversity? On the search for answers this year’s conference in centred around, he said. For instance Janis McDavid doesn’t like to greet his guests standing up. He’s never much taller than their navels and it’s not a nice feeling. There’s no elevator in the apartment where he stays when he’s in Berlin, and his friends can’t carry his 120 kg (265 lbs) electric wheelchair up the stairs. So McDavid stands on creaking old floorboards in the corridor of the apartment. He looks up, extends his stump of an upper right arm in greeting, and smiles. “Hi, I’m Janis.” The 25-year-old knows that he unnerves many people when they meet him for the first time. After all, he has no arms and legs and many find it off-putting. “I have to help them relax,” he says. In such situations, he makes an extra effort to exude a sense of normalcy and self-assuredness.
Sometimes people even ask him if he can hold onto their jackets for a second. “That’s the best thing that can happen to me,” says McDavid – because then he knows that he’s managed once again to prevent his disability from taking the lead role in his life.
Rotary in Sri Lanka is one the top non profit organisations and globally has a seat in the United Nations. The recent global President was K. Ravindran where at his annual conference the keynote speaker was the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
