Sixty greeting cards designed by kids from children’s homes launched

Education Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris

Women and Child Development, Pre School and Primary Education, School Infrastructure and School Services State Ministry Secretary K.M.S.D. Jayasekara

Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay

CECA President Capt. A. Banerjee

CECA General Secretary Jayadratha Das

Sixty greeting cards designed by children from different children’s homes in Sri Lanka were jointly launched by Minister of Education Prof. G.L. Peries, High Commissioner of India Gopal Baglay, Minister of State Woman and Child Development, Pre School and Primary Education, School Infrastructure and School Services Piyal Nishantha De Silva, and Colombo Expats Cultural Association (CECA) President Capt. A. Banerjee, on 11 December at Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre in Colombo.

These cards shall now be sold in the market and proceeds of the sale shall be utilised for the welfare of the underprivileged children living in children’s homes. 

This noble initiative was undertaken by CECA during the second wave of the pandemic in the country. They organised a nation-wide art competition for kids living in 369 children’s homes across Sri Lanka. The idea stemmed from CECA’s desire to bring out the creative talent among the underprivileged children and add more brightness to their lives. It received whole-hearted support from Department of Probation and Child Care Services, Ministry of Education, High Commission of India and various other organisations like Hotel Taj Samudra. 

The competition got an overwhelming response and 4,375 children aged between 5 and 18 years from across the island took part in the competition. It took two full days of evaluation by a panel of 43 judges to shortlist the 60 best artworks (20 each from three different age categories). These 60 students shall participate in a grand finale which would be held in Colombo at a later date. All expenses – meals, accommodation and transport – of these kids and their guardians will be fully covered by CECA.

CECA is multi-cultural and multi-ethnic organisation which was founded less than three years ago. It has more than 160 members with the large majority of them being from India. The organisation has carried out several community-oriented initiatives earlier as well. During the curfew period in April and May this year, it supplied 15 metric tons of dry rations to 1,311 kids living in 52 different children’s homes in the Western Province. Through a special program called – ‘Santa Returns’, one truckload of toys and clothes to 120 children living in a children’s home were distributed during last Christmas.

Pix by Ruwan Walpola

Launch of greeting cards, From left: CECA President Capt. A. Banerjee, Women and Child Development, Pre School and Primary Education, School Infrastructure and School Services State Ministry Secretary K. M. S. D. Jayasekara, Education Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris and India High Commissioner Gopal Baglay