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MJF Charitable Foundation brings joy of Christmas to over 500 underprivileged children

The MJF Foundation, a registered Charity and NGO in Sri Lanka funded and organised a Christmas party for over 550 underprivileged children in Sri Lanka recently. The event, called Pahan Tharuwa (meaning 'a ray of hope), was designed to share the festive spirit with children from the war ravaged North and East of Sri Lanka, and other parts of the island.

Two decades of turmoil and turbulence have taken their toll on scores of families, in the country, many of whom lack the ability to offer their children a Merry Christmas. Approaching this festive season in a climate of peace and optimism, the MJF Charitable Foundation endeavours to bring a smile to the faces of these children, even briefly.

The event was held at the Sathutu Uyana playground at Vihara Maha Devi Park with the generous assistance of Mayor of Colombo Prasanna Guanwardena.

Ranging from five to sixteen years of age, the children arrived from distant locations from the drought affected South East to the conflict hit areas of the North and East of Sri Lanka. Dr. Hiranthi Wijemanne of UNICEF assisted in the selection process and the children were representative of all the country's major ethnic backgrounds: Muslim, Tamil and Sinhalese. They included orphaned, abandoned, disabled, abused and mentally ill children from a number of child care institutions across the country.

The children were transported to Colombo by the MJF Foundation and for one day, pampered with the joys that so many children taken for granted: food and drink in abundance, variety entertainment from puppet shows to music, and Santa Claus who presented gifts to each child.

Santa made his appearance on the Sathutu Uyana 'train' and was 'mobbed' by an overjoyed horde of children, many of whom had never before seen this icon of Christmas except in pictures.

In line with the Foundation's objective of making every charitable effort as impactful as possible, most of Santa's gifts were educational in nature - bags, pens, exercise books, instrument boxes, caps and shirts - to assist the children in their preparations for the new term commencing in January.

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