Be The Sunshine Behind A Child's Smile - Colours 2 Hand in Hand
As told by
Rtr. Hansika Medagedara,
“A little seed, a little care – sunshine and rain, a flower there, A little deed, a little to share – smiles and some tears, a friendship rare”
Our Rotaractors did indeed bring smiles and tears of joy to the innocent hearts of children at the Apeksha Hospital, Maharagama with the “Colours-2” paint session held in collaboration with the “Hand in Hand” project organized by the Rotaract Club of University of Moratuwa.
Cancer being one of the deadliest diseases, a tremendous burden that can weigh down upon even a grown man, causes not only physical incapacities but also much mental and emotional trauma to the victimized as well as their loved ones. Restricted to the boundaries of the hospital walls, childhood has almost been robbed from these victimized children, here at the Apeksha Hospital, Maharagama. This is where “Hand-in-Hand” comes in to play.
“Hand-in-Hand” is one of the largest community projects organized by the Rotaract Club of University of Moratuwa. Its primary focus is to empathize with both the cancer victims and their loved ones, enhancing their lives spent at the ward, causing rays of sunshine to lighten up their souls filled otherwise with fear, loneliness and anxiety, while reaching out to build a brighter future for the residing children.
“Colours-2” is a sub project where 30 Rotaractors visited the Cancer hospital on the 15th of March 2017 to give the children an opportunity to paint their hearts out while collecting these drawings to print Vesak cards as a fund raising project.
“Many of these little ones are not schooling and are very lonely having been confined to the walls of the hospital. Having given a chance to talk and play, their innocent faces lighted up…I also met several chatterboxes…these poor children have no one to talk to other than the inmates and the hospital staf, and some were even more eager to keep on talking with us than to paint.” says Chethana Virajini, one of the Rotaractors who joined this project for the second time.
The visit was not limited to a painting session, there was also a gift exchange that the children enjoyed immensely. “But more than everything what these little ones wanted was to have some new friends to play with and talk to” says another Rotaractor Uththara Jayathilake.
At the end of the day, the Rotaractors had achieved more than what they could wish for, as pretty smiles adorned each little face and left leaving behind not a ward of cancer patients but a room full of rosy cheeked, dimpled children with hearts filled with happiness and a hope about tomorrow.
