Children of Thotalanga Celebrate World Water Day

On the 26^nd of March 2008, the Children’s Sector in collaboration with the Water and Sanitation Project, conducted a series of Art Competitions in several different children’s clubs located in and around Colombo. One such competition was held at Thotalanga – Mattakkuliya.

This program was conducted to commemorate International World Water Day celebrated worldwide. 45 children ranging from 4 to 17 years of age took part in this competition. The main focus of the World Water Day is to draw attention to the problem of more than 1 billion people worldwide that lack access to clean and safe drinking water.

The children were placed in three different age categories. The competition began after a small introduction on the theme:“Safe Water and Proper Sanitation – Building Healthy Kids and Wealthy Communities”.

The majority of people living in the Thotalanga area are Tamils but most of the children speak both Tamil as well as Sinhala. The community here live in extreme poverty, so much so that parents withhold their children from going to school and instead send the children to work to supplement their income.

The day came to a close with all 45 children receiving certificates of participation. Three winners have been identified to receive cash prizes which will be presented on a later date.