AkzoNobel brings joy and colour to SOS Children’s Village in Monaragala this Children’s Day Annual Josephian Christmas Carol Service Celebrates Unity and Hope with Multilingual Melodies

This Children’s Day was a day to remember for the children of SOS Children’s Village in Monaragala as AkzoNobel -producer of Dulux paints in Sri Lankamarked the occasion with a day filled with fun, games, laughter, and plenty of paint.

This year AkzoNobel employee volunteers visited the SOS Monaragala village, and together with the children created a life-size mural to brighten up their community. The children were also given the opportunity to take part in art competitions as well as motivational and mentoring sessions, with music and entertainment bringing in additional good cheer. Each child also received a special gift at the end of the day.

This event -only one of many- serves as testament to the long-standing relationship between the two organisations; a partnership inked in 2019 as part of AkzoNobel’s global Let’s Colour community initiative.

Being a member of the Global YouthCan! network, AkzoNobel works together with SOS Children’s Villages with the aim to use renovation and education to drive a positive impact on youth unemployment. In line with this mission, AkzoNobel offers young people training and practical experience, as well as the opportunity to develop other professional and personal skills. This programme provides participants with both the knowledge and capacity to become highly employable individuals so that, in the long term, they will be able to find respectable and stable employment that in turn will help them make a positive change in their own lives as well as their communities.

As part of the larger goal of creating safe and conducive environments for these children to thrive, this Children’s Day, AkzoNobel ensured that the walls of SOS Children’s Village in Monaragala was filled with colour; a step towards contributing towards their growth and well-being.

“Today was all about bringing smiles to the children’s faces, and hopefully brightening their lives just that little bit more,” said Upendra Gunawardhana, Head of Marketing at AkzoNobel Sri Lanka. “We truly value our partnership with SOS Children’s Villages, and we hope to continue endeavouring together to transform lives of young people for the betterment of themselves and society as a whole.”

“Jesu , Salvator Mundi “. ( Jesus , Savior of the World ) titled the Annual Josephian Christmas carol service was held last Sunday 03 December at 6.15 pm at the Rev. Dr. Stanley Abeysekera Sports Complex cum Auditorium, Colombo 10 with massive participation .

The chief Celebrant , His Loarship , Rt.Rev .Dr. P. Anton Ranjith , The Auxiliary Bishop of Colombo said that giving the meaning of Christmas through peace , harmony and sharing among the current people who are facing various challenges and sufferings.

The Auxiliary Bishop who presented the special Christmas message at the beginning of the Advent season & gave information about the Christmas Universal Declaration released by Holy Father at the end of last October.

In this Christmas carol service, the senior and junior students of the college St. Cecilia’s Choir , the Teachers’ Choir and the Old Joes’ Choir conducted Christmas carols in different languages such as Latin, French , English, Sinhala and Tamil.

Under the patronage of Rev . Fr. Ranjith Andradi, Rector of the college and under the supervision of Rev. Fr. Samesh Anthony, Priest in charge , the Choral Director , Francis de Almeida was directored the Josephian Christmas carols successfully .