Insee Cement building brighter futures for school children in Wanathawilluwa and Puttalam
Uplifting the lives of children is a priceless contribution to the nation’s future. Insee Cement has always played an important role in grooming our children to become valuable, responsible citizens when they grow up.
On October 4, World Children’s Day this year, Sri Lanka’s foremost producer of cement, paved the way to a brighter future for the children of Wanathawilluwa and Puttalam by conducting programmes designed to inspire them to lead healthy lifestyles.
Speaking at the event, Insee Cement Lanka Chief Executive Officer Nandana Ekanayake said: “We take pride in having enriched the lives of the communities in Puttalam and Aruakkalu for over three decades. We maintain the Sanstha Cement Preschool in Eluwankulam and provide transport facilities for children in remote villages to get to school every day. We also maintain Medical Centre facilities for the communities in the area to make their lives safer and many more. We have touched the lives of hundreds of villagers every month, going beyond the business to support our people-in-need. As a responsible Corporate citizen, we are committed to developing the local communities in where we operate with the promise to, building brighter futures.”
In Wanathawilluwa, Insee Cement partnered with the Divisional Secretariat and Samurdhi Development in the area to reach out to the children in an engaging way. 400 children in eight schools benefited from the programme aptly titled ‘Hodama-de Lamayanta’ (Best for kids). The event, held at the Divisional S e c r e t a r i a t , Wa n a t h a w i l l u w a , pivoted around a debate on the topic of whether prevention of drug and alcohol abuse is the responsibility of the community or the government. The top two finalists that emerged were Bandaranayakapura Maha Vidyalaya and Mailankulama Maha Vidyalaya. The day’s programme also included creating awareness on nutrition, psychology and other relevant topics. The awareness programme on prevention of drug abuse is held in response to requests from the Community Advisory Panel to educate 14 to 18-year-old children across the country on the danger of illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco.
In Puttalam, the Children’s Day was celebrated differently with Insee Cement commissioning its Reverse Osmosis water treatment plant that would provide the children attending Medhanandaya Kanishta Vidyalaya located opposite the cement plant with clean drinking water. The Insee team participating in the event at the school included Chief Executive Officer Nandana Ekanayake, Cement Industrial Performance Director Aridavid Lozano Estrada, Organisation and Human Resources Director Prasad Piyadigama and few more officials together with Assistant Director of Education at Zonal Education Office Puttalam Isuru Jayasundara, who were enthusiastically greeted by the school children with a song and dance performance.
The School Principal Sarath Bandara said: “We have produced the best results in the Puttalam District and will soon be expanding the classes up to Advanced Level. We greatly appreciate the endeavours of Insee Cement to uplift our school. In fact, Insee staff members are our close friends. They are always ready to help to develop the school.”
He further added: “One day they visited us when I was warning our children about the danger of drinking tap water. The water here contains hard particles and CACO3 (Calcium Carbonate) that affects the kidney. Because of the dry, warm climate in Puttalam, our children drink water all the time. The Insee team soon supported us by providing the RO (Reverse Osmosis) water treatment plant and we are forever thankful to the Insee team for this good deed. It is very rare that a good company is also a ‘good human being.’ The people at Insee are different. They have the best qualities of a human being.”
Plant Manager Chinthaka Thuduwewatta said: “We are pleased to contribute to a much improved, healthier lifestyle for the children who now have clean drinking water which is an important necessity in the area. And we can see how much this means to the school children and the teachers.”
The Children’s Day activities are part of Insee Cement’s extensive, on-going corporate social responsibility endeavours in and around the areas the company operates such as Galle, Puttalam and Aruakkalu.