Shanthi Foundation's Christmas carol

Demi Hewamanna

It was a nice cozy Saturday evening at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute as little boys and girls from the Shanthi Foundation held a Christmas Carol and drama for their family organized by the Italian Embassy.

Starting off with an Italian song, they lit up the audience's faces with their rhythmic motion in their voices as they performed each song.

Even though I felt that they had little time to be trained to perform, they did a marvelous job in singing the Carols in English, Sinhala and also Italian. Every word they sang in Italian was clear as glass.

After a few songs, they performed a small skit - birth of Jesus Christ. The costumes and everything was simple to the stage with adorable performances by the little sheep and the goats.

As they were finishing with the carols, the moment every child waits for on Christmas day was given to them way before Christmas.

To see the faces that just shone when the bells of Santa Clause ringed along was really amazing to see.

At that moment I felt, that everyone does need a Santa Clause just once a year which could lead to a lifetime of happiness - because that day, the joy of Christmas was really given to those young hearts and really proved how Christmas could change one's life even for a day.

Santa came onto stage, greeting each and every child with a pat on the head. From his bad big red bag he began distributing school bags to all the performers.

This was a charity event that was organized with the help of the Italian embassy, Wattala Leo Club and Rotary Club. The Italian embassy donated Rs 400, 000 that they collected at the Christmas bazaar and also gave a large number of books to the Shanthi Community.

All this was well received by both the audience and the people of Shanthi Community.