Colombo: Hemas Outreach Foundation’s (HOF) World Down Syndrome Day festivities, an extension of the ‘Eka Se Salakamu’ (Treat All Alike) social movement, took to the clouds with a unique kite festival on Galle Face Green. Working in collaboration with the AYATI National Center for Children with Disabilities, the event was an effort to raise awareness and celebrate children living with Down syndrome.
Celebrated on the 21st of March, World Down Syndrome Day represents an effort to remind people of the boundless potential and resilience of children with the condition. HOF’s festival, featuring 100 kites symbolically designed to represent the extra chromosome in Trisomy 21, sought to bring together children, families, and friends in an active exercise of awareness and acceptance. For Hemas Group, the celebration stands as a singularly important opportunity to unravel misconceptions surrounding the condition and spin them into an occasion to revel in the bravery and joy of every child living with Downs syndrome.
Discussing the event, Shiromi Masakorala, Executive Director of Hemas Outreach Foundation & Ayati Trust Sri Lanka, said, “Our hope for this event is that, not only do the children enjoy a celebration of themselves and each other, but also that people recognise it as shining proof of the unique nature of these children. We mean to demonstrate how efforts such as these are a step in the right direction towards fostering inclusivity, diversity, and empathy. The rest of society must break away from stereotypes to recognise how gifted and full of life these children are.”
Since its launch in 2021 by Hemas Outreach Foundation, together with AYATI, Sri Lanka’s first national centre for children with disabilities, the social movement ‘Eka Se Salakamu’ has become a platform advocating for the rights of children with disabilities. Deeply conscious of the need for inclusivity and the destigmatization of disabilities, the movement has evolved into one of the country’s most proactive groups promoting inclusivity in today’s society and working to develop the latent skills of children living with Down syndrome.
