Press Release
U.S. Embassy Celebrates International Children’s Day
Colombo, October 15, 2008: The U.S. Embassy in Colombo hosted 100 children to celebrate International Children’s Day on October 1. For this one-day program, the Embassy hosted 60 students from the Eastern Province and 40 young people from the Puttalam district.
Employees from Room to Read conducted storytelling classes and communication and reading skills workshops in Sinhala and Tamil for the children. The Sri Lanka Army transported the 60 students from the Eastern Province to Colombo for a three-day cultural and educational visit to the capital. The 40 students from the Puttalam district are participants in Room to Read’s “bridging program”—an initiative to provide unschooled youth with the necessary skills to join mainstream classrooms. Ambassador Blake commented, “The Embassy is proud to support this valuable program and we applaud efforts by the Sri Lanka Army and Room to Read to provide opportunities such as these for young people in Sri Lanka.”