Breathtaking musical evening by the differently abled
by Janani Amarasekara
After each and every item on the agenda, they returned to the
dressing room amidst loud cheers from the audience. Their innocent
smiles and adoring expressions stole the hearts of the spectators. They
were simple and humble and were encouraged by every little appreciation.
They enjoyed every minute on the stage.
 They smiled and guided each other while the performance is going on.
They wanted to show their best in front of those kind men and women.
The differently abled branch of the Sri Lanka Girl Guides’
Association organized the magical event ‘you are very special’, a
concert by the differently abled girl guides and little friends.
These little blooming buds enlightened the Grand Ballroom of Galle
Face Hotel on April 5, 2011.
The concert aimed at collecting funds for the International Indoor
camp for differently abled Girl Guides and little friends, which is
scheduled to be held in August this year.
Out of the 256 Girl Guides and little friends attached to this
branch, many performed at this concert.
Before the concert began, I met some of the performers back stage.
Nadeeka Jeewanthi Samarakoon, an excited young girl with autism was very
keen to share her views.
“I’m an assistant dancing teacher at Ladies College,” she said. She
is presently a student of dancing teacher Miranda Hemalatha.
 Her first dancing teacher had been Daya Nellampitiya. “I was a guide
when I was at Chitra Lane and it helped me a lot to shape my future,”
she explained.
Dhanangi Fernando, another guide with autism, is a Grade 10 student
of Lyceum College. paththare dannayi yanne. Kiyanna meyata oya gana
(Tell her something about you, for the newspaper),” said Nadeeka to her
highly excited friend Dhanangi, who refused to talk.
The guides and little friends from Nuffield School for the Hearing
impaired and sight impaired, Kaithady Jaffna travelled all night to
participate at this concert.
There were six little friends, three guides, and four teachers in the
team. All the children who participated were hearing-impaired. However,
they performed a dance item by following signals of their teachers.
The tragedy is that though we tapped our feet to the music, they did
not hear anything. “It was a hard task to practice these little ones,
still they enjoyed a lot,” said the teacher-in-charge Malini Prince
Devarathnam.
The event started when the western band of the differently abled
guides welcomed the chairperson of the Sunera Foundation, Sunethra
Bandaranaike to the ballroom. After a little presentation, the items
began.
The first item a, Pooja Dance by the Guides of the Supem Uyana Home,
Gonapinuwala, signalled the audience of a breathtaking evening.
Well-practised performers never paused to think about the next step. The
beautiful song by the Guides of the Ratmalana Blind School was one of
the special ones in the programme line up. The teacher who played the
organ was also visually impaired. However, the voices and the music were
superb.
The evening passed by in a flash. These differently abled Guides and
little friends do not need sympathy, they need understanding.
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