Every year at the beginning of January Friends of Prisoners Children organises an event at Welikada Prison, where Prisoners Children and their accomplishments are acknowledged and rewarded. It’s the only day in the year children can freely interact and get to see their parent without any restriction and in non-prison garb.
For many years now, Chandana Ekanayake has been assisting Friends of Prisoners Children in all their activities, and thus gets invited to grace the occasion.
The normal practice in Sri Lanka is that kids worship their elders as a sign of respect.
This year there was a notable difference.
When the Children came up to receive their awards and gifts, we saw Chandana Ekanayake, stopping the kids from worshipping him.
He reached out to them, and each kid was held reassuringly, with encouraging words being shared.
Jani Perera and I noticed this change and we were appreciative of a simple gesture and genuine concern to treat these kids as equals.
In a society which treats those in authority as demi-gods, it is heartening to note that this change came from the very person in authority, and you could see the relief in the kids faces. To treat a child as a fellow human being, is the first step in respecting the child and showing that they need not be subservient to anyone in authority. Others might disagree with me, saying that kids should continue to worship their elders, but in my opinion this simple gesture from a gentleman in authority, speaks volumes for his humility and respect for the child.
Kudos to Chandana and all those good souls who are willing to be the change.
Pictures from 8th January 2023 (courtesy the Prison Photographer,) with the final picture being one I captured 4 years ago which features Mary De Alwis.
