The Sai Jewel Convention Hall near Gurunanak Colony teemed with bubbly kids frolicking around on Saturday.
Nearly 1,200-odd children, a mix of students from government-run schools and orphans and destitute children being taken care of by local NGOs, became part of the eventful day that unfolded loads of fun activities for them.
Christened ‘Balakalakaar – Mega Day’, the event was orchestrated by members of the Vijayawada chapter of AIESEC (Association internationale des étudiants en sciences économiques et commerciales) or International Economic and Commercial Sciences Students Association, which has its international office at Rotterdam in Netherlands.
The organisation is active in 116 countries and territories with over 60,000 members across the globe and is said to be world’s largest student-run organisation.
About 10 children from Jattu, a Visakhapatnam-based organisation focussing on welfare of orphan children from tribal communities, entertained the young audience by presenting traditional dance forms of Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi.
After lunch session that turned out to be equally enjoyable in the company of many others of their like, it was time for the mega event of the day – a painting contest for children belonging to the 6-12 age group.
The first prize was bagged by a student of Navajeevan School, second by Aravind High School at Kunchanapalli, and third by SKCV Children’s Trust.
By sheer coincidence, all three winners chose ‘Save Environment’ as their theme.
Besides taking care of the transportation of the children from their respective schools to the venue, the organisers provided them with painting kits, which included pencils, erasers, sketch pens, crayons, and postal colours.
Even while experts were judging the art work of the children to finalise the winners, the children let their hair down and broke into a song and dance sequence.
Local Committee Coordinator M. Siddharth, team leaders P. Vishal, R.Tejo and M. Manish and others like P. Praveena and M. Spandana coordinated the event.