SOME 150 children in Plastic City were feted on Saturday as the Rotaract Club of Georgetown Central (RCG-C) joined hands with the Jewan Ka Nritya (JKN) Dance Company to spread the Christmas cheer in the seaside village.

President of the Rotaract Club, Chricell Whitney told the Guyana Chronicle that the club would usually engage in a charity project for the Christmas season.

Though this is usually done at orphanages or homes for the elderly, the group decided to visit the area after reading about Plastic City in the media.

Plastic City is a little squatter settlement off the Vreed-en-Hoop foreshore and members of the Rotaract group actually walked around the entire community, twice, so that they could ascertain what service would be most impactful and how many children should be catered for.

The children were feted during a fun day during which they were presented gifts in keeping with the spirit of the festive season.

For the Jewan Ka Nritya (JKN) Dance Company, this event was one of the first instances it has gotten involved in charitable work.

“It was a really great experience because they [RCG-C] have been doing charity work all time, and we got to really learn a thing or two from them… seeing how it’s done firsthand makes us know better how we can plan for ourselves,” founder of the company’ Roshini Persaud said.

The group had intended on doing a charity drive on their own for the children, but found out that RCG-C was doing the very same thing, on the very same day, and they agreed to collaborate.

JKN chose this area because it had observed that at a previous drive done in areas closeby, there were lots of children, many of whom needed a little extra Christmas cheer.

“We spoke to some of the families to find out what they really wanted and in fact, they said apart from food hampers and so, they really wanted to have interactions with the children, and have the children more involved in activities and have lessons or classes to help them with their school work,” Persaud said.

As such, the group decided firmly on this Christmas venture to really establish a relationship with the children so that they could embark on the lessons programme.

The lessons, she explained, will seek to provide the children with assistance in Mathematics and English as well as their homework.

Progress in this programme will be monitored after the first three months to ensure it is actually helping the children.

“We’re looking to do it on Sundays, because we usually have dance classes then. So instead of dancing all the time, for maybe about two hours we can work with the children,” Persaud said.

But though the group needs to plan the specifics of the programme, Persaud said a mother in the area has already indicated that she has a blackboard and is willing to lend it.

Many persons within the group have also indicated that they would be willing to volunteer their time and services too, she said.