SOME 42 children from Joshua House Children Centre were treated to a day of fun as several businesses joined the Department of Youth in celebrating Global Good Deeds Day.

Good Deeds Day is an international day of volunteering, observed on April 7. It was first observed in 2007 in Israel. This year, Guyana commemorated the observance for the first time, according to Project Officer from the Department of Youth, Germaine Watson.

“It is an opportunity for persons to recognise the good deeds that persons do on behalf of themselves and on behalf of humanity, and it is an opportunity to show love for humanity,” Watson shared.

The day started off with the children travelling to the Fun Park located at the Ramada Princess Hotel, on the East Bank of Demerara. There, the children were able to enjoy the litany of amusement park rides and attractions for a few hours.

They had a quick lunch break, compliments of popular fast food outlet, Church’s Chicken, to re-energise themselves. Following this, the children were taken to the recently-opened Movietowne – where they ended the day by watching a specially screened kids-friendly movie.

“It’s just our aim of performing a good deed with the aim of bridging communities essentially,” Watson said.

The Joshua House, being just a corner away from the Youth Secretariat, was chosen because the body wanted to start the efforts right in its immediate community. Watson, however, affirmed that the Department of Youth will be looking to extend this initiative to the wider community and make it an annual event.

Volunteer at the children’s centre and a chaperone for the day, Susan Rijkaard, shared with the Guyana Chronicle that the initiative was an especially exciting one for the young children.

“I think that the activity is a good thing because it helps them come out the orphanage and be like the normal regular children because sometimes living in the orphanage is a different perspective than with living with their parents,” she said.

As part of the ‘good deeds’, children at the Bless the Children Home, which is another orphanage located at Industry, East Coast Demerara (ECD), were also treated to a special lunch at Royal Castle.