Army organises sports activities for orphan children in Srinagar

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], November 19 : Indian Army on Wednesday organised sports activities at Army Public School in Srinagar for children from 50 orphanages across Kashmir and distributed warm clothes to them ahead of the winter season.
Praveen Kumar, Commanding Officer (CO) of 20 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) said children were confined to their orphanages due to COVID-19 for the most part of the year and they were called for fun exercise.
"We distributed the warm clothes to these children last year too, but this year we decided to call them here for this fun exercise. Due to COVID-19, for the most part of the year, they have been confined to their orphanages, so we thought it'll be a good exercise for them," he said.
He said Army has provided these children with warm clothes for the winter ahead.
"We also plan to take them to Gulmarg for a gondola ride. The aim is to expose these children to the world at large. We want to give them an experience of normal life," he said.
The management, teachers, and students of orphanages thanked the Army for the programmes and requested them to organise such activities more often.
"We enjoyed it a lot. The Army did wonderful arrangements for us and we played a lot of games. We even won prizes. We hope that they'll organise more such programmes for us," said Muzammil Ahmed, a student.
Abdul Ahmed Sheikh, a teacher, said that such events if organised more often, will inspire the children to join the Army and get the much-needed exposure they cannot afford otherwise.
"I'm thankful to the army officers for calling our children here. These children are orphans and poor. They can't afford to participate in such events on their own. This event has boosted their morale. This has also inspired them and maybe they'll be inspired to join the Army in the future. Programmes like this should be organised more often," said Sheikh.