Scores of chil­dren in the re­mote vil­lage of Matu­ra got some much-need­ed cheer on Christ­mas Day.

Adults were seen lit­er­al­ly shed­ding tears of joy and re­lief as they were pre­sent­ed with ham­pers and toys for their chil­dren by He­mant Ma­haraj, of Ko­rea Vil­lage, Cara­pichaima, through his M&C Out­reach pro­gramme.

Ma­haraj’s daugh­ter, Chelsea, said they de­cid­ed to vis­it the area af­ter they heard of the plight of vil­lagers there from a fam­i­ly friend.

“It is a very poor area in Matu­ra. The small vil­lage con­sists of about 50 to 75 chil­dren. We went there af­ter hear­ing from my dad’s friend that the chil­dren there are al­ways for­got­ten,” she said.

“When we were there the chil­dren were most elat­ed and thank­ful to re­ceive the ham­pers and gifts. For us, it is all about spread­ing the joy of giv­ing to the peo­ple that re­al­ly do need and de­serve a hap­py Christ­mas.”