By Adama Makasuba
Canadian-Gambian Youth Association through support from Christ and His Family, who are Canadian, has donated wheelchairs and computers worth D1.6 million to the disable community.
The group also donated mattresses and clothes to Tanka Tanka Psychiatry Hospital that harboured mentally challenged people at Salaji Estate.
Speaking to reporters, Lamin Conteh, Public Relation Officer for Canadian-Gambian Youth Association, said: “these wheelchairs are for our brothers and sisters here in The Gambia. We have received these wheelchairs and we are doing this presentation today; the gentlemen and ladies are here; they have received these wheel chairs for free. Nobody for it, it is free and everybody is happy, because if you give a wheelchair to somebody is like you give a leg to that person, their lives will change.”
Alagie Jarju, executive director of the National Youth Council, thanked the association for the donation and promised to distribute the materials to the intended people across the country.
“Knowing well that the demand for wheel chairs in this country and most of those in need are certainly are our very own young people. We know our useful the computers are in our learning schools,” he said.
“We thought it important that we should be able to collaborate with them as Gambians in Canada supporting back home, we should be able to collaborate with them and ensure that the materials reach the intended beneficiaries, they are not for sale but to be given out to those who deserved it,” he added.
“We have lots of people at home who want to move out to go to work and do some other business but they cannot move out because they do not have the facilities like the wheelchairs to move, so it becomes a burden to their families and themselves. But if they have these wheelchairs, they can do a lot for themselves. So, for us as a council, we are really happy to work with them and we want to promise them strongly, while assuring the donors that the materials will definitely be put into good use for the intended purpose,” he assured the donors.
Meanwhile, Muhammed Jallow, beneficiary of the wheelchair, expressed happiness for the donation and thanked Christ and his family and the Gambian community in Canada for the support.
“I am very happy today because without wheelchair we cannot move out to do our jobs, so these wheel chairs will really help us,” he said.
