Zoomlion Foundation donates to 3 institutions
Zoomlion Foundation, the corporate social responsibility wing of waste management company, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, yesterday made a donation of items and cash totaling GH¢30,000 to three needy establishments and individuals in the country.
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One of them is the Akropong School for the Blind in the Akwapim South District of the Eastern Region where students totaling about 400 were presented with items worth GH¢2,000 and a cheque for GH¢2,000.
Last year, the school also benefitted from a fumigation exercise that was carried out by the foundation to rid the dormitories of bed bugs.
The institution that benefitted the most was the Renal Dialysis Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra where four patients (two children, an elderly woman and male youth) were sponsored with GH¢5,000 each to enable them undergo dialysis treatment.
A third institution, the Drug and Alcohol Free Rehabilitation Centre (DAFAREC), also received a GH¢6,000 including GH¢2,000 worth of provisions for inmates at the centre.
The Programme Officer of Zoomlion Foundation, Mr Thomas Narh Korley, said the donations, which was the first made this year by the foundation, were made as part of the Jospong Group of Companies and Zoomlion Ghana’s annual donations to institutions in Ghana.
“Last year, Zoomlion celebrated its 10th year anniversary and as part of activities marking the celebration, we are making a lot of donations to institutions,” he said.
Mr Korley said the foundation would also support other schools in need, especially with sanitation facilities and sponsor brilliant needy students with their education.
Overjoyed students
The presentation to the Akropong School of the Blind was preceded with a worship session by the students and it was both gripping and very touching to see visually impaired students playing with dexterity on the instruments and leading in worship songs with verve.
An adult student, Ms Angela Hagan, thanked the foundation for the donation and said “like Oliver Twist we ask for more.”
The Headmistress of the school, Mrs Mahela Narh, who received the items, said the donation was very timely and would go a long way to support them, as school had just reopened and they were yet to receive their support from the government.
Challenges
“We have a lot of challenges and the government alone cannot do it. Some of the children come to school with nothing. There was a case where a student came to school with the sister who asked her to accompany her to the gate.
“When they got there, the sister asked her to remove the slippers she was wearing and she came back barefooted because they know that when they come to school, we cannot afford to see them walk barefooted and they will be given another one,” she said, adding that there were several instances such as that which called for assistance for the special school.
Mrs Narh listed other challenges of the school as a leaking gas stove which made cooking difficult for the students and would cost GH¢3,500 to repair, as well as the absence of adequate security for the visually impaired students because some members of the public used the school as a thoroughfare.
She said some thieves had taken advantage of the situation and had broken into offices, dormitories and staff bungalows twice during the day.
Dialysis unit
The Deputy Director of Nursing Services at the Renal Dialysis Unit, Mrs Margaret Gyemfa Acheampong expressed her appreciation to the foundation after she received a dummy cheque on behalf of the four beneficiaries.
They were named as Madam Quartey, Mr Kwaku Kwarteng Amaning, Latifa Yakubu and Jessica Danso.
Mrs Acheampong said the unit was currently treating about 300 patients of chronic kidney infections (renal failure) and received a maximum of 77 new cases every day.
Averagely, a patient required to report three times in a week for treatment would pay GH¢720, while a patient required to report twice in a week would pay GH¢520, she told the Daily Graphic.
Mr Korley said the selection of the four patients was done by the Dialysis Unit based on the patients they viewed as those in the direst need after the unit presented a request to the foundation last year.
DAFAREC
The donation to DAFAREC was given to support the upkeep of inmates currently undergoing rehabilitation from drug addiction. According to the Director of the centre, Mr Emmanuel Agyepong, it currently houses 25 inmates who are clothed and fed on donations from the public.
