Addressing parents and guardians who turned up to receive books, set boxes, rulers, crayons, pens and pencils on behalf of their children, a member of board of trustees who doubles as the program chairman, Kebba K Barrow said:
“Afnow is a registered charitable foundation mandated to ensure the welfare of orphans, widows and the needy .This organisation was initiated in 2003 with the ultimate aim of supporting the needy, widows and orphans of all kind. It is generally funded by its members and philanthropists. We have recently concluded the summer studies and we are here today to witness another distribution of learning materials to our sponsored students which we believe will help them in the coming academic year,” he asserted.
Also speaking on the occasion, the coordinator of Afnow ,Buba Janneh, thanked the general members, the board and the donors for their support .
“You have all contributed immensely to the success of this programme. I is your responsibility to give educational support to the orphans and needy students. Giving out learning materials to the orphans at the beginning of every academic year is one of our responsibilities. This will equip them well for the academic year 2014/15. We also organise summer classes, distribute used clothing and organise seminars among others. The foundation is limiting its operations to Gunjur because of lack of adequate financial resources but we will expand our coverage to other places if the funds are available”, he promised.
Afnow welfare officer, Lamin Jatta in his key note address urged parents and guardians to help their children study at home for achievement of satisfactory academic result.
“You should submit the result slips of your children any time we ask for it as it will help us in tracking their progress. In as much as we help these children in many ways, we would like you the parents also to help them read at home as the continuity of their sponsorship depends on their performance. We cannot sponsor a child for many years without producing anything because there are lots of orphans who are on the waiting list, so we will replace them with the others if your child does not make the best use of the opportunity” Mr. Jatta stressed.
Giving the vote of thanks, Adama Fofana, a widow said:”We are very much grateful to be associated with an organisation like Afnow. They do not only help our children but they help us widows as well. These people don’t stop helping our children but they help us with skills trainings such as soap making, tie-dying, batiks and sewing”.
Other speakers included the chairperson of Afnow Board of Trustees Sandang Bojang and Demba Jobe Touray the Chairperson of Village Development Committee (VDC).
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