By Alagie Manneh
The Turkish power production company, Karpowership, has donated US$6,500 to the Imam Malick Qur’anic Memorisation Centre and Study of Islamic Doctrines, and US$1,500 equivalent to D150,000 to the Gambia Maritime Association (GMA).
Speaking during the presentation ceremony at Karpowership head offices in Fajara yesterday afternoon, Yankuba Mamburay, the country manager, said US$5,000 was given out in cash and US$1,500 in rice and cooking oil to the Islamic centre and orphanage and D150,000 to the Gambia Maritime Association (GMA).
The donation was part of the company’s corporate social responsibility. He said the donation was to help the Islamic school and orphanage, which has lost many of its pedagogical instructors since the start of the pandemic.
“This will help the school to pay its teachers and procure provisions and other teaching materials needed for the school,” the country manager said.
Mr Mamburay said US$1,500 donated to the GMA is for the construction of a jetty for the canoes that ply the Banjul-Barra crossing.
He lamented the inconvenience passengers in the canoes encounter when they are boarding or disembarking.
“The GMA approached us and we are happy to support with cash and our engineers onboard our ship which is anchored nearby will help with the construction,” he said.
Mr Mamburay detailed the assistance given by his company since it started operations in the country in 2018. These included procuring ventilators for the country at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, upgrading and expanding the Brikama library, providing foods and other nutritious needs to schools, orphanages and needy people as far as Lower River and North Bank regions, helping fisher-folk at the Banjul seafront, refurbishing waterworks at the
children’s wing at Banjul’s main referral hospital, sponsoring events organised by the National Environment Agency and so forth.
The head of Imam Malick Qur’anic Memorisation Centre and Study of Islamic Doctrines, Imam Omar Bojang, thanked Karpowership and said the donation was living up to the Qur’anic injunction that believer shall never attain true piety unless they spend on others out of what they cherished for themselves and that whatever one spends, Allah verily has full knowledge of it.
He said the Sukuta-based Islamic school has at least 382 pupils from The Gambia, Guinea and Senegal.
A representative of GMA, Mr Abass Saidykhan, said the generosity demonstrated by Karpowership will go down in history. He called on other maritime institutions to follow in the footsteps of Karpowership.
A community leader of Sukuta, Ousman Muhammed Cham, thanked Karpowership on behalf of the school and on behalf of the people of Sukuta.
Karpowership is currently operating 22 power ships around the world with an installed capacity exceeding 3,500MW.
