Bollore Transport and Logistics, a subsidiary of Freetown Terminal, has on Monday September 21, 2020, donated provisions, cooking items and toiletries worth millions of Leones to the King George VI Memorial Home for the aged at Grafton, Freetown.
The home was established after the World War II.
The donation was made as a way of celebrating the company’s yearly Marathon day and in fulfillment of its corporate social responsibility.
According to the Welfare officer of the home, Brendaforde Farmer, the land was handed over to government of Sierra Leone who constructed the home for destitute and desolates.
Farmer added that some people came together to form the Sierra Leone Society for the Welfare of the Aged, and in 2012 the home moved over to Grafton. She continued that the home is not a hospital, but a residence for the aged, and is faced with so many constraints.
She said that the home has no pipe borne water, and the residence is openly planned and does not give privacy to the residents.
She explained that the home is made up of four housing structures, two for male and two for female.
Farmer continued that the home only got electricity in March 2020, and the home needs perimeter fence to save their remaining land from encroachers and for security purpose.
She pleaded with Bollore and other organizations to help them with some projects that need to be done in the home.
Darrel Coker, terminal analyst and marathon ambassador at Bollore, said that in celebrating their yearly Marathon Day which brings workers together to show solidarity, the company identifies local organisations to give donations.
He said that such donations are done to bring smile to the faces of the vulnerable and the less privileged to meet their needs. He also pleaded with Sierra Leoneans to come onboard to offer solutions to problems. Coker said Bollore would definitely not neglect the constraints of the Home.
Country Director of Bollore, Capt. Fabjanko Kokan said Bollore Transport and Logistics is at the home to bring peace, hope, solidarity and love. He said the conference is not a political one but to share with the King George home. “Alone we can do nothing, but together we can change the world,” he said.
Kokan said that anyone could be in the situation of the old people in the home, adding that need their help. He explained that the country needs elderly people to remind us of our root.
According to one of the residents, Vivian Ayodele Dillsworth, the challenges of the home are many, and its management has to go out day by day to fend for them.
He said it is only when people come to their aid and visit them they feel that they are still part of society, and pleaded with people and organizations that are not aware of the home to visit them in the future.
By Isabella Cassell
22/09/2020. ISSUE NO: 7924