The launching on Thursday was graced by the community members, religious figures and the leadership of the centre. Also in attendance were the Karpowership Africa Director Emre Durmuşoğlu and Country Manager Omar A.B. Njie and other member of their staff.
Emre Durmuşoğlu, the country director, gave very brief remarks which displayed satisfaction over the edifice built. He thanked the country manager and team for the tremendous effort.
Mr Njie, for his part, underscored that the worldwide slogan of Karpowership is powering lives. He said they do this not only by providing energy but also giving back to communities "And today, I believe we have powered the lives of this orphanage center by renovating the place."
As he delved into the genesis of the initaive, he relayed: "This place is so dear to me. When we approached the center here last year, they had a disaster. They had a very bad disaster. Thank God, fortunately, there were no loss of lives, but there was a fire that happened to this place. They lost all their belongings. They lost all their beds and were sleeping on the floor. As you can see from some of the pictures - they say pictures and videos don't lie - it was a very terrible situation at that time."
"So when we came, as part of our corporate social responsibilities, because this is what we do all over, and it was at a period that our management decided that we should focus on building up orphanage centers like this. At that time, it was carried out in other West African countries. So we had to select this one to uplift their life, to power up their life, to give them courage, to give them happiness, to give them life. We decided to pick up this center from the pieces where it was before, and at least bring it up and put life into it, to where it is now today.
Mr Njie described the occasion as an auspicious one, as it comes in the post departure of their powership. He noted that while the powership has departed, Karpowership as an entity remains in the country meanwhile and focusing on "serving the good people of The Gambia".
Meanwhile, he also spoke about a potential project with government, if talks turn out fruitful.
"So coming here today to launch this in the post-departure of the powership is a corporate social responsibility that we promised to deliver, and we delivered it to the best of our ability. We are here to launch it today, and I hope there will be many more of this kind of launching to come in the future for the good people of The Gambia," he finalised.
Abdoulie Cham, speaking on behalf of the Imam heading the centre, extended immense gratitude, saying Karpowership has lifted them "from zero to a million percent".
"Seeing this institution few years ago and today, it is like day and night. We used to feel very ashamed for people to come and see us in such conditions," he said, adding that things have drastically changed now, and they are proud of the comfortable condition of the place today.
He pointed toward the bright faces of the students, crediting it to the generosity of Karpowership. "We cannot reward you, but that reward is from the Almighty God, and we would pray to Allah to reward you.
