The wheelchairs were handed over to Mr. Alasan Badjen, president of the Union Regional De Organization Des Parson Handicapé Ziguinchor
at a handing over ceremony held in Kotu.
Delegates at the ceremony included the association’s Secretary General Yaya Conteh, Sport Director Abdou Manneh, Ndey Hoja Badjan, President Women Disabled Association Ziguinchor, Abdou Sanyang, member, Ebrima Jammeh and Ousman Badjan, as technical staff.
The gesture was made through the assistance of Kriss Dee Demitri and Yuri Roopnarine, a Canadian family with a history of philanthropic endeavours in Africa.
At the presentation ceremony, Alasan Badjen, president of the Ziguinchor Disability Association, commended the Hagie Gai Drammeh Foundation for the Physically Challenged for extending a helping hand to his association despite the fact that the wheelchairs were also needed here in The Gambia.
“This is what true brotherhood is all about, remembering your neighbours, both in good and hard times”, he said.
He acknowledged that the wheelchairs would go a long way in alleviating the hardships faced by the intended beneficiaries back home in the Casamance where wheelchairs are hard to come by.
Presenting the items, Hagie Gai Drammeh, chairman of the Foundation for the Physically Challenged stated that the organisation is relatively young, but it has become a trendsetter in the philanthropic arena here in The Gambia largely due to the high level of integrity and transparency in which the association conducts its affairs, a trait that has endeared it to its partners.
He said this is a policy that the association keeps sacred. “Honesty is key and as far as we are concerned and our integrity is the most important thing for us,” he said.
He thus implored on his Senegalese counterparts to ensure that the donated wheelchairs are given to those most in need of them.
Drammeh also used the occasion to call on all to come forth and forge partnerships with his association and extend a helping hand to the most-needy in the society.
He used the occasion to thank Lamin Conteh, a Gambian-Canada based businessman, who also serves as the Public Relations Officer for the Gambian-Canadian Association, for shipping the wheelchairs to the Gambia at no cost.
