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FOROYAA Online - 2.4 Million Dalasi Nursery School for Deaf Children Inaugurated - National News - Newspaper
The Brikama Branch of the Gambia Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (GADHOH) has recently inaugurated a newly constructed Nursery School supported by two Netherlands based organizations, namely Foundation Buganala and the Friends of Effatha.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony held at the school ground, Madam Bintou Cham, the Honorary Mother of GADHOH-Brikama Branch, thanked the donors for what she described as a noble gesture.
Madam Cham said the day is a special and historic one and that it was not by accident that a school for the deaf and hard of hearing is built for the people of Brikama and its environs. She said it is rather the love of humanity that motivated the Lions Club Balk Tusken Mar on Klif of Netherlands to sponsor the construction of the school for deaf children in Brikama. This project, she said, is part of the decentralization efforts of GADHOH to cover the whole country.
According to Madam Cham, one of the problems that our world, including Africa and the Gambia, suffers is mind poverty.
“No matter how materially rich we are, as long as we remain mind poor, we will remain to be totally poor” she said.
She also described illiteracy as the greatest friend of poverty and stressed the need for efforts to be made educate and empower people to overcome poverty..
For her part, Madam Marie KC Ijsendoom, the chairperson of Foundation Buganala, noted the importance of the date, 11-11 or 11 November, as a special day for GADHOH and also equally a special date in the Netherlands.
Madam Ijsendom narrated the history behind why this date is important to both the event and her country. She explained that many years ago, in the year 316, a baby boy was born and was named Maarten; that he grew up as a clever boy and clever man with great social feelings and positive behavior; that on a very cold winter days he would tore his own coat into two to clad a poor old man who is sitting out in the snow without putting any heavy or protective clothing. She said this Maarten was always very concerned about the poor children and that as a philanthropist he was always giving out vegetables, bread etc to the neediest in society. This philantropist Maarten, she said, died on the 11 November, 397. She said the Lions Club Balk Tusken Mar en Klif of The Netherlands financed the construction of the buildings and that her organization, Foundation Baganala, was coordinating the project. S
he thanked the staff of Brikama GADHOH branch for their support and commitment.
Mr. Karamo Sanyang, chairman of GADHOH Brikama Branch and also the Headmaster of the School, disclosed that the school was constructed at the tune of 2.4 million dalasi.
He said the school is the first of such facility for disable children in the region and then called on parents of children with the disabilities of being deaf and hard of hearing to send them to the school.
Mr. Sanyang emphasized that disability does not mean inability and that disable children normally lose only one of their senses while the others remain. The Headmaster dismissed as unfounded the notion being harboured by some parents that spending on their disable children is a waste.
He said the school has 3 classrooms and an office, with the necessary teaching materials and furniture, six toilets and there is electricity and water connection. He added that the community around the school can even benefit from the opportunity to access electricity and water through NAWEC.
Mr. Sanyang also called on the government, the private sector, NGOs and other philanthropists to also give support to the school. He described as one of their biggest challenge the lack of a vehicle or van to be transporting the students from their homes to school and back.He thanked the donors, the Brikama Area Council, the governor’s office and the community for their usual support.
The occasion was graced by the governor of the region, the imam of Brikama, parents, community elders, staff and pupil’s of the school.
The Brikama Branch of the Gambia Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (GADHOH) has recently inaugurated a newly constructed Nursery School supported by two Netherlands based organizations, namely Foundation Buganala and the Friends of Effatha.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony held at the school ground, Madam Bintou Cham, the Honorary Mother of GADHOH-Brikama Branch, thanked the donors for what she described as a noble gesture.
Madam Cham said the day is a special and historic one and that it was not by accident that a school for the deaf and hard of hearing is built for the people of Brikama and its environs. She said it is rather the love of humanity that motivated the Lions Club Balk Tusken Mar on Klif of Netherlands to sponsor the construction of the school for deaf children in Brikama. This project, she said, is part of the decentralization efforts of GADHOH to cover the whole country.
According to Madam Cham, one of the problems that our world, including Africa and the Gambia, suffers is mind poverty.
“No matter how materially rich we are, as long as we remain mind poor, we will remain to be totally poor” she said.
She also described illiteracy as the greatest friend of poverty and stressed the need for efforts to be made educate and empower people to overcome poverty..
For her part, Madam Marie KC Ijsendoom, the chairperson of Foundation Buganala, noted the importance of the date, 11-11 or 11 November, as a special day for GADHOH and also equally a special date in the Netherlands.
Madam Ijsendom narrated the history behind why this date is important to both the event and her country. She explained that many years ago, in the year 316, a baby boy was born and was named Maarten; that he grew up as a clever boy and clever man with great social feelings and positive behavior; that on a very cold winter days he would tore his own coat into two to clad a poor old man who is sitting out in the snow without putting any heavy or protective clothing. She said this Maarten was always very concerned about the poor children and that as a philanthropist he was always giving out vegetables, bread etc to the neediest in society. This philantropist Maarten, she said, died on the 11 November, 397. She said the Lions Club Balk Tusken Mar en Klif of The Netherlands financed the construction of the buildings and that her organization, Foundation Baganala, was coordinating the project. S
he thanked the staff of Brikama GADHOH branch for their support and commitment.
Mr. Karamo Sanyang, chairman of GADHOH Brikama Branch and also the Headmaster of the School, disclosed that the school was constructed at the tune of 2.4 million dalasi.
He said the school is the first of such facility for disable children in the region and then called on parents of children with the disabilities of being deaf and hard of hearing to send them to the school.
Mr. Sanyang emphasized that disability does not mean inability and that disable children normally lose only one of their senses while the others remain. The Headmaster dismissed as unfounded the notion being harboured by some parents that spending on their disable children is a waste.
He said the school has 3 classrooms and an office, with the necessary teaching materials and furniture, six toilets and there is electricity and water connection. He added that the community around the school can even benefit from the opportunity to access electricity and water through NAWEC.
Mr. Sanyang also called on the government, the private sector, NGOs and other philanthropists to also give support to the school. He described as one of their biggest challenge the lack of a vehicle or van to be transporting the students from their homes to school and back.He thanked the donors, the Brikama Area Council, the governor’s office and the community for their usual support.
The occasion was graced by the governor of the region, the imam of Brikama, parents, community elders, staff and pupil’s of the school.