King George VI Home, home for the aged at Grafton in Freetown, has received food items from Sama Foundation. Mrs Joyce Sesay, the home administrator, appreciated the foundation members while giving historical background of her institution.
She commenced by saying that, King George VI Home is the only residential institution in Freetown adding that before the war it was situated close to the Kissy terminal close to the Independence Secondary School.
The home, she went on, was relocated to Grafton community after the war.
“It is King George’s Home and not paupers’ home. Because some people perceived the home as a place for the destitute,” She said adding that some people take their old relatives there for care owing to busy schedules.
Once in the home with their peers, she said, they would have fun, eat and play together as colleagues, and will also be encouraged to walk around the compound as a form of exercise to keep them fit.
“We feed them three times a day,” Joyce informed the benefactors.
The King George VI Home is under the Ministry of Social Welfare but they depend mainly on donor support to keep the home up and running.
“We are kindly appealing to you people to please find us partners who will give us more support to take care of the aged which is a blessing,” she appealed.
Government, she says, is doing its best to support the home but, cannot fully satisfy 48 residents (twenty-four males and twenty four females).
“We appreciate the items and the bond between Sama Foundation and King George VI home is a marriage and we want the relationship to continue. We also hope for more support from the Foundation,” she further appealed.
Amadu Rappel Kamara, ambassador of the Sama Foundation said they were caretakers of the foundation and the founder delegate’s responsibilities to staff.
Mr Kamara prayed that the home received aid from other philanthropists and Sierra Leoneans at large in order to maintain standards.
Vivian, a former soldier of the Republic of Sierra Leone Army Forces (RSLAF) commended the foundation for such a wonderful donation.
He said it was not an engagement but a marriage between the foundation and the home as Mrs Sesay initially said.
He appealed to the foundation not to relent in supporting them and should also help to establish partners in the diaspora which will enhance more support for the home.
CREDIT: Sheku Sackoh Turay