By Amin Kef Sesay
In order to support education & community development in the country, the Chairman of the Adonis Abboud Trust Fund, Dr. Adonis Abboud has on 11thNovember, 2020 unveiled two donated satellite Television Systems, which is a complete system with six (6) months full subscription with flat Screen 32 inches Television sets, to two educational institutions at Pendembu in the Kailahun District.
In his address during the launch, Dr. Adonis Abboud stated that when satellite television first hit the market in 1986, the home dishes used were expensive metal units that took up a huge chunk of yard space and that in those early years, only the most die-hard television fans would go through all the hassle and expense of owning their own dishes, also adding that Sierra Leone pioneered Satellite TV in West Africa through their organization furthering that FBC was the first University in West Africa to enjoy Satellite TV which they donated in 1990 at the Mary Kingsley Amphitheatre.
He noted that presently the story is different as compact satellite dishes are perched on rooftops in virtually all major cities and towns as well as some parts of our rural areas.
Dr. Adonis Abboud stated that early Satellite TV viewers were explorers of sorts as they used their expensive dishes to discover unique programming that was not necessarily intended for mass audiences, adding that the dishes and receiving equipment gave viewers the tools to pick up foreign stations, live feeds between different broadcast stations, American space activities and a lot of other stuff transmitted using satellite.
He revealed we are not only in the internet age which has turned the world into a global village but also in a digital age where anything and everything is possible, real or imagined, in order to ensure that what is going on anywhere in the world is brought immediately via satellite transmission and without even having a dish, some can afford data on their mobile phones to keep in touch with events elsewhere.
“A good example is the current global COVID-19 pandemic which has been a major problem for the world. It has forced developed countries to rely on technology to provide education on-line for students right in their living rooms. As I speak, virtual classes are now a common feature of the lives of students abroad. While this is taken for granted in the developed world, developing countries like ours are still struggling to make the provisions of such facilities, including the satellite connection for easy accessibility nationwide,” he pointed out.
Dr. Adonis Abboud revealed that although Sierra Leone is still a long way from achieving that level of virtual education because of limited infrastructure, it is his pleasure to be in the fore front of the crusade by the current Government to expose students more to the powerful instrument of technology that links the world that is taken for granted elsewhere.
He added that the provision of these satellite television systems is one way of making sure that it is not only those who are rich that have the opportunity of listening to and watching whatever is happening in the world underscoring how it is a step towards ensuring that everyone can see for themselves what is going on in the world.
The Chairman urged all to take the opportunity to widen their vision and understanding so that they will know what is good from what is bad and that they should not allow themselves to be manipulated and used as tools and fodder in someone else’s agenda.
He commended the Government for its concerted efforts in improving the educational rot further urging for the intensification of its efforts at strengthening policies and investments that will further harness the massive potentials of the young people.
Dr. Abboud added that there is an urgent need for the education curriculum to be reviewed to reflect contemporary realities that would assist students and youths to contribute more meaningfully to national development by unleashing their potentials under an enabling environment and today’s technological opportunities.
“There is a serious cry today to embark on a national psycho-sociological project to re-energize and save the eroding mind-set of many of our youths who are currently addicted to internet scams and other unsavory behaviors as the only way to progress and indeed their last hope in life,” he enjoined.
Dr. Adonis Abboud said it is against such an unrestrained chronic youth-centred negative thinking and attitudes that he pray that their direct exposure to a more global outlook, presented by this satellite television system, will help counter and in its place instill the value of patriotism, national service, self-discipline and honesty.
The event was climaxed with the appointment of the Chairman Adonis Abboud Trust Fund, Dr. Adonis Abboud as an Honorary Paramount Chief of Upper Bambara Chiefdom, Kailahun District. This development came after the Paramount Chief consulted with the Council of Chiefs and decided to reward him for his historical contributions to Sierra Leone and Sierra Leoneans in the fields of education, health care and community development of which the official crowning ceremony is slated to take place on the 6th February 2021.
