By Amin Kef Sesay
As the fight against Covid-19 requires every effort by the citizenry and other organizations, Meya Mining Ltd, which is operating in four Chiefdoms in Kono district, on June 8th 2020, at a ceremony held at the UMC Girls Secondary School Resettlement facility, Koidu City, provided the District COVID-19 Emergency Response Centre (DECOVERC) of Kono some food and non-food items, among which were: bags of rice, gallons of Cooking oil, Palm oil, bags of Onions, cartons of Maggie, bags of Sugar, Baby food, Milk and bundles of Packet drinking water plus one handwashing station designed by Meya engineering department, as part of their effort to support the government of Sierra Leone in the fight against the pandemic in the district.
During the presentation, the Stakeholder Relations Manager of Meya Mining Ltd., Catherine Finda Greenwood, maintained that this is a war and fighting it demands extraordinary effort by all and sundry, either by way of financial support or simply following medical instructions, which include the washing of hands, wearing of facial mask and social distancing, She recognized the efforts been made by the different organizations in the district in containing this crisis, and applauded the pillar heads and team of DECOVERC Kono for their efforts, and also the community stakeholders from Meya’s operational areas, for their support and involvement in the fight against the disease in their respective communities.
In receiving the assorted food items, the DECOVERC coordinator, Shar Samuel Sam expressed appreciation on his behalf and his team’s and thanked Meya for such humanitarian and timely gesture, he said the donation came in at the right time when they are wrought with many challenges of providing a three-course meal for the many quarantine centers and homes around the district and further appealed for more support from Meya. Commenting on the handwashing stations, he said that it is the best and sustainable type he has seen in the district. He described the donation as a lifesaver donation and promised to utilize the food items for its intended purposes.
Expressing appreciation for the gesture by Meya, the Town Chief, Saffia Doe of Kokoeyima town, thanked the company for their support, as this, he said, is not the first time the company has been making such donations. Similar compliments were made by Councilor Moro of constituency 079, Nimikoro Chiefdom, who also called on the people of Kono District to support Meya Mining in their operations.
Demonstrating the operations of the handwashing Station, Madam Catherine said Meya Mining, through its corporate social responsibility program also values the importance of human security and has deemed it necessary to fully adopt the handwashing hygiene practices as a sustainable project worthy of emulation post-COVID-19. Adopting the hygiene practices, she said, is of utmost importance to Meya, as it enhances the wellbeing of the community. She donated the first 210-liter handwashing station, complete with a 1.5-liter liquid soap dispenser designed by the company’s engineering department to the DECOVERC Kono and assured them of Meya’s continued support to the district beyond Covid-19.
After the demonstration of the handwashing process and the operation of the handwashing station, the manager handed over the handwashing station to the coordinator and disclosed that 10 more will be donated to the center and an additional 40 drums will be positioned at different locations, in collaboration with the stakeholders, MDA’s and the two councils across the Koidu Municipality.
Speaking on the sustainability of the project, she said that coordinates of the various distribution points will be captured and stored in a map database for ease of reference and delivery schedule and Meya will be supplying the drums with clean treated water from Meya water points, stressing that the water that will be supplied by the company for use, is recommended for handwashing ONLY and NOT for drinking.
