By Foday Moriba Conteh
The Deputy Director of Relief and Response at the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), Morlu Brewah on Monday 27th December, 2021 on behalf of the Director General of the National Disaster Management Agency, Lt. General (Rtd.) Brima Bureh Sesay officially launched the Residential Elderly Care Foundation during a well-attended ceremony held at the Joint Communications Unit, Wilberforce Barracks in Freetown.
In his presentation on previous activities undertaken by the Foundation, the Administrative Manager/Founder of Residential Elderly Care Foundation, Karifa Thoronka revealed that the Foundation is a registered grass roots non-profit making Charity Organization established in early 2020 in Freetown with the main objective to care for the old/aged, poor/or weak people at their residents hence the name ‘Residential Elderly Care Foundation’, adding that the Foundation has supported the Aged through the donation of food and non-food items in four different communities around Freetown which include Congo Town, Red Pump, Tengbeh Town and Wilberforce.
The Administrative Manager maintained that the donations were made after conducting a community survey by the Foundation in October 2020 to identify the real beneficiaries and their urgent needs of which most the Aged who were contacted highlighted food items and medical attention as their urgent needs, pointing out that the Foundation has also partnered with the 34 Military Hospital as professional doctors from the 34 Military Hospital support the Aged with medical check-ups and treatment.
He further revealed that on Friday 1st October, 2021 the Residential Elderly Care Foundation,with support from Premium Divine Trading Limited joined the world to commemorate the International Day of Older Persons , furthering that during the commemoration the company (Premium Divine Trading Limited) donated 140 cartons of Miksi chocolate to the Residential Elderly Care Foundation which was further distributed to the Aged and their families who were present at the event.
Karifa Thoronka also added that with the objective of continuing to give support to the Aged in the country, the Residential Elderly Care Foundation, though the support from the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) on Tuesday 23rd November 2021 donated food items worth millions of Leones to the Aged in four selected communities and the donated food items included 100 bags of 50kg rice and 100 gallon of cooking oil (20kg).
He concluded by stating that in terms of the Foundation’s vision they want a society where elders are living healthy lives , are happy, and socially integrated with the aim to contribute to the building of a society in which people are encouraged and enabled to age productively and with dignity.
In his statement while launching the Foundation, the Deputy Director of Relief and Response at the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), Morlu Brewah, commended its members for the tremendous work they have been doing over the years in order to support the Aged in the country.
He described the Foundation’s intervention towards the Aged as not only important but a timely intervention in giving them a better life.
Morlu Brewah revealed that the National Disaster Management Agency was established as a stand-alone Agency to deal with disaster management issues across the country, furthering that the agency received a letter from the Foundation requesting for support in order to support the Aged and the agency responded to their call within the shortest period of time of which they supported the Residential Elderly Care Foundation with 100 bags of rice (50kg) and 100 gallons of cooking oil (20kg) in order to support them in four communities.
He stated that since inception the Agency has so far responded to 99 disasters, 1190 affected houses, 4,148 affected households, 23 public facilities, with a total of 20013 people across the country.
The Deputy Director pointed out that the agency will continue to support the Foundation on activates that foster safety and security of the Aged across the country of which on behalf of the Director General of the National Disaster Management Agency Lt. General (Rtd.) Brima Bureh Sesay he officially launched the Residential Elderly Care Foundation.
Mariama Kamara, one of the beneficiaries in her testimony, applauded the Residential Elderly Care Foundation for the support it has been giving to older persons ranging from donation of food and non-food items, medical check-ups and treatment etc.
She called on other organizations to follow the footprint of the Residential Elderly Care Foundation in supporting the Aged which she is not only important but timely as the Aged are in dire need of food items and medical check-ups.
