By Ndey Sowe
Gambia Malaysia Students and Alumni Foundation (GAMSA) donated seventy thousand dalasi (D70, 000) to Gambia Red Cross Society (GRCS) for the latter to provide humanitarian assistance to the needy and alleviate human suffering.
In a similar event, GAMSA also donated thirty thousand (D30, 000) worth of sanitary items to the Gambia Prison Services. The ceremony was presided over by the commissioner for Prisons.
Both events took place at the Gambia Red Cross Society Headquarters in Kanifing, on Monday, 12st December, 2020.
Yaya Duwa Sanyang, National Covid-19 Response Coordinator, said Covid-19 is yet to be eradicated from The Gambia. He thus hoped that the rate of transmission remains.
“The Gambia Red Cross Society has been one of the principal partners to the Government and Covid-19 response team. The donation is timely and the donors are one of the many private donations that the Covid-19 respond team has received in The Gambia,” he said.
Mr. Sanyang also hoped that GRCS will spend the money in the best way they could in the battle against Covid-19.
Alasan Senghore, Secretary General for Gambia Red Cross Society, thanked the donors for considering GRCS as a beneficiary, describing the gesture as big and significant.
“Covid-19 still exists and people should not be complacent about it,” he said.
Senghore also said the donation was timely and important because it is coming at the time when resources are becoming scare. He said an economist has predicted that 2021 is going to be economically challenging for everyone including humanitarian organizations like the Red Cross Society.
“It is important that we look externally but also internally, and as Gambians how can we continue to help each other?” he said.
Yankuba Mambureh, President of Gambian Malaysia Students and Alumni Foundation (GAMSA), said their foundation is a newly formed by students and former students of Malaysia.
“We are a very diverse group from all walks of life. Among us, we have former Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Deputy Governor Central Bank, CEOs, Managing Directors to name a few,” he outlined.
Mambureh said their members are also working around the globe and currently have about a hundred members. He highlighted that since the advent of Covid-19, they have seen the good efforts GRCS has been doing and the impact of the pandemic on Gambia Prison Services which prompted them to donate both Red Cross Society and Gambia Prison Service.