By Alimamy Conteh, Intern-FBC
The Republic of South Korea on Thursday 7th December 2022, donated five (5) brand new Hyundai SUVs to Her Excellency Fatima Bio at the Office of the First Lady, Goderich in Freetown.
The donated vehicles are for the Hands Off our Girls campaign, which was launched in December 2018 specifically to bring awareness, influence policy, and support women and girls to have access to reproductive healthcare and treatment for conditions like Fistula and Cancer, and to eliminate abuses such as early childhood marriage, gender-based violence, and rape.
Mahesh Choithram Nandwani, the newly-appointed Honorary Consul of the Republic of South Korea in Sierra Leone in his statement noted that the vehicles were donated following a request by the Foundation to the Republic of Korea Red Cross for the transportation of sanitary pads across Sierra Leone. He added that the Korean Government realizes the existing good working relationship with Sierra Leone, adding that the donation will further strengthen the bilateral ties between the two countries and also promote issues of women and girls. “I look forward to achieving other milestones soon,” he said.
The First Lady, Fatima Maada Bio thanked the Republic of Korea Government and the Korea Red Cross for supporting the Foundation, which is an auxiliary for the Office of the First Lady. “We requested for the vehicles because I travel with a lot of people and logistics to distribute in various villages and communities. I requested for a minibus but they have given us more than that,” she said.
She continued to state that the project had been approved in 2020 but a few hiccups along the line caused the delay in the arrival of the vehicles. The First Lady lauded the good work of the Consul, Mahesh Nandwani, whose private company has been supportive of the National Basket project of the Hands Off Our Girls campaign. “We are grateful that you have supported us throughout this period, from the COVID to Ramadan Donations and the Food Basket Fund,” she said.
She emphasized that the Koreans have now given more life to the Maada and Fatima Bio Foundation to do more work in the country. She promised that the vehicles will be utilized for their intended purpose. According to the First Lady, the Maada and Fatima Bio Foundation is working on some ongoing projects, one of which is the refurbishment of the 34 Military Hospital at Wilberforce. “Instead of donating money to the foundation, call us and ask what the Foundation needs, as the Republic of South Korea has done”, she said.
