TWO INSTITUTIONS RECEIVE DONATIONS FROM YOUNG PHILANTHROPIST 9th September, 2020

Two institutions in Pungu in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality of the Upper East Region have each received separate donations from Mr. Gregory Abasang, a young philanthropist who hails from the Telania enclave of Pungu.

Gregory Abasang [L] presenting maths. sets to Headteacher  

 

The institutions included the Navro-Pungu Junior High School [JHS] and the Pungu South Community Health Planning Services [CHPS] Compound. While the former received a little over 90 brand new mathematical sets and several tens of pens, the latter got two packets of new roofing sheets [zinc] to repair some leakage problems at the facility.

Mr. Abasang in the company of his uncle and a brother, arrived first at the Navro-Pungu JHS a few minutes to midday, had brief interactions with the Headteacher of the school telling his purpose for the visit and then proceeded to make his donation. He said he had wanted to visit the school much earlier but the outbreak of COVID 19 held him back. He however noted that, this period was the opportune time as the pupils were set to begin their Basic Education Certificate Examination [BECE] just next week.

The young philanthropist recounted how during his days as a child, he trekked from Pungu to far-off communities to attend schools such as St. Pauls’ Primary and St. Mary’s JHS. These daily long walks, coupled with poverty in his family he remembered, had a negative toll on his education but he never relented. He said with all these memories, he is always touched by the plight of students especially those in his community of Pungu and that, this informed he decision to assist whenever he was capable.

Mr. Abasang who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Welaga Group of Companies, charged the pupils to be obedient and disciplined at all times, show respect to school authorities and elders in the community and more importantly, take their lessons seriously in order to grasp what they are taught and to pass their exams successfully. He expressed optimism that, future ministers, directors in the public service and others grades of officers could emerge from the school’s current crop of students and urged the pupils not to see themselves as inferior to pupils in other schools.

A pupil [L] receiving her share of the package

 

He recounted that a few years ago, he did a similar presentation of books and pens to students of school and distributed several sets of school uniform to the female pupils, as he had learnt of how majority of the girls did not have befitting sets of uniform. He assured authorities of the school that by God’s grace, he would provide a package of computers for the establishment of a computer laboratory for the school in the course of 2021.

Headteacher of the school, Mr. Kansanga O. Emmanuel commended Mr. Abasang for coming to the aid of his pupils saying the intervention was timely. He expressed the school’s well-wishes to Mr. Abasang and his family that they may continue to flourish so that he can have extra to spend on the needy such as the students of Navro-Pungu JHS. He appealed to other citizens of the area to emulate the gesture and also assist the school in whatever form they could.

At the Pungu South CHPS compound, Mr. Abasang donated two packets of new roofing sheets [zinc] to authorities of the Kassena-Nankana Municipal Health Directorate to help in replacing portions of the roof of the facility that leaks badly with the least rainfall. Asked to how he came to help the health facility out, Mr. Abasang said on one of his regular visits home for the weekends and during interactions with friends, the plight of the CHPS compound came to his attention and thus he decided to help because the health of his compatriots and his own family back home was something worth supporting.

Abasang [R] in a COVID 19 salute with DDHS

Mr. Abasang also disclosed that he had a package of “Veronica Buckets” for the CHPS compound which he could not carry along and that, he would hand them over to the health director for delivery to the facility.

Mr. Azure Benson Issah who heads the health directorate, thanked Mr. Abasang for his kind heart saying his assistance was of great importance to the health staff though more was still expected to give the problems at the facility a permanent fix. He noted that a few more CHPS compounds across the municipality had varying forms of needs ranging from the structures themselves to equipment required for the effective discharge of quality health services.

Mr. Issah observed that the badly leaking roof of the facility often caused damage to drugs and health records amongst others and creates a disincentive for staff who wished to live and work in the community. He revealed that, recent estimates by some technical hands, pegged major works on the roofing and ceiling of the CHPS facility to cost some 17,000.00 Ghana Cedis. The health director therefore called for critical attention from the authorities to urgently rectify the problem and also called on well-meaning citizens of Pungu, NGOs and other philanthropists to help the distressed CHPS compound.

The leaky and rotten ceiling of the CHPS compound