Jurarim Organisation for Youth Excellence (JOYE), a U.S nonprofit organisation founded over nine years ago to provide a beneficial learning environment for underprivileged children in The Gambia through education assistance, over the weekend supported its sponsored students and volunteers in North Bank, West Coast and Central River Regions with each a 50kg bag of rice, 10kg sugar and 5 litters of cooking oil.
Matthew Gomez, a volunteer for JOYE as education programme coordinator explained that their sponsored students are orphans and are therefore vulnerable without assistance.
He remarked that the safety & health of their beneficiaries is a top priority for them and wants to ensure they get basic food necessities during the lockdown. He encouraged them to adhere to Ministry of Health and WHO’s guidelines and regulations for their safety against the disease.
He described a lockdown in Africa as really hectic, saying most people feed from hand to mouth. “For this reason if a government announces state of emergency, the first thing most people think of is how to feed their families,” he remarked.
Mr Gomez indicated their belief that the materials will sustain beneficiary families for a number of weeks. “Hunger is worst than a disease and by curing hunger we can cure other diseases”, the programme coordinator said, pointing out that when the immune system is weak it cannot contain any disease.
Having thanked JOYE leadership for their steadfastness, and the volunteers for uplifting the lives of vulnerable children in The Gambia, Gomez reported that in addition to supporting education they have also drilled boreholes, support agriculture as well as plan to build an educational academy for their students.
Amat Joof, JOYE North Bank Region representative described the move by the organisation as a step in the right direction. He also described the gesture as timely “because some parents have started experiencing difficulties in feeding their families as a result of the lock down”.
Mr. Joof, an educationist, underlined that it is their responsibility to ensure children continue to study during the lock down.
He therefore called on parents to motivate their children to always read but also urged them to make best use of the food items given to them “because no one knows when the COVID-19 will end”.
The organisation’s original mission is to provide educational sponsorship to children from marginalised families.
Over the years, over 300 students have benefited from its sponsorship programme with more than 100 of them graduating from high school.