Monrovia – The Honorary Consul General of India, Mr. Upjit Singh Sachdeva, has over the last six days fed nearly 11,000 Liberians living on the margin of their society.
By Alaskai Moore Johnson, [email protected]
This is a personal initiative of Mr. Sachdeva, a very popular Indian businessman, who is more famously known in Liberia as “Mr. Jeety.”
Jeety, along with his Jeety Trading Corporation, the name of his business empire, in six days have fed 10,817 people with hot, ready-cooked Liberian dishes.
He himself has been a part of all the six feeding programs. He begins feeding these Liberians, who inarguably live on less than US$0.50 daily, by 15:00 hours when the curfew or lockdown goes into effect.
Jeety has always refused to speak to the press about this particular gesture that he is personally doing. Notwithstanding, at Saturday, May 9th feeding, he said in passing, when a journalists covering the occasion was seeking his permission for interview: “Look, my friend, I don’t want to talk about this. These are my people; this is my second home. All I want is more prayers for more of God’s blessings on me.”
He began Saturday’s feeding at his Vai Town business headquarters with few hundred older, young and very young Liberians forming two queues to be served the hot and tasty palm butter already packaged for take home.
From Vai Town, he and his team, along with officers of the Liberian National Police (LNP), who accompanied to provide security, made stops on Buchanan Street, Center Street, Randall Street, Newport Street and in Logan Town’s Zolowee Community, to handout the packaged palm butter with rice and one sachet of water. On all these streets in the heart of Monrovia and in Logan Town, are located dens for these destitute Liberians.
In all these places, those of them who spoke to this newspaper, praised Jeety so highly for his gesture to them.
“We just wait for Mr. Jeety to come give us something to eat everyday. Since the lockdown began, we don’t go anywhere to hustle now. So, we just wait for Mr. Jeety to bring us food. God is going to continually bless him,” said a pregnant lady, who only identified herself as Ora, on Center Street.
Some expressed real anger against the government and President George Manneh Weah. Most said they voted for him thinking that he was going to be there for them. Sadly, they now think that the President has failed them.
Mr. Jeety has over the last five years been feeding ordinary Liberians, who go to his Vai Town feeding center five days a week to get hot, ready-cooked Liberian dish.
Other Gestures
The Honorary Consul General on Wednesday, May 6, donated 10,000 doses of the vital selenium drug used in the supportive treatment of Covid-19 patients and others.
Honorary Consul General Sachdeva presented the two cartons containing 100 bottles each of the drugs to Dr. Jerry Brown, at the 14 Military Hospital in Margibi County, where Liberia’s Covid-19 confirmed cases are kept and being given supportive treatments against the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)-nCoV-2.
Again on April 11, 2020, Mr. Jeety led the Indian Community in Liberia and they made a donation valued more than US$40,000 through Dr. Jerry Brown to the 14 Military Hospital and to the army assigned at the hospital.
During that donation ceremony, he informed Dr. Brown that he had honored his request and brought in the specific things he had asked him for a day earlier. “During my conversation yesterday and day before with Dr. Brown, he was very passionate and worried about the safety of health workers at the hospital and requested for 10 aluminum doors (5-double doors) which without hesitation and waiting for the donation ceremony, we delivered it yesterday. Also he requested us for folding hospital beds, nurses’ uniforms, bed sheets, pillow, pillow covers, electric washing machine and electric dryer among others. Dr. Brown, we are pleased to inform you that we have brought everything as part of our donation.”
Zogos and Zogeese
Most of those Liberians, who are fed are vagrants, locally known as ‘zogos’ for men and ‘zogeese’ for women. These men and women and sometimes kids, also live wildly, including residing among the dead in the cemetery. They are also illicit substance abusers. They make their living by doing some very odd jobs, garbage scavenging, car washing, helping commuters to get car for their various destinations and hard labor chaos, like grass cutting. However, chief among their operations, is to snatch valuables, which they sell for cheap just to buy their contraband. It has also been reported that most of them do arm rob, too.