Monrovia – The Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Mr. Milton Gbehzohngar Findley has expressed his satisfaction with the launch and sustenance of the Public Feeding Initiative being undertaken by the Honorary Consul General of India, Mr. Upjit Singh Sachdeva.
By Alaskai Moore Johnson, [email protected]
Honorary Consul General Sachdeva, who is commonly known in Liberia as Jeety, is primarily giving daily hot, ready meal to mainly the less privileged segment of the population in Liberia’s capital city, Monrovia.
Since Mr. Jeety began his feeding campaign this lockdown on May 4, 2020, he has handed out more than 30,000 plates of ready, hot meal to mostly disadvantaged Liberians residing in very poor neighborhoods in Monrovia.
“The Honorary Consul General of India, who himself is a distinguished entrepreneur in Liberia, has a history of excellent partnership and communal cooperation to the national development drive of Liberia. This, we believe, is germane to strengthening the already cordial relationship between the people of the Republic of India and the people of the Republic of Liberia,” Foreign Minister Findley said Tuesday, May 19, in a Ministry of Foreign Affairs release.
Foreign Minister Findley, who is the nation’s top diplomat, recalls that over the years, Mr. Jetty has been “overly instrumental in ensuring that the Republic of India extends concrete bilateral support to the people of Liberia through several donations, including a number of buses provided the Government of Liberia through the National Transit Authority (NTA) to enable easy access to public transportation across the country.”
He further stated that Mr. Jeety’s investment corporation — Jeety Trading Corporation (JTC) — has led a number of quick interventions through the provision of essential materials to the public since the outbreak of the deadly Coronavirus disease in Liberia.
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.
The Honorary Consul General of India, who himself is a distinguished entrepreneur in Liberia, has a history of excellent partnership and communal cooperation to the national development drive of Liberia. This, we believe, is germane to strengthening the already cordial relationship between the people of the Republic of India and the people of the Republic of Liberia
Foreign Minister Milton Gbehzohngar Findley
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)-CoV-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.”
Further in the Foreign Ministry release, the Foreign Minister expects that Mr. Jeety’s public feeding initiative will go a long way in meeting the daily nutritional needs of underprivileged Liberians, as the nation continues to strive not only to combat this pandemic, but also in reducing hunger and poverty in Liberia and across the globe.
The Foreign Ministry further said that ending hunger and poverty is an ambitious goal set forth by the Sustainable Development Goals, a global commitment of nations towards achieving a better world.
“As a signatory to said commitment, Liberia continues to strive towards attaining said goal; indicative of our demonstrated commitment reflected in the pillars of the Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD). All of the pillars of the PAPD are inextricably tied towards the ultimate goal of ending poverty, hopelessness and deprivation which have attended the livelihood of ordinary Liberians for several decades.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is hopeful that other friendly partners will emulate the good examples of Honorary Consul General Sachdeva, by reaching out to those in need especially so, in such crisis time when the underprivileged are protocol-bound to stay home which isolates their chances of fending for their daily survivals.