The government of The Netherland (Holland) and Dutch Philanthropists have braced themselves up to help kick Ebola out of the three Mano River states of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
On October 15th, the government of The Netherland, through its Foreign Ministry hosted Ambassadors from the West African sub-region in The Hague to announce that it has made available the sum of 31m euros (Thirty One Million Euros) to the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF to help fight Ebola.
It was further announced that The Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, Hans Docter has been appointed Special Ebola Envoy of the Dutch government, amidst thunderous applaud from the ECOWAS Ambassadors. Also, the Dutch Marine transport ship, Karel Doorman will be on the shores of the three most Ebola affected countries in the first week of November to enhance the medical capacity of the Dutch medical volunteers.
The African Union Head of Permanent Mission to the European Commission, Ajay Kumar Bramdeo expressed appreciation on behalf of his colleague Ambassadors for “the wonderful contribution of the Dutch government and people towards the Ebola fight, adding that The Netherland has always stood by Africa in good and bad times”. He furthered that the AU has called on African countries to send more medical volunteers to the Ebola affected countries. He applauded the relentless efforts applied by the three Ambassadors of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia in trying to mobilize international support to help eradicate Ebola in the Mano River basin.
The AU Representative in Brussels disclosed that the continental body will soon establish the Africa Centre for Disease Control (ACDC) for any future disease outbreak in the continent.
In a related development, Dutch philanthropists Mr. and Mrs Donald Keus of the Lion Heart Foundation last Monday shipped two 20ft Containers loaded with 29 assorted medical equipment to Sierra Leone to help fight Ebola.
Some of the shipped items include Ebola handling kits, soap for hand washing, chlorine, rubber boots, body bags, spray equipment, used clothing etc.
The loading of the two Containers was witnessed by Ambassador Ibrahim Sorie and spouse and few members of the Sierra Leone Central Union in Holland.
Meanwhile, another Dutch philanthropist, Maurits Groen, Founder of Off-Grid Solutions, the producers of Waka-Waka portable solar lights have donated to Sierra Leone a total of 2000 (Two Thousand) portable solar lights worth 45,000 (Forty Five Thousand Euros). The distribution will be done by the German company, GTZ.
Ambassador Ibrahim Sorie thanked the donors for thinking about Sierra Leone at this hour of need, emphasizing that the Sierra Leone Embassy in Brussels is there to “promote, protect, retain and give the needed support to potential investors from the countries of accreditation, who are prepared to genuinely invest in Sierra Leone”.
Ambassador Sorie reminded the CEO of Lion Heart Foundation which is operating a large Palm Oil plantation in Yele, Tonkolili district to be in full compliance with the operating laws, pay their assessed taxes, obey the labour laws of Sierra Leone and meet their Corporate Social responsibilities.
By Chernor Ojuku Sesay,
Information Attaché,
Sierra Leone Embassy,
Brussels/EU
Notes on pics: 1. Dutch Philanthropist, Donald Keus explaining contents in the Container to Ambassador Ibrahim Sorie. 2. Ambassador Sorie chatting with Hans Docter, The Netherland government’s Special Ebola Envoy and 3. Maurits Groen making a symbolic presentation of 2000 Waka-Waka portable solar lights worth 45,000 euros to Ambassador Sorie.
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