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Milestone Trading
Company, one of several successful giant foreign diamond mining
companies operating in Sandor Chiefdom, Kono District, has
officially handed over a recently constructed school building
to the people of Bagbema community in Eastern Sierra Leone.
The occasion started with a march-pass by school pupils, with
entertainment by the Brass Band of the Koidu Girls’ Secondary
School, amidst singing and dancing by the community people,
as well as people from of all walks of life. In attendance
were a plethora of dignitaries, including Paramount Chief
Sheku Ahmed Tejan Fasuluku III of Sandor Chiefdom, P.C. Paul
Lusenie Manga of Gbane Kandor, the Chiefdom Speaker, Phillip
Koroma of Nimiyama and the President of Milestone, Dr. Nissim
Levy, who traveled from overseas to witness the August ceremony.
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| Dr. Nissim Levy, Dad
Fewry and Mr. Chin |
Welcoming participants
to the commissioning ceremony, S.R.S. Morsay, a Community
Elder, said: "the occasion today stands very paramount in
the history of the Chiefdom. Looking at Sandor in retrospect,
you will agree with me that this occasion is the first in
two and a half decades. If we look at Bagbema presently, we
the people of this community must thank God for giving us
a good neighbour, a brother and friend who not only prepares
for the future of our children of today, but generations yet
unborn by giving light, through the building of this beautiful
and wonderful educational institution," Morsay said with great
enthusiasm..
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| The President of Milestone,
Dr. Nissim Levy, |
Continuing, he
stated; "that brother is the Milestone Mining Company, adding,
"we categorically want to make it crystal clear to everybody
present here today that Milestone’s development efforts toward
Bagbema, especially in the educational sector, has been very
immense," he said, reminding the company management of the
gifts it had presented to the school, including a set of football
gears and leaning materials, which were donated by Garry Petzer
(the Mines Manager) and his dad, Fewry (Country the Director),
respectively, since this year. Again, Morsay noted: "to every
successful nation, community or group, there must be a good
leader’; Sandor Chiefdom, Dangbaidu Section and Bagbema villages
in particular, suffered acute economic and infrastructural
destructions as a result of the war. Ladies and gentlemen,
he went on, "post-war recovery and development is one of the
most difficult tasks any leader could be faced with. It is
like rearing a child from childhood; Sandor Chiefdom has been
praying for a leader who will take the chiefdom out of its
nightmarish past to a direction that could lead to paradise.
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| The newly constrcuted
school |
Morsay, however,
furthered that he had always had confidence in P.C. Sheku
Fasuluku III to one day salvage the chiefdom from its perennial
problems. He noted with pride again that the school will enjoy
several advantages some day in the near future, as a result
of its establishment, adding that the school’s roll has increased
from ninety-six, last academic year, to one hundred and sixty-one
at the moment.
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| Dr. Nissim Levy donated
school materials to P.C Sheku Tejan Fasuluku III |
He disclosed
that the staff compliment has swollen from two to six teachers,
but appealed to the Paramount Chief and the Mile Stone Company
to provide a hand-pump water-well for the school, adding,
however, that infant mortality was on the increase in Bagbema,
and urged Government and other stakeholders to provide health-
care facilities like health centers and clinics.
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| Dr. Nissim Levy cut
the tape of officially open the school |
Giving his address,
President of the Milestone Company, Dr. Nissim Levy, said
he was overjoyed to join the people of Sandor for the first
time to grace the occasion. He donated a sum of five million
Leones (Le 5,000,000) to the school which, he said, was meant
for further development works in the school. He promised that
his company will help out with the construction a standard
water-well soonest to serve the people’s needs. He said the
Mile Stone Company will offer scholarships to the best two
students of the school up to higher learning, adding that
he will extend a similar gesture to Nimiyama and Nimikoro
Chiefdoms respectively.
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| P.C. Sheku Fasuluku
III |
In his address,
P.C. Sheku Fasuluku III thanked the Mile Stone Company not
only for the school it was now commissioning, but also the
Company’s assistance towards upgrading feeder roads in the
chiefdom. He advised his people to make good use of the building
by sending their children to the school as, according to him,
this was one quick way of attaining development for the chiefdom
rather than them concentrating on diamond mining alone. P.C.
Fasuluku appealed and admonished journalists to always crosscheck
any information about the chiefdom with him before publishing
any stories about his chiefdom which, he said, would be detrimental
to the development of their land. He highlighted in reminiscence,
previous negative press coverage of Milestone’s operation
in his chiefdom, revealing that the company is operating under
the name Sandor Development Co-operation.
The Traditional
Head mentioned the number of roads and bridges his Chiefdom
Administration has constructed and those under construction
with chiefdom funds, adding that out of the chiefdom funds,
his administration has purchased a tipper and a front-head-loader
caterpillar for the chiefdom. He urged his people to refrain
from propagating bad news about the chiefdom, and admonished
them to work together to achieve peace, progress and development.
He commissioned
the Bagbema and Fenema Court Barrays, which, he said, were
constructed out of chiefdom funds. Dr. Nissim Levy presented
learning materials to the school which climaxed the ceremony.
© Copyright by Awareness
Times Newspaper in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
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