Ecobank has donated a number of food items and scholastic materials to children of Noah’s Ark Orphanage as part of activities to celebrate the sixth annual Ecobank day.
The team of staffers from the bank was led by Ecobank Managing Director, Clement Doddo who emphasized the importance for businesses and their staff to give back to their local communities.
“There were 52 million African orphans aged under 18 in 2017, according to UNICEF. These children are our future and we should look after them. I am so pleased that we at Ecobank Uganda have ably demonstrated our compassion for orphans,” Doddo said on Saturday.
He added, “I was particularly delighted that we have constructed a kitchen and provide food and scholastic materials to Noah’s Ark Orphanage”.
The bank’s Managing Director noted that Ecobank has invested more than Shs 30 million into this cause. In addition, the bank has set up a collections code using its advanced Ecopay product which will enable Noah’s Ark solicit for funding by encouraging potential donors to scan and pay a code issued to them by the bank.
Earlier that day, the Ecobank team had been engaged in an exercise to clear the compound at the orphanage of flooding following a heavy downpour.
The Executive Director, Noah’s Ark, Angela Nakato appreciated the generous contribution rendered to the organization by Ecobank.
Nakato said that the orphanage is currently housing a total of 35 children most of whom have different types of disabilities including; Autism, Celebral pulsy, Down sydrom, deaf and dum, Microsyphelous among others.
She appealed to parents to stop abandoning and neglecting their disabled children but instead understand that these children also deserve to be loved and taken care of like any other child.
“Among the challenges that we face at the organization are parents that abandon their children just at the gate after discovering that they are disabled. Parents must love their children and understand that disability is not inability,” Nakato said.
Noah’s Ark is a Christian based organization located in Mukono, giving a home to more than 170 children who are abandoned, thrown away, abused of left behind. More than 200 children from the poorest families in the surrounding communities enjoy free education and a Family Clinic provides affordable health care.
The home was founded in 1999 by Dutch couple Pieter and Pita Buitendijk.