‘The Hope Foundation’ officially launched with First Lady as Patron |28 November 2020
(L to r) Mr Felix, Mrs Ramkalawan, Mr Rousseau and Minister Zialor (Photo: Louis Toussaint)
A newly formed non-governmental organisation, The Hope Foundation, was officially launched yesterday by the First Lady, Linda Ramkalawan.
The aim of this foundation is to give hope and bring joy to the older adults and families in need.
Mrs Ramkalawan is also the patron of the foundation.
The launch of the foundation was attended by the Minister for Youth, Sports and Family, Marie-Celine Zialor, principal secretary for Family Marie-Josée Bonne and chief executive of the Citizens Engagement Platform Seychelles (Ceps) Michel Pierre.
Mrs Ramkalawan said that she accepted to become the patron of the association as she believes in the cause.
“We have seen the birth of this association by a few people who led by their heart to help others. In this world full of uncertainties, we often hear that we do not know what our future holds. But one thing we are sure of is as long as we are alive we will grow old. As young people we do have friends, but as we grow older we lose those friends and end up being alone. We have many of our old people who are surrounded by families, but many are also alone. We have to heed to the words of Mother Theresa: do not let quantity bother us and start changing the life of one person. The gospel also tells us that access to paradise will be determined on what we have done for others. As Christians we are asked not to only speak but also to do good deeds. I hope my participation in this Foundation will encourage others to join in.”
The First Lady congratulated the founders of this foundation and encourages all to serve the community with love.
The chairman of the foundation, Michel Felix, explained that for some years, the Freemasons Lodge has been engaged in making donations more specifically during Christmas time to Caritas in the Bel Ombre area.
“In the last 2 to 3 years, the focus has shifted with assistance being provided to housebound elderly which was funded by the Freemasons’ and Forest Lodge respectively. The work that we have done has been restricted to the districts of Beau Vallon, Bel Ombre and Glacis. In 2019, seven of us came together and started working to form this new organisation and now we have a constitution with a registration and ready to receive the CSR tax.”
What is the purpose of The Hope Foundation and what does it hope to achieve?
“The Hope Foundation is determined to bring the spirit of Christmas to the many elderly who are housebound. They live in very hilly and isolated areas and it is thanks to the medical officers and nurses doing home visits who have brought the plight of these elderly folks to our attention.
“Housebound elderly do exist in Seychelles and there are many. For those people one thing they can cling on to is HOPE of not being forgotten.
“We want people to understand what we wish is to bring some feeling of hope and comfort to the less fortunate. Therefore we expect going forward that there will be home visits initiated by members, and why not organise groups to clean up from time to time,” stated Mr Felix.
The secretary of the foundation, Stephen Rousseau, gave a detailed report on how the foundation was created.
“Presently, our efforts have been concentrated in the Northern part of Mahé. Why shouldn’t the older adults in other parts of the island or Praslin and La Digue not benefit as well from this small gesture? To do this, it is necessary that we have members in all region of the country. In this light we are planning to approach the Ministry of Health with a view to signing a memorandum of understanding so that we can continue this collaboration in other regions of the country.”
Vidya Gappy
