Alliance One, Limbe Leaf donate to Mchinji learners
Two of the country’s major tobacco buyers Alliance One Tobacco and Limbe Leaf have jointly donated various school learning materials to pupils of Mikundi Primary School in Mchinji worth aboutK20 million as one way of fulfilling its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs in the country.
Each of the school’s 2,635 learners received various school learning materials including a school bag, note books, pens, pencils and rulers among others as one way of motivating them to continue working hard and achieve their academic goals.
Speaking during the donation’s handover ceremony on Thursday, Corporate Affairs Officer for Alliance One Tobacco Malawi Ben Kawonga said the two companies decided to jointly donate the school learning materials after being approached by the Department of Disaster and Management Affairs (Dodma) to assist the school which some of its classrooms were blown off by heavy wind several months ago.
“Astwo corporate responsible entities, we decided to jointly donate these learning materials after being requested by Dodma following the heavy winds which destroyed classroom blocks and various learning materials for majority of pupils at this school hence making their learning environment become difficult,” said Kawonga.
According to Kawonga, the two companies also though it wise to assist the school upon realizing that it is also based in the area where majority of people are tobacco growers, a crop which the two entities business ventures strive on.
“We believe that this donation will help these kids to learn effectively and achieve greater goals in as far as their respective careers are concerned in the near future. This is one way of complimenting government’s efforts in making sure that the country’s kids are getting quality education that will enable them become responsible and productive future citizens for this nation,” he said.
In his remarks Head teacher for Mikundi primary school Fradson Kakowa expressed his gratitude to the two companies for donating the school learning materials to pupils of his school which he said would go a long way in motivating them to perform better in class and in the process reduce the dropping rate at the learning facility.
“I would like to commend both Alliance One Tobacco and Limbe Leaf Tobacco for giving each of the kid here a school bag and other learning materials which I believe will motivate these children to work hard in class and perform better. Most these kids come from very poor families whose parents could not afford to buy them a school bag, hence this donation will motivate them to continue attending classes and stop dropping out of school,” said Kakowa.
He however urged companies to emulate the gesture shown by the two companies and assists his school in other areas such as building teachers houses and classroom blocks as well as donating desks which he said are in dire need at the school.
