Fuel firm donates gas, stoves for expectant mothers in Serengeti
What you need to know:
- The donation was made at Rubanda Village over the weekend during the marking of an international day for the prematurely born children.
Serengeti. Oryx Energies Tanzania has donated gas cylinders and cooking stoves to the Doris Mollel Foundation, an organisation offering support to stunted children.
Beneficiaries of the cooking gas this time around are not directly the children, but expectant mothers in Serengeti District, Mara Region.
The donation was made at Rubanda Village over the weekend during the marking of an international day for the prematurely born children.
“We should continue with this gesture to care for children affected by this disability,” said the deputy minister for Health, Dr Godwin Mollel.
Dr Mollel added that the government was keen to extend needed support to preterm children and the NGOs involved in the task.
According to him, President Samia Suluhu Hassan recently handed over Sh20 million to the Doris Mollel Foundation for the purpose. Another Sh50 million was remitted to the ministry of Health coffers by the Treasury for the purchase of required equipment for such kids.
The Foundation was launched a few years ago by Doris Mollel, who was born prematurely in the 1980s weighing only 900 grammes.
She grew to become a beauty queen and later launched the Foundation with a goal to reduce death rates for premature babies.
Oryx marketing manager Peter Ndomba said the donation of gas cylinders and cook stoves to expectant women was an attempt to reach out to those affected by the disability.
Oryx entered the Tanzanian market in 1999 and has since been much involved in clean energy initiatives to protect the health of people.
“The reason why we made a donation of gas cylinders and cook stoves today is to protect the health of mothers and their children”, he said.
On her part, the Foundation founder Doris Mollel said she requested for the cook stoves and gas from Oryx after attending a recent clean energy exhibition in Dar es Salaam.
The deputy minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Mary Masanja said introduction of improved cook stoves would protect the environment.
Statistics, she said, indicate that close to 90 percent of Tanzanians used firewood and charcoal which expose women and children to health hazards.
