by Curlan Campbell, NOW Grenada
- Grenada Overseas Chinese Association supports Richmond Hill Home for the Aged and the Queen Elizabeth Home for Children
- Roy “Obama” Coutain has been donating items to the Richmond Hill Home over the last 14 years
The Grenada Overseas Chinese Association has pledged to continue its humanitarian relief in 2020 by supporting the Richmond Hill Home for the Aged and the Queen Elizabeth Home for Children.
On New Year’s Eve, the association donated fruits and vegetables, food items, toiletries, shoes, toys for the children of the Queen Elizabeth Home, and other valued at $6,000. Deputy Chief of Mission, Counsellor Yang Shi Jun, presented the donation on New Year’s Eve to Deborah Bailey-Hagley, Assistant Manager at the Queen Elizabeth Home for Children, and then to the Richmond Hill Home.
During that handover, Counsellor Yang Shi Jun spoke of the significance that Chinese culture places on respect for the elderly which is seen as its highest virtue, and referred to the Chongyang Festival also known as the Double Ninth festival which takes place on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month on the Chinese calendar to honour the senior citizens in China. The festival was celebrated on 17 October 2019. “In China, we call it the festival for the elderly when the Chinese community also visits the homes for the elderly to pay our tribute.” He said that as “developing countries we need to help each other like brothers and sisters so that we can build community (and) a safe future for the humankind.”
The Deputy Chief of Mission said the donation is part of an initiative to honour this tradition as Grenada continues to strengthen its diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China. “This is not our first mission here. We have been getting along very well with the local people and I think the Overseas Chinese when developing here we have received a lot of assistance from Grenadians and we have paid a lot of attention to getting along with the society here. So, we believe that we are brothers and sisters and this is kind of an opportunity to repay the society of Grenada.”
Richmond Hill Home Ward Manager, Tamara Sylvester, said they are extremely grateful for the donation as it will go a long way in assisting the 52 residents at the home. “These are very valuable and needful things and they have actually arrived in a very timely manner. We value and appreciate all the fruits vegetables, all the items, and I think it will come in very handy for our residents.”
Over the last 14 years, Roy “Obama” Coutain has been donating items to the Richmond Hill Home. This year’s donation included adult pampers, toilet paper, bathing soap, petroleum jelly, deodorant, bleach, laundry detergent and disinfectant to the. He said, “I would like a lot of people in Grenada to at least start. I started with only three packs of pampers and I want the people in Grenada to help the people in this home here… it’s not for the greedy but for the needy and I always say every year once God spare life, as long as I am alive and the finance is there I will always do that for my people.”
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