Shri Gurudwara Sahib Sierra Leone limited has awarded its Baba Guru Nanak Scholarship Package to one hundred and thirty pupils within the Lumley community and its environs.

Head of the Scholarship Package, Mohinder Bir Singh Sachdeva fondly called Pa Jetty, CEO of Jetty Trading Company, said the scholarship targets 130 pupils from over 30 private schools within the Lumley community and its environs.

He said since June 2017 when he started business in Lumley, he has been aiming to give back to the community from the small profit he makes, adding that the package aims is to complement government’s free education drive, but specifically focusing on Sierra Leonean pupils attending private schools.

“Coming from the Sikh religion in Indian, we believe in our 3 Sikh guiding principles which include: “Always remember God throughout the day; earn your livelihood through hard work and by honest means; and to selflessly serve and share with others especially with those less fortunate than yourself.

This according to Mr. Sachdeva is what initiated the scholarship and also supports to medical needs to sick children.

He said during their daily and weekly worships in their Temple, worshippers give offering and it is from those offerings that supports come to help the needy.

He recalled that through the Baba Guru Nanak package, Shri Gurudwara Sahib Sierra Leone limited has been giving many humanitarian helps to the needy, listing food and drink supplies to underprivileged and needy people including security forces, students, community people and many more, during the heat of COVID-19, lockdowns and other challenging times as some of their services.

Mr. Sachdeva further revealed, he supported and funded the medical bills for sick babies through the Sick Pikin Project, the refurbishment of primary school, coupled with weekend preparation and supplying of delicious food packs to people in Lumley and nearby communities.

The scholarship is worth 350 million old leones and more and it includes paying of full three terms school fees for all 130 beneficiaries, supply of exercise, text books and assorted school materials and an additional NLe250 cash for uniforms.

Harish Agnani commended Shri Gurudwara Sahib Sierra Leone’s work to help people in times of need, citing sending sick children overseas for medical and helping the needy as some of the major services they have been offering.

He said the best gift one can give a human being is education. He admonished parents to monitor their children’s educational work and guide them where necessary so as to build a wonder future.

Head of the Baba Guru Nanak Scholarship Committee, Abdulai Bah said the beneficiaries were carefully selected within deprived communities within Lumley and its environs.

He said for safer reasons, the school fees are not given in physical cash to beneficiaries but paid directly to the schools through provided school bank accounts or to the schools directly.

He advised parents of beneficiaries to ensure they help their kids in their academic work, noting that the Committee will start deleting beneficiaries who are underperforming in school and be replaced with other brighter pupils.

Isatu Konjor is a parent to one of the beneficiary pupils. She thanked the Shri Gurudwara Sahib Sierra Leone limited for bringing the Baba Guru Nanak Scholarship package and for incorporating her child and other needy children in the community.

She assured the scholarship donors that as parent, she will monitor to ensure her child focus in his academic, while calling on colleague parents to do same.

The event attracted other distinguished members of the Sikhism Temple the Indian High Commission to Sierra Leone, Pankaj Sharma, who also made meaningful contributions.

The Sikh religion is one of the youngest world religions and was founded more than 500 years ago (1469) in Punjab, North India, by Guru Nanak Dev Ji, in response to a spiritual revelation. Nanak and his nine successors are known as ‘gurus’, which is a term for a spiritual guide or teacher.

Sikhism is the world’s fifth-largest religion. The word ‘Sikh’ means ‘learner’ or ‘seeker of truth’. Sikhism advocates equality, social justice and service to humanity, and tolerance for other religions.