Francis DeGaulle Njie Foundation (FDNF) on Friday held its 4th Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Gambia Christian Council hall in Kanifing  

The foundation is a charitable organisation set up in 2006 by the family of Francis DeGaulle Njie, in commemoration of the values of excellence and dedication to service that he ( Njie) stood for throughout his short but very exemplary life.

The aim of the foundation is to promote education, especially in the sciences, and raise awareness in health and charity through organising fundraising activities and conducting motivational lectures. 

Speaking at the meeting, Vivat Thomas Njie, the chairperson of the foundation, explained that the foundation has 3 sub committees; namely education and awareness committee, health and charity committee and fundraising and publicity committee.

She revealed that the foundation continues to support the prizes for the winners of the trophies in excellence in physics, mathematics, computer studies and general excellence at Saint Augustine Senior Secondary School, Gambia Senior Secondary School and St Joseph’s Senior Secondary School; as well as prize-giving day ceremonies.

Njie noted that the foundation’s scholarship programme has suffered some shortfalls due to communications breakdown, as they failed to follow up with some of the previous students. She disclosed that last academic year they offered new scholarships to two students from Saint Augustine Senior Secondary School and three from St Joseph Senior Secondary School.

She also revealed that the Health and Charity Committee of the foundation continues to work in collaboration with the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH) in cancer awareness and cancer care and support.

Highlighting some of their future plans, Madam Njie said their plans include to re-train nurses to ensure that adequate staff are available in the screening of patients at the Cervical Cancer Screening Unit and in the Regional Reproductive and Child Clinics; and to work in collaboration with the RVTH’s Reproductive Health Unit to conduct awareness raising radio talks on cancer prevention and early detection signs.

For her part, Alaba Thomas, a member of the foundation, said membership is a crucial component of every organisation , noting that it is a way of demonstrating the need, relevance, acceptance and support of any organisation’s aim, objective, and mission statement.

She went on to define members’ responsibilities as including monitoring and evaluating that the foundation’s aims and objectives are being met as planned and relevant to people’s needs. Alaba proudly said that the foundation is blessed with a membership that has all the qualities of a good membership base.