By REBECCA MUSHOTA –

THE Rotary Club of Ndola has called on communities to use the festive season as a time to cheer the sick.

Rotary Club of Ndola past president Paul Ngosa said when the club donated assorted items and lunch worth K14,000 to Arthur Davison Children’s Hospital (ADCH) in Ndola on Wednesday that Christmas time should be taken as an opportunity to cheer the sick in the various communities.

Mr Ngosa said the spirit of Christmas was to give anything that one could afford and that the club had chosen to cheer the sick.

“We have chosen to put a smile on the faces of the sick children and their parents so that we all share the festive season,” he said.

The donated items were toys, food, groceries and lunch for the sick children and their parents.

ADCH representative Tilder Hamilambo said she was happy that the Rotary Club had made the donation to the hospital because Christmas was a time of joy that needed to be shared even with those that were not feeling well.

The Ndola Rotaract Club, a junior Rotary club, also spent about K3,000 on lunch for psychiatric patients at Ndola Central Hospital.

And Miss Independence Copperbelt Adessy Banda and the pageant’s organising team donated items worth K1,100 to female inmates at Kansenshi State Prison on Wednesday.

Ms Banda said when making the donation at the prison that Christmas was about sharing with all citizens in whichever situation they were.

“You are our sisters and mothers and we have not forgotten about you,” she said.

Ndola Mayor Davies Chiwala, who graced the event, said prisoners were friends and relatives that were not forgotten and that the festive season was the best time to show that.