UUNET RECEIVES OVER SH2 MILLION TOWARDS CHARITY WALK
Written by Administrator
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
UUNET RECEIVES OVER SH2 MILLION TOWARDS CHARITY WALK
UUNET has received a total of Sh2.2 million towards this year’s UUNET Ear Walk which is a partnership between Operation Ear Drop (OED) and UUNET Kenya. The walk will be held on 20th of June 2009 at Uhuru Park starting at 7 a.m.
The UUNET Managing Director Mr. Tom Omariba received the cheques from among others Kenya Commercial Bank who contributed Sh100, 000, Capital FM Sh900, 000 in form of media , some of its customers such as Nation Media Group ‘, Larfage Launderette, Ogilvy East and Octagon Pension Services who each contributed Sh50, 000 for the event scheduled for June 20. Others are RedSky and Coast Data who have given Kshs.20,000 each.
The yearly walk seeks to raise funds to cater for constructive surgeries on children with ear and hearing impairments across the country.
UUNET staff have so far contributed Sh1 million for the walk and looking forward to surpassing the targeted Ksh 6 million. “This year, we have projected to raise Shs.6million, which is a 100 per cent rise from last year’s gross amount of around Kshs.3mn. We are confident of surpassing the set target by far since most sponsors have shown considerable interest and generosity in supporting this cause,” said Omariba.
He said the walk is gaining popularity, with close to 3,000 participants expected to take part this year as opposed to over 1,000 who participated last year, among them around 300 children from various schools within the city.
He said the UUNET sponsorship was in line with the company’s core mandate of fostering communication.
Omariba said the targeted children lack access to basic rights like education and healthcare due to their being marginalized by the public. Because of this they are unable to communicate and therefore denied an opportunity to learn comfortably.
“Deaf people have a wide range of hearing loss with varying effects on their ability to process sound and thus understand speech. Hearing aids are beneficial but do not cure hearing loss. Lip or speech reading ability varies from person to person and not very effective because most words seem alike on the lips,” said Omariba.
UUNET Kenya uses the annual walk to raise funds for OED’s ear operations of children from needy backgrounds and related outreach programs.
The inaugural Ear Walk was held on April 28, 2007 at Uhuru Park and has been and will continue happening yearly and the funds raised are spent on outreach camps and ear operations for needy children.
Interested sponsors are still welcome and can get in touch with Rowena on 6988416/ 000 or email:
