Social

Home page

Social

KOICA and KOAZ visit a Boarding school â„–3 in Bakuâ€™s Khazar district

20 October 2014 14:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku – APA. The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Office in Azerbaijan and the KOICA Alumni Association in Azerbaijan (KOAZ) paid a charity visit to the boarding school â„–3 for mentally and physically challenged children in Khazar district, Baku on October 18, 2014, KOICA told APA.

Besides carrying out grant projects with the Azerbaijan government, the KOICA Office, along with the participants of the KOICA fellowship program, holds charity events for the boarding schools and orphanages in Azerbaijan. They carry out charity campaigns aimed at promoting the integration of children deprived of parental and family care into the society. As part of these campaigns, the KOICA provided a broad range of assistance and sends gifts to orphanages and boarding schools. The KOICA and KOAZ launched their first charity work in 2012 when they visited a boarding school in Sumgait. The organizations continued their charity work making a visit to a kindergarten in Fuzuli region in May and November of 2013.

The visit on October 18 was also aimed at getting acquainted with the welfare of people, especially children who are mentally and physically handicapped, render moral and material support to the children. About 165 mentally and physically handicapped children are educated and living in the boarding school â„–3.

The children at the boarding school were distributed different kinds of juice and sweets. Moreover, music keyboards, blankets, clothing, food and snacks, detergent and diapers were donated by the KOICA visitors to the boarding school. The staff of the Samsung Office in Azerbaijan also joined the event and generously presented washing machines, televisions, microwaves and refrigerators to the boarding school like as they did for the kindergarten in Fuzuli region last year. Furthermore, Hyuindai Engineering Co., LTD. and Halla Cooperation, performing the KOICA Grant Project "Establishment of Water Supply and Sanitation System in Kurdakhani Settlement" contributed to the boarding school as well. The KOICA staff, the KOAZ members, Samsung staff and representatives of Hyundai Engineering Co., LTD. and Halla Cooperation spent some time with children and took memory photos.

The Resident Representative of the KOICA Office in Azerbaijan Ms. Kim Eun Suk gave brief information on the KOICA and its activities in Azerbaijan and noted that approximately 25 KOICA Alumni members joined the visit. She expressed her gratitude to all staff of the boarding school for a warm welcome and appreciated the presence of volunteers. She also thanked everyone for their participation and said the charity visits would further continue.

The deputy mayor of Khazar district, a member of the KOAZ, Ms. Lala Ahmadova also thanked Ms. Kim Eun Suk and the KOICA Office for the kind initiative and added that the KOAZ alumni were privileged to take part in the KOICA programs and now eager to share their skills and knowledge earned in Korea with the Azerbaijani society. She added that all the kids were so eager to be with the volunteers as if they met their own relatives after a long time.

The KOICA is a state agency, which was established under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea in 1991, in order to implement grant and cooperation programs for developing nations. The KOICA Office in Azerbaijan was opened in February 2009. The Korean government allocated 34 million dollars towards the realization of the KOICA projects from 1991 to 2013. Currently, the KOICA Office in Azerbaijan implements a number of cooperation projects, including "Establishment of Water Supply and Sanitation System in Kurdakhani", "Establishment of Electronic Education Network and Digital Multimedia Infrastructure for Nakhchivan State University", Establishment of Educational Center for e-Government in Azerbaijan". The KOICA has been inviting Azerbaijani public officials and students to various fellowship and scholarship programs since 1994. As of 2014, the number of KOICA alumni has reached over 450.