IPNews-Monrovia: He has been doing this for nearly a year now, giving hot cooked meal to thousands of former child soldiers who are now abandoned and roaming the streets of Monrovia.

Most these former child soldiers, mainly called ‘zogos’, posed threats to Liberia’s emerging socio-economic and human development.

Mr. Sachdeva, who is the General Manager of the Jeety Trading Corporation, is commonly known as “Jeety” in Liberia.

The distribution of the hot cooked meal along with several sachets of juice and mineral water was done at the prison compound on Tuesday, January 12.

The gesture is part of a daily routine of “Jeety” to less fortunate and vulnerable Liberians in the country.

Making the presentation, Mr. Sachdeva disclosed that the gesture was in fulfillment of a pledge made to prison authorities and others when he visited the facility in 2020 during the heat of the Coronavirus pandemic.

He points out that the initiative is also an assessment gear towards ensuring the distribution of hot cooked meal and others to the inmates and convicts at the prison facility on a regular routine

“Sometime last year I visited here during the Covid-19 and I am here to fulfill my pledge. I am here to start and see if we can do it on a regular basis. We are here to distribute jollof rice, fried chicken with all of the ingredients, water and juice”.

He pointed out that the move was also part of his institution’s own way of identifying with homeless, mentally derailed and less fortunate Liberians on a daily basis.

He added that though the citizens are being detained or serving their sentences at the Monrovia Central Prison for crimes allegedly committed or committed, they are also humans who also deserve “delicious meal”.

For his part, the Deputy Superintendent for Administration at the Monrovia Central Prison (MCP), Joel J. G. Juah, commended Mr. Sachdeva for the gesture.

“On behalf of the Assistant Minister of the Bureau of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Eddie Trawali and the Justice Minister Frank Musa Dean, we will like to extend our thanks and gratitude to Jeety. This is one of the many kind gestures that he has been giving”.

“And so for us at the prison service or management, we think it’s a plus to buttress the efforts of the government. Feeding 1400 inmates at this facility, it’s a plus for us”.

Mr. Juah, however, called on well-meaning philanthropists as well as potential government officials to “cater to inmates because government cannot do it all”.

“Jeety, today you have set a precedent and so we urge people to follow your good example. I can assure you that this donation of cooked food will be used for the intended purpose. You are from the Muslim background and you have fulfilled one of the fundamental principles of Islam”.

Meanwhile, the inmates and convicts have expressed delight over the distribution of the hot cooked meal by “Jeety” and his team to them in their respective prison cells.

“At least today we are eating jollof rice and chicken and we are coming to drink juice also. We want to say thanks to you Mr. Jeety for thinking about us in this New Year. We hope this will continue”, one of the inmates who was locked up behind bars stated after receiving his share of the distribution.

Mr. Upjit Sachdeva commonly known as “Jeety” (with black face mask) and others getting the food prepared for the inmates and convicts at the Monrovia Central Prison.

The Honorary Indian Consul General to Liberia, Mr. Upjit Sachdeva, has distributed hot cooked meals to more than 1,400 convicts and inmates at the Monrovia Central Prison.