President’s Village receives new books from Constance Ephelia Resort |17 September 2019

The handover of the books

Children residing at the President’s Village are being encouraged to read more, to improve their vocabulary and language skills and develop their imagination through a donation of textbooks and storybooks from Constance Ephelia Resort Seychelles.

The donation of books, including numerous educational books for different ages in the three national languages, took place yesterday afternoon at the village in the presence of residents, staff of the village as well as representatives of the National Council for Children (NCC).

A representative of NCC responsible for the management of President’s Village received the donation and thanked the management team of Constance Ephelia Resort Seychelles for the initiative

General manager of Constance Ephelia Resort Seychelles Stephen Duchene presented the books stating the importance of books towards brain development in youngsters.

“It is a great honour for us to be here today and to be contributing towards the educational development of the students at the President’s Village. There are two important things that kids need – health and education. Health is achieved through nutrition, and the care they receive. Then you have brain development, which is just as important as health and it is this that we are trying to develop.”

“There is a good selection of books – maths, English, French, storybooks – and we hope that through these books and the knowledge you will acquire from them, we will see many graduates from President’s Village and why not, a future President. You are responsible for making choices with regards to your personal development so I hope you will make the most of these books,” Mr Duchene noted.

Mr Duchene reaffirmed his support for the village stating that they will continue to assist with future needs of the residents and the village through the establishment’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme.

The donation of books, amounting to R27,000, was made through Constance Ephelia Resort’s CSR.

Landscape manager and CSR coordinator at Ephelia Constance Resort Seychellesm, Cedrick Thomas, noted that they have worked with the village in the past. Two years ago, employees participated in a clean-up of the village along with residents and staff.

“After a discussion with the coordinator of the village, it became clear that some of the children experience difficulties with reading and so we took the initiative that books would be the best idea. This forms part of the activities organised as all Constance hotels observe Generosity Week where we will be giving back to the community,” Mr Thomas stated.

Speaking to Seychelles NATION, Mr Duchene emphasised the importance of giving back to the community for the hotel.

“We have done quite a lot in the surrounding communities in the past, for instance through the kiosk project at Port Launay. We feel that the children are the future and as much as we can contribute towards their development is good. It is important that we all give back to the community in which we thrive and especially to show the children that we care as well,” Mr Duchene further added.

The children at the village were very excited to receive the books and can access them through the village’s library. The books will also be used by two teachers who give extra classes to the children on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.