Samia donates 50m/- to Prof J’s foundation

DAR ES SALAAM: PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has contributed 50m/- to the newly introduced Professor J Foundation which aims at raising funds to help people suffering from kidney diseases.

The renowned Tanzanian hip-hop singer, whose real name is Joseph Haule, officially launched his foundation on Sunday at Mlimani City in Dar es Salaam which attracted many supporters who attended the occasion.

“I am thankful to President Samia for contributing 50m/- and this shows that what we are doing has touched many people since we want to bring back smiles to our fellow Tanzanians,” he said.

He further narrated that the first phase of his foundation is targeting to raise 800m/- to support 50 patients who are going through kidney problems hence he called on people to continue contributing whatever they have for the course.

“We have started with helping kidney patients because it is the disease that troubled me for almost two years and I have seen many Tanzanians finding it hard to pay expenses for its cure.

“As such, some patients opt to return home as they give up due to the expensive nature of the disease hence the reason we came up with this idea is to bring smiles to their faces,” he said.

He added that he was impressed as people have put aside their political, religious and tribal interests to come together and contribute towards the foundation insisting that good health is number one capital to everyone.

According to him, every kidney dialysis costs 300,000/- and each week, a kidney patient is supposed to go for dialysis three to four times which he said amounts to 1.2m/- per patient.

“We request Tanzanians to continue helping us with whatever they have because it is costly to undergo kidney treatment and until now, on our Instagram page, we have more than 600 people who need support from our foundation.

“The fact is that kidney problems do not only affect adults, even newly born kids are suffering from kidney failures due to lifestyles of their parents in terms of what they eat, drink and lack of doing physical exercises,” he said.

Though he can talk and eat, Professor J cannot walk on his own. He arrived at Mlimani City in a wheelchair.

Recently, he released a song titled 462 Days, depicting the days he spent in the hospital which explains in detail what happened before, during and after his discharge from the hospital.