Cebu’s sister city donates for hospital wing
CEBU CITY – Haarlemmermeer town in Netherlands, the sister city of Cebu, turned over a donation of 10,000 euros or about P600,000 Monday as its donation to help the city hospital’s pediatric ward.
The donation was made to mark the silver anniversary of the sisterhood agreement between Cebu and Haarlemmermeer town.
According to City Councilor Alvin Dizon, who was present during the turnover, the amount will be used to help augment the pediatric ward of the new Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC).
The hospital was demolished due to massive damage from the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that hit Central Visayas in 2013. The first phase of the new CCMC building is already 80 percent complete.
Because of this, Vriendschapsband Haarlemmermeer-Cebu (VHC), decided to launch an auction to raise the amount, according to Peter Janssen and Jan Willem Ittmann, two of the delegates from Cebu’s Dutch sister city.
“The delegation was very overwhelmed when they saw the children in the pediatric ward”, enough reason why VHC pushed to do something for them, Ittman said.
City Councilor Margarita Osmeña, Vice Chairperson of the Cebu City Sister Ties Commission, said she was the one who requested Haarlemmermeer to donate solely the assistance to the children’s ward after seeing kids sharing beds with other kids when she visited the center two weeks ago.
“They’re making the best of what they have, but the patients are still sharing beds… We hope that we’ll have a pediatric ward really a place for children. Not only for small people, it’s really for the children so that they can see it as a place of healing,” she said.
On that day, the VHC also distributed to the children at CCMC stuffed toys which they have collected from kids in their hometown.
Since 1992, the sister city relationship of Haarlemmermeer and Cebu has supported advocacies, projects and programs in the fields of education, cultural exchange, health and emergency response and agriculture, among others.
To recall, Haarlemmermeer City officials led by Mayor Theo Weterings sojourned in Cebu City on November last year for a week-long celebration of sister-city activities.
The “Queen City of the South” has also established sisterhood relationships with Kaohsiung City, Taiwan; Yeosu City, South Korea; Xiamen, China; Honolulu City, United States of America (USA); Chula Vista, California, USA; Seattle City, Washington, USA; Paramata, Australia; Kitchener, Canada; Salinas City, California; Vladivostok, Russia; Barcelona, Spain; Brisbane, Australia; Rio de Janiero, Brazil; Sabrosa, Portugal; and Hoofdorp, Holland.