Mangochi — Friends of the North (FON) Mangochi Chapter Wednesday cheered inmates and patients at Mangochi Prison and Mangochi District Hospital where they donated assorted items worth K300, 000.

FON's chairperson Macleod Mphande said the group's members wanted to share the little they had with the inmates and in-patients during this festive season.

"While we are celebrating Christmas, we realize that our friends who are in prison and hospital may not have close relatives to support them.

"Since we are here and close, we thought we could play the role of relatives," he said.

Mphande said, as people from the northern region, they believe in coexistence and one way of showing that was to donate to people who were part of the community living with the FON in Mangochi.

"Let me urge people to emulate Jesus Christ's heart of giving especially during this festive season when all Christians across the world remember His birth," he said.

Speaking on behalf of the prison's officer-in-charge, Sergeant Anna Kadango, thanked FON members for the timely support to the inmates whom, she said, were lacking in many ways.

Over 275 inmates received Sobo squash while the hospital's tuberculosis (TB) ward received packets of sugar, bread, Sobo squash and soap.

FON grouping has been doing charity work and donations at the Mangochi District Hospital for years and this year they extended the gesture to the prison.

Established in 2012, FON comprises people from the northern region but reside in Mangochi, those who have married or are married to northerners and those with a passion to interact with the members.