Imtiaz Sooliman – A message to young people in SA
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AI: Transcript ©
Mr. Chancellor, I have the honor to introduce you to Dr Imtiaz
Ismail Suleiman for the presentation of the Chancellor's
Medal.
Dr imtia Suleiman is the founder of the non governmental
humanitarian organization, gift of the givers that has since its
inception in 1992
provided aid to needy people and communities locally and in 42
countries, both in Africa and globally. Born in Porchester,
Dr siliman trained as a medical doctor at the University of Natal
qualifying in 1984
throughout his career, he has been involved in civic associations,
religious organizations, and early on, became active in the field of
humanitarian aid, under the dedicated leadership of Dr
Suleiman, the gift of the givers activities include projects such
as the provision of emergency medical services in situations of
violent conflict and war, disaster relief, primary health care
clinics, feeding schemes, water purification and water wells,
distribution of blankets, clothing and food parcels, provision of
bursaries and educational support for the underprivileged.
Agricultural self help schemes, job creation, counseling services,
drug rehabilitation and HIV AIDS, skills development and life
altering workshops.
In recent years, Dr Suleman has also become increasingly involved
in mediation in violent conflicts and negotiations for the release
of hostages
through his work, Dr Suleman contributes daily to the
international ideal of pursuing peace, security and human dignity.
He works tirelessly and fearlessly to provide relief to people caught
up in the scourge of war and national disasters, regardless of
who these people are and where they suffer.
Dr Suleiman is the personification of the ideal South African
identity, someone who has committed his life and profession
to the improvement of the human condition. He serves as an example
of the extent to which education, together with a principal stance,
can make a difference in the lives of 1000s of people who are
entangled in dehumanizing and life threatening circumstances. Dr
Suleiman personifies the values and ideals of community
engagement, integrity and social justice in a visible manner and on
a daily basis through his civic commitment, which transcends the
barriers of race, religion, class, nationality and geography.
Dr Suleiman sa serves as an inspiration to all of us, showing
through his life's mission and work what it means to be truly
human.
Mr. Chancellor, I request you to present the Chancellor's Medal to
the candidate.
I hereby present the Chancellor's Medal to Dr emitius. Ismail
Suliman, congratulations.
Meeting the chancellor, deans, Deputy deans, principal members of
Senate, staff, doctor, very
professor, Maxis kuman, who did the citation for me the Faculty of
Humanities and Faculty of Law. Thank you very much for nominating
me for this Chancellor's Medal.
I like to go back and first congratulations to all the
students and to your parents for what you achieved. Your
achievement could never be without the hardship, the dedication and
the struggle of your parents. And before I actually start for what I
say, I like students to remember, because many of us, once we get to
the high life, we get our degrees, we make progress. Many of us
forget where we came from. We forget the struggle of the pension
old lady, the granny who took care of seven and eight children who
gave up a pension money so that you could be here to study or go
to school.
Do we get caught up in the materialistic life? We forget our
values, we forget our systems, and it's only about chasing material
values, and we forget all the principles and values, all the
education, all the technology and all the learning the world is
useless if you lose our values, our social social virtue, and our
self service, especially to parents, kit and kin, neighbors
and communities where we come from. So don't forget where you
come from. Remember that that is your beginning, your humble
beginning, and people stood by you to be a great person. You go back
to where you started, and you start off with those who put you
where you are today. You didn't come here on your own. You're not
too clever. Everything comes by the grace of God Almighty. So I
want students to remember that, and never forget your parents. You
should be bowing to them for what they've done for you to be where
you are today. You
and what I'm going to say, we will learn the principles and values of
life. This Chancellor's Medal is not because of me. It's because of
the teams that work with me. It's because of my family sacrifice,
and it's because of a great teacher. It was the sixth of
August, 1992
I was in Turkey in Istanbul, I met a spiritual teacher, a Sufi
master, in a Muslim holy place. What was amazing about that holy
place is that what there were people of all cultures, all
religions, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims and even people
who said, We don't believe but they were not judged. They were
welcomed with open arms, and everyone was shown love and
compassion. It was something very amazing. I fell in love with the
teacher the moment I saw him. It was a spiritual connection that
same night, at 10pm
after a religious ceremony in the Sufi tradition, we call it Zikr.
Zikr is the recitation of God's names in a certain combination. We
have the names in Arabic, but in English, we'll say the eternal,
Absolute One and only preserve a loving, kind, compassion, merciful
or God's names mentioned in Arabic, in Arabic in a certain
combination.
After that ceremony, the teacher looks across the room at me whilst
he's connecting with my eyes and my soul, he's connecting upwards
also, so I can see that, why is it looking at me? He's somewhere else
at the same time,
he tells me in FLUENT Turkish, and I don't understand a word of
Turkish, but I understood every single word that he said.
And he said, My son,
I'm not asking you,
I'm instructing you to form an organization in Arabic, the name
will be walkful Waka fin translated it means gift of the
givers. You will serve all people of all races, of all religions, of
all colors, of all cultures, of all classes of any geographical
location and of any political affiliation, but you will serve
them unconditionally. You will not expect anything in return, not
even a thank you. In fact, in what you going to be doing for the rest
of your life, expect to get a kick up your back. If you don't get a
kick up your back, regard that as a bonus. You said self people got
love, kindness, compassion, mercy, and remember the dignity of man is
foremost. So if someone is down in the ground, don't push him down
further, hold him and lift him up. Wipe the tear of a grieving child.
Say words of good counsel to a widow or caress the head of an
orphan. It's free. It doesn't cost anything. Provide food to the
hungry and water to the thirsty,
and in everything that you do be the best at what you do, not
because of ego, but because you're dealing with human life, human
suffering and human emotions. How would you like somebody to respond
to you if you on the other side, in that position, if you can
honestly answer that question, then you would know how to serve
people. He went on to say, hironas May and for unas, translated
meaning, best among people are those who benefit mankind. And He
repeated it three times. He said, My emphasis is on the word
mankind, not Muslim, not Arab, not Indian. You serve all of creation
unconditionally. And then he went on to say, my son, remember the
most important thing in all this. Remember that whatever you do is
done.
And through you, and not by you.
And everything in life you achieve is only by the grace of God
Almighty, and not by our sheer genius, because even that is given
by him, we cannot manufacture that. That's the most important
lesson you need to learn in life, brothers and sisters. And then he
went on to say, now go back to your country. This is an
instruction for you for the rest of your life, and that's how it
started. I just mentioned two or three projects. The first project
is related directly to the city
in Roslyn. There's a company called affluent fund of Italian
engineering. I went to Turkey at the time of apartheid, we
were prejudiced, black against white, Christian, against Muslim.
We were in different areas. Our minds were blocked. Everybody
didn't like everybody. But when I went there and I saw people of all
religions harmoniously, getting along with each other, the blocks
were removed. And I came back to South Africa, and I found Johan
Van De vet engineering. I said, Johan, we're going to build the
world's first containerized mobile hospital to take it to the war in
Bosnia. Because Johan had built a theater, an x ray and a
sterilization unit for arms. And I saw that at the show in August 92
and in 93 sorry, in November 92 and in 93 February, I said, we're
going to build this for the war in Bosnia. We went around and I told
Johan,
Johan, I can't guarantee I'm going to pay you.
I'm an NGO. We just started. We're not a business, so even if I give
you the contract, you may make all the expenses, but I may not be
able to pay you. He's a Christian, Africana, white man. We have
prejudices. We're against each other. We have perceptions and
stereotypes. And he tells me, Have faith. Christian guy, telling the
Muslim guy, have faith.
And I said, Johan, but I have an obligation to pay you. He says, My
Friend, I know you will pay me, but if you cannot pay me, this
gift is from me to you.
We need to open our minds. We need to remove the blink of visions.
And in that spirit, we went and we built the world's first
containerized mobile hospital in South Africa, in Pretoria. And
people don't believe in Africa. Africans don't believe in Africa.
We don't believe in Africa. We want to look into the North for
everything. We don't believe in ourselves, in our skills and our
gifts. But we build the world's first containerized mobile
hospital in South Africa, in Africa, and we took it to Europe,
and Europe, what did they say when CNN filmed hospital, it said the
South African mobile hospital is comparable to any of the best
hospitals in Europe. That was in 93
engineering of South Africa, skills of South Africans, products
of this university and other universities in this country.
Ladies and gentlemen, take your studies seriously. We make an
impression in the world wherever we go, because of our skill and
our commitment and one other great gift that we have that many people
don't have, we have the spirit of Ubuntu
when South Africans go across, you know what they tell us when we
touch the patients, when we examine the patients, we carry the
patients and we kiss them. You know what many people tell us? You
know what other teams that come here? They stand far. They don't
come. Yes, they're afraid to touch us. What kind of a people are you?
Not only did you examine us, you hug us, you kiss us, you wipe the
notes of the dirty baby, and you show love and compassion. What
kind of a people are you?
There's two more stories I like to finish. I'm giving in short, the
one was in 2005
again, related not only to this city, but specifically to this
university. October 8, one of the biggest earthquakes ever, hits
Pakistan, 9.0 on the left the scale. It doesn't wipe out one
city. An earthquake normally wipes out one city. It wiped out an
entire region, from Rawat Pindi to Islamabad to the Kashmir border.
The whole North West Frontier Province was gone. 400 villages
were affected. People sank into the ground. We took the thing
teams across to Pakistan.
The Pakistan military came to me, entertained. Africans are for
clamped
the Pakistani armies more for crime than the Africans. He
looks at me, the military comes to me, and he says, Do you mind not
going to the earthquake?
So I said, Sai, we won't go to the earthquake. My team say, what did
we come for? I said, You don't understand what this man is
saying. I said, Can you give me a hospital in ramalpindi where we
can treat the patients the muridhi.
Guy looks at me. He says, you understand? I said, Of course, I
understand. So they asked, What is he talking about? I said, what the
man is telling you? That everybody is dead, everything is destroyed,
everything is gone. There's nothing you're going to do in the
mountains. We can only send them to stabilize those who are alive
and come back to ramad Pindi and treat them in this hospital. They
gave us the contentment hospital of ramalpindi. When I walked
inside, there was a smell of gangrene. Children wore on beds
with no water, no Ivy, lines stinking, no parents, no family,
no food for two or three days, kids lying in disastrous condition
and eating gang amputation. And I asked the military guy, is this a
killing field? What is this?
He looked at me. He was shocked. The superintendent of the hospital
said we were shutting this hospital down. We can't use it. I
said, You guys are crazy. There's nothing wrong with this hospital.
If I give you a shopping list, can you bring the swimming 24 hours?
They said, Yes, we will do it in 20 in less than 24 hours, a South
African team converted a hospital that was closing into a 400 bed
emergency hospital where we did 75 operations a day and saved
countless lives in the Pakistan earthquake, when there was no
equipment, when there were no proper drills, orthopedic drills.
The medical teams walked forward, the Afrikaner guy, said the
burmaka plan, and
they found a way of getting that Black and Decker drill doing
orthopedic procedures. And because of that, the Pakistani government
gave us a Presidential Award, the only organization in Africa to get
that,
but there was something more significant than that.
I told you I would relate something to this university in
December, around Christmas time, a lady from this university called
Karina axtien, physiotherapist, gave up her religious time in
Christmas. Christian lady went to Pakistan, a Muslim country. She's
a specialist in physio, in spinal rehab, and she went and gave three
to four weeks of her time as a volunteer in Pakistan. She had the
skill. She had the Ubuntu. She didn't worry about stereotypes.
She had compassion. She didn't worry about color, culture,
religion or class, and she came from this university, and when she
finished off, many people were walking. And when she left, the
patients cried, the families cried, the doctors cried, and even
the military cried. Ladies and gentlemen, we salva can do great
things across the world. We need to believe in ourselves, give
freely, have the spirit of Ubuntu and give all the values that the
university teaches us. Go and study further. Be the best at what
you can be, but not for yourself, for your family, for your
community, for your villages, for your country, for the continent,
for over the world and for God Almighty. Thank you very much.
You.