Imtiaz Sooliman – NGO Gift of the Givers commemorates 30 years of existence
AI: Summary ©
The non-profit organization in Bosnia describes the devastation caused by the unrest in Syria and Afghanistan, including the deaths of many people and their families. The organization's teams are well trained and well-equipped to handle the crisis, and they have a diverse program that includes energy, human trafficking, and mental support. The South African hospitals are facing challenges such as war and domestic violence, and the need for mental health support and energy is emphasized. The organization collaborates with other organizations, but there is enough space for collaboration and space for energy.
AI: Summary ©
So this month, non governmental organization, gift of the givers
commemorates 30 years of existence. For three decades, the
NGO has been on call for various disasters, from fires and drought
to humanitarian relief in war zones and natural disaster sites.
We're joined by the founder, Dr Imtiaz Suleiman to reflect on the
three decades of existence. Dr Suleiman, good afternoon to you,
and thank you very much for availing yourself. Perhaps just
take us back to 30 years ago when this was an idea. How did it all
start?
Good afternoon. Thank you very much. It never was. My idea before
this is not my organization. I don't get up one morning and say,
I need to form an organization. I need to get some members. I need
to write a constitution. I need to write down some funding
principles. It never happened like that. It's it's a very spiritual
basis and a very spiritual origin. I met a spiritual master whom I
was told about in the early in the late 80s, based in Istanbul, in
Turkey. And that was in 1986 when I was told about that master. And
I thought to myself, when will I will end up in Turkey? But I was
just on a visit. I went there 91 I met him for the first time. And
then in 92 on the sixth of August, coinciding with six of August, the
last week 30 years ago, it was a Thursday night at 10pm he suddenly
looks me in the eye from the corner of the room, and he says,
in true and Turkish. I don't speak a word of Turkish, but I
understood every word he said. He said, My son, I'm not asking you,
I'm instructing you to form an organization.
The name in Arabic will be wakul Wafi, yourself, all people of all
races, all religions, all colors, all classes, all cultures, of any
geographical location and of any political location, but you will
serve them unconditionally. You will expect nothing in return, not
even a thank you. This is an instruction for you for the rest
of your life. And remember, whatever you do is done through
you and not by you. This was very spiritual
with every high call to service. It's not easy, right? So the road
will be paved sometimes with very fiery stones, if you will just
talk us through some of the most challenging times, and whether at
some point you thought, no, maybe, maybe this is not for me.
No, no, yes, it was. It's always challenging. You know, we
understand that. He said, from the beginning, you said, you have a
lot of challenges. And in fact, the first project we undertook was
a civil war in Bosnia. The same month, August, 22 we responded
with 32 containers of aid into a war zone. And in November, we went
with another eight containers of eight. And the following year, we
designed the world's first and only containerized mobile
hospital, a product of South African technology, built in
Africa, taken into Europe. I was obstructed for 20 weeks. Hospital
into Bosnia, there was obstruction from every quarter. And you know,
some people said, You know what, you've tried, it's okay. You've
done the effort. Leave it be, take it somewhere else. And I said, No,
people are in difficulty. We are dying. They need health services.
I can't stop it's not in my nature to give up things in mind, in my
vocabulary, there's no such word as can't, and that carries
throughout the entire organization. We don't understand
the word can't, and we and if you on the other side, and you think,
if you and your family side, you know you would expect people to
respond to you. So we can't turn back. So Bosnia was a good
challenge. The war in Syria was a challenge. The hunger in Somalia
and the fiction and the fighting taking place while you're trying
to deliver aid in Somalia was a challenge. In Haiti, they were
shooting in the streets and looting, and there's a death
everywhere. So many 1200, 50,000 people had passed on. In Pakistan,
we couldn't get into the mountains without helicopters. People had
died everywhere. So it's emotionally and physically
draining, but our teams are well trained in advance to expect this
kind of crisis and to respond to it. In South Africa, of course,
the big challenge, that was the longest challenge ever, a
disaster. You know, it takes 710, days to respond to, but covid took
almost two years, and it had a draining effect on all members of
our team. You know, their families, people involved in
hospitals, so it was a tough time. But because we know this process
so well, everybody stood together and supported each other all the
time, speaking of your team. So you met the alchemist, and you
heeded the call. To some degree, you are the alchemist to some
members of your team. What is it that you think draws people to the
organization and makes them stay?
It's got to do with the spiritual nature of the people that come to
our organization. It draws people of various religions, of different
colors, of different races, of different cultural groups, and
they all come with one single minded purpose, how to help people
in to help themselves, how to assist people. How can we make a
difference? And they prepare to sacrifice their own lives. They go
into war zones. They prepare to sacrifice their families. They.
Their children, and they are driven by this passion to when
have other people. And it's that same group of people that have
gone into war zones that drove the processes in the South African
hospitals in covid It's liked by the people. What a shared
spirituality, who have a love for people, and they respond in the
most incredible way, totally selfless. And they just, in fact,
so much so that when we were in Syria, people
asked us, you know, because, remember, the things I things are
involving. It's not, this was not the same people all the time. New
people coming all the time. I mean, when Syria the medical guys,
they developed many, you know, because they all were many were
killed, so they were few, and they needed support. And they asked,
How many years have you guys been working together, and that team
was a fairly new team, and most people had never met each other
before, and we said we've met each other, most of us for the first
time here, they said, We line. It's impossible. How can people
work with such unity and understanding having worked
before? It's a spirituality, the kind of thought processes that
make us work together, think together. Think together. You know
exactly what we're going to do next. Is this space for other
organizations to do the work that you do? And is there space for
collaboration?
There is enough space. The world is full of crisis right now.
There's not enough people to do the crisis, you know, to deal with
the crisis. There's work, yes. So there's enough space for
everybody. There's so many diverse areas your program talking about
energy. I mean, energy is a huge problem in this country and
throughout the world because of the crisis now in Ukraine, yes,
hunted throughout Africa. There's drought in Somalia this you know,
there's people who need skills. There's a shortage of skills.
There's medical support required. People need psychological support
in the country, in the continent and throughout the world, there's
human trafficking. There's people who've lost the path we need to be
guided right. People that have been taken, you know, by drugs,
drug traffickers, you know, or drug dealers. People getting lost.
People have to be assisted in terms of the difficulties they
have. And people have to be guided to move away from the kind of
things that cost half the fellow being. Also, people get involved
in wars and instigate wars. They have to be taken away. So they
require spiritual interaction. It requires a human interaction. It
requires assistance from a physical point of view and an
emotional point of view. We do collaborate with other
organizations, but in when I say that, when we go to a disaster
area, we see what they're doing so we don't encroach on the same
area. We say, Okay, you guys take straight you guys are doing street
A, we will do street B. And they will come and say, We need this
machine. Can you help us? We'll say, Yes, we have a spare one. You
can have it. And they will come to us and say, you know, we have this
medication. We don't require it anymore. Can you take it? So it's
an understanding that we work with each other, but still separately.
Fair enough. Dr Suleiman, who
helps the helper, who guides, the guide of lack of a better word,
who counsels the counselor. What fills your cup?
We have our own counseling division. If Dr givers has 21
different categories of projects, you know, and each category has
its own, different subcategories. Counseling is one of the main
parts of gift of the givers.
We have our counseling team, we have trauma counselors, and we
have abundant psychologists in the country wanting to work with us at
any time. The strange thing is that none of the health care
workers ever ask for counseling, even though they may need it, but
especially again, when we're in difficult situations, they sort of
get together, make jokes, laugh, relieve the pressure. Even in a
war zone, they talk to each other and have an affinity with each
other, where they talk the issues away and they find solace in the
team itself. The comfort comes from the team itself. The other
important thing that I do, although, as I said, we have
houses on standby, available anytime they want it, we even make
them available, but most of them don't take that, you know, that
offer, except now during covid itself, for the first time, I've
seen huge numbers of healthcare workers, not necessarily my team,
but a huge number of healthcare workers saying they need mental
health, mental support. The crisis has been too huge. It's affected
in a bad way. They need health. Is there a workshop? Is there some
yoga? Is there some kind of mindfulness or some kind of
meditation? People need that. So, you know, there's been a huge
request for that. And the other thing that we do, I always train
them. I always speak to them. And if I tell them, You guys have all
heard the word social distancing, but belong before social
distancing, I should teach them about emotional distancing, that
you don't attach yourself to a situation, a person, a child or an
adult. You can feel compassion for the conditions of the people, but
don't attach yourself to anyone personally, the moment you do
that, it will affect you and you're not going to go to work
emotional distancing. Dr MTS Suleiman is founder of gift of
forgiveness. We celebrate 30 years a big congratulations to you, and
thank you very much for availing yourself. You.