Imtiaz Sooliman – The gift of giving Carte Blanche MNet
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The gift of the givers foundation provides relief and aid to people affected by natural and manmade disasters, including children with dyslexia and autism. They are involved in various initiatives, including improving school and providing free mental health care. The foundation is also aica for children who need support and finding a stable family for one's life. They emphasize the importance of finding ways for oneself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a way for herself to find a
AI: Summary ©
Earlier this year, two massive earthquakes flattened parts of
Turkey and Syria. The impact was devastating and true to form,
South Africa's gift of the givers sprang into action, dispatching
rescue personnel and crucial medical supplies, food and
blankets to the worst hit area. It was the latest humanitarian
intervention in a catalog of natural and manmade disasters
stretching back decades. The reason gift of the givers is
viewed with such pride by South Africans and in a country
desperate for heroes and good news stories, this celebrated
Foundation provides both. Guest presenter, Lorenza Eckart sat down
with their founder, Dr India Suleiman.
It's just after seven o'clock in the morning, and the school run is
in full swing.
Rahmah is among the sea of children walking to school as so
many times before her dad walks alongside her to the classroom.
Seven year old Rahma is completely unaware that disaster follows his
every step.
The area is one of the worst hit by Mondays
to distribute relief relief workers from death of most of the
injuries that we're seeing is traumatic.
In my time working as a journalist in South Africa, I've seen the
very worst and the very best of us, but few people embody the
spirit of this country, like the man I set out to meet today, and
you'll find him right here in this industrial part of Peter
Maritzburg.
Hi, Lorenzo, welcome to gift of the givers. Very good having you.
Dr Imtiaz Suleiman is a South African humanitarian who founded
the gift of the givers foundation in 1992
he gave up his successful medical practice to follow a calling,
resulting in this the largest disaster response organization of
African origin, providing emergency relief and aid to people
affected by natural disasters, wars and other crises in over 40
countries. Much of the relief aid is sent from this warehouse. I
never expected to be so big. You know, when you think of a small
Muslim group in South Africa, how big are you going to be? You don't
have that kind of big money where everybody from all racism to all
religions will participate, where you have mixed teams going all
across the world. How big is the organization today? 107 full time
people in South Africa, probably 500 staff around the world, keeps
on the givers. Wasn't my idea. It's totally spiritual. I met
spiritual teacher in Turkey in 1992 the spiritual teacher just
picks up his head, makes eye contact with me and looks
heavenwards and in FLUENT Turkish, and I don't speak a word of
Turkish, he said, My son, I'm not asking you, I'm instructing you to
form an organization. A name in Arabic will be wagful waqifen.
Gift of the givers, you will serve people of all races, all
religions, all colors, all classes, all cultures. You
will expect nothing in return, not even a thank you. This is an
instruction for you for the rest of your life, whatever you do is
done through you and not by you.
After all these years, Dr Suleiman continues to answer the call to
help those in need. The gift of the givers is involved in a wide
variety of initiatives, from improving hospitals and schools to
providing free mental health care. They rely entirely on donations in
cash or in kind. Many years ago, this house was the headquarters of
the gift of the givers. Today, it's a refuge for people in the
community in need of counseling and psychological support.
Heading up this program is gift of the givers. Co Founder and Dr
Suleiman's wife, Zora Suleman. They weren't any psychological
support services for the Indian Muslim community. And so that is
why I decided, Okay, let's start off this gift of the givers, care
line, counseling service, as much as I thought this was only for the
Muslim and the Indian community, it opened up to everybody. And we
also work in schools, where we do lots of life skills, and we do
topics like anti bullying, anger management, substance abuse,
support, from give to the givers is so immense, we will really
struggle to allow our children to reach the standard that they are
without their support.
What was once a bare, lifeless classroom now.
Bloomed with vibrant colors, offering a lifeline to the less
fortunate children who would have otherwise been deprived of such
opportunities. This remarkable transformation owes much to
principal, super sad, unwavering commitment to the school. He
reached out to Dr Suleiman for assistance children who are
dyslexic, have autism, whatever reason, they seem to be Children
of a Lesser God, and support is missing. But when doc and the
Foundation came along, they saw this need for us to really support
the vulnerable children. They come in with that compassion, that
love. He's such an optimistic person, where I would be
struggling to find a way. He just brings this optimism and gives it
to us and says, here's the way for you.
It's all things that are doable, and you're making a difference to
somebody's life. You can't make a difference to 65 million people's
lives, but you can make a difference to one life, and every
day you had a few more lives. And that's what we believe in doing.
When you help the people, you still just feel this peace when
you see a smile on the person's face or a child being happy with
something, something happens in your soul. I can't explain it.
I find peace in my prayer.
I find peace in my spiritual feelings.
Every time I need some arrangement or some network, it comes right in
front of me.
I need people. They call me. If I need something, I get to know
about it. If something is about to happen, I made a connection three
weeks before it
happens. It all comes at the right time, in the right place. It just
placed in front for you, there's no doubt in 30 years that
everything about this is spiritual.
Dr Imtiaz Suleiman's selfless dedication over the last three
decades has saved millions of people, yet it has taken a
profound toll on his own life. The
spiritual teacher told me specifically that when you do this
job, you got to divide your life into three parts, one part for
yourself, one part for your family, and one part for what you
going to do. I could never follow that formula. Everything went
because I basically destroyed the family. And that's the only regret
that I have in my life. I've lost out on my children
in those years, which were the early years of my children,
India's was away a lot of the time, overseas for long and
extended periods, I looked at myself as the one stable anchor in
my children's life, because emptiels was traveling so
extensively they need a semblance of a solid family, I wasn't going
to compromise that at any cost. God has steered our paths in our
life, but we've accepted that this is our life, and with it comes a
lot of sacrifices. And
then you met your second wife. Yeah, I met her after the
earthquake in Pakistan in 2005
and then in 2007
December we got married.
I think the greatest joy is when I see my family happy. In fact, the
kids laugh at me. They said, When I tell a joke, it's not funny, and
then they start laughing. So I said, if my joke is not funny, why
are you laughing?
It's more about happiness, and watch the children grow, the
grandchildren grow,
to see their happiness, to see their progress, to see their
development,
and how they can attach to you an eventual account. Want to be only
with you.
How do you control your emotions when you go on these responses and
you meet these communities and you see the sadness in the world. God
has given me a special gift. It doesn't move me.
I don't get attached to any situation. And I tell my teens
before they leave and said, feel for the situation. Don't feel for
the individual.
Given what Dr Suleiman has seen he remains optimistic about South
Africa's future.
I'm a disaster tourist. I don't visit countries in good times. I
go in the worst of times, and I've seen real havoc. We're nowhere
near that.
After having spent some time with Dr MTR, Suleiman, I've learned
that it really doesn't take much to make a difference. We just need
to look around us and start somewhere.
As long as we participate in the life of our lives within the
country, we will fix the system. And you can see it already. People
are saying we'll fix the oceans, we'll fix the potholes, we'll cut
the badges on.
The side, we do have problems, not something that we can't fix. And
the most important thing is active citizenry. The country does not
belong to the government.
Let's go back to 27 April, 1994
it is the single greatest event in our country, not because of black
government to replace the white government. We were told, full
your houses with food. Nothing happened.
Everybody was calm, peaceful. Voted but in nothing that
happened. Actually, everything happened. They said in the action,
we're going to rebuild this country. If you haven't learned
from that, sorry you haven't learned anything.
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