The human face behind disasters
PARKTOWN – The South African spirit of Ubuntu received high praises during a lecture by well-known humanitarian Dr Imtiaz Sooliman.
During his delivery of the fourth annual Albertina Sisulu Memorial Lecture hosted by the School of Therapeutic Sciences in the Wits Faculty of Health Sciences, Sooliman said, “I praise the spirit of the South African people, and challenge Africans to help Africa, and not rely on outside sources of aid.”
Sooliman, founder and director of the Gift of the Givers Foundation, delivered the lecture in keeping with the spirit of Albertina Sisulu’s legacy.
Titled, The human face behind disasters, Sooliman described how in a holy place in August 1992, a meeting with a spiritual teacher set in motion the humble beginnings of not only his own personal spiritual journey, but the evolution of the largest disaster relief group in Africa, the Gift of the Givers Foundation.
He described how he embarked on his first project when he responded to a war zone situation in Bosnia by supplying 31 containers of food and medical supplies. Just three months later, the organisation sent a further eight containers of winter supplies to people in a region lacking gas, heating, warm clothing and food in one of the coldest regions in Eastern Europe.
The Albertina Sisulu Memorial Lecture is hosted annually to commemorate “the mother of the nation” as she was affectionately known, as a nurse and a woman who struggled her whole life for human rights and dignity.
