Corporate Social Review Magazine 1st Quarter 2012 | Page 63

Gift of the Givers
The Gift of the Givers Foundation is a disaster relief organisation
founded in South Africa by Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman. Rooted as it is in
Africa, the Gift of the Givers is the largest organisation of its kind on
the continent.

T

o this date The Gift of the
Givers has delivered over
R650 million in aid both within South Africa and to 33 countries
around the world. They also designed and developed the world’s
first and largest containerised mobile hospital, which was deployed
in Bosnia. This unique project delivered a facility that is comparable
to the best hospitals in Europe and
remains unmatched to this day.
Dr Imtiaz Sooliman was born in
Potchefstroom, in the North West
and started his schooling in Potchefstroom before moving to Sastri College in Durban in 1976. He
qualified as a medical doctor at
the then University of Natal Medical School in 1984. Throughout his
life - alongside his studies and his
medical work - Sooliman has been
involved in several associations,
religious organisations and schoolgoverning bodies progressively as
a student, medical doctor and an
active member of civil society.

Dr Imtiaz Sooliman

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For Sooliman humanitarian aid transcends the boundaries of race, religion,
culture, class and
geography which is
why he gave up his
career as a medical
doctor and in 1992
founded the Gift of
the Givers Foundation. The organisation is impartial and
apolitical, and aims
to always serve with
compassion, kindness and mercy.
Under the dedication, energy and
leadership of Dr Imtiaz Sooliman,
the foundation provides disaster
relief, primary healthcare clinics,
feeding schemes, water purification and water wells; distributes
new blankets, clothing and food
parcels; provides bursaries and
scholarships, educational support, toys for the underprivileged,
agricultural self-help schemes, job
creation, counselling services and
drug rehabilitation; It conducts HIV
and AIDS, skills development and
life-altering workshops (sports development, institutional support,
medical support, interfaith and cultural projects, adoption of the Adelaide Tambo school for the disabled, wheelchair distribution, shoe
distributions, recycling initiatives,
adoption of the Sarah Fox Convalescent Home and Nutritional
Supplementation). Gift of the Givers Foundation has also gained
its reputation from the provision
of disaster response relief and re-

CORPORATE SOCIAL REVIEW

habilitation to victims around the
world.
In South Africa their efforts are
far-reaching with the Gift of the
Givers running a total of 24 additional projects in this country. Their
strategy in the provision of social
services follows a three-pronged
approach:
Disaster response relief
Long-term projects.
Once-off projects - such as the
donation to ultrasound machine to
GF Jooste Hospital (Cape Town,
South Africa)
All their projects are needs-driven,
are sustainable and make a meaningful difference to the quality of
people’s lives.
Gift of the Givers prides itself in trying to be as inclusive as possible
in its aid delivery programmes and
takes special care in ensuring that
aid delivery reaches the most vulnerable and challenged members
of our society, in the most dignified