DURBAN – Nearly three decades after starting the Gift of the Givers Foundation upon the advice of a spiritual teacher, award-winning humanitarian Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman has yet again been recognised for his welfare efforts, this time by the Daily Maverick. However, he says none of the greatness would have been achieved without teamwork.
Speaking to Salaamedia, the founder of Gift of the Givers Foundation said every success of the organisation must be attributed to the “phenomenal” team that rallies behind him. Sooliman was named “South African Person Of The Year” by the Daily Maverick in recognition of his organisation’s acclaimed humanitarian efforts in 44 countries, including South Africa.
“All these awards and recognitions that have come over the years shows that there’s a phenomenal team behind me that makes all the things happen and, with the team itself, the support from the country and people from various sectors; all those things make it possible. You get awards for goodness and goodness comes from prayer, it comes from people who give money, it comes from people who wish you well and it comes from people who recognise spirituality and good,” he said.
For Sooliman, he believes he cannot take credit for anything because the Turkish teacher whom he met in 1991 told him that “whatever you do will run through you and not by you”.
“To me, it’s an overall acceptance or an understanding of goodness and that there are multiple people involved. That’s what it means to me because as a person I can’t take credit for anything”.
Since its founding, Gift of the Givers has donated around R3.8 billion in aid to the destitute. Sooliman himself has earned numerous accolades over the years, including the presidential Order of Baobab (silver).
Julie Alli spoke to Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of the Gift of the Givers Foundation. Listen to the full discussion here:
